Pipelines of Prosperity
Charting a course towards sustainable water management
‘The estimated wastewater generation is approximately 39,604 Million Liters per Day (MLD) in the rural regions, while in the urban centers, the wastewater generation has been estimated as 72,368 MLD for the year 2020–21. The estimated volume of urban wastewater is almost double’, as stated in the NITI Aayog report.
India, Bharat maa, as addressed by the citizens of this beautiful land, happens to clamp their eyes shut when the reality of the country’s ground reality is shown to them. Everyone criticized ‘Slumdog Millionaire’s version of India’, but no one wanted to analyze why the world is not upgrading the image of our country despite doing worders in every sector. Wastewater generation is one of the instances that answer this question.
Current Sewage Treatment Infrastructure
Out of millions of liters of waste generated daily, 60% is discharged into various water bodies. India, having 4% of the world’s water resources to cater to the needs of 18% of the world’s population, where the tech capital finds it difficult to manage its water resources, we are unable to find the best-suited ecosystem for our water supply and treatment.
According to CPCB reports, Our country has a total sewage treatment capacity of 31,841 million liters per day (MLD), only 44% of sewage generated daily. Also, the existing STPs do not work at their full capacity, reducing the actual rate of treatment to 37%, and the treated effluent generally fails to meet the standards stated by the guidelines.
A report submitted by the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) states that Haryana, Karnataka, and Punjab are doing better than others in this race of water management with a score of 1.94,1.74 and 1.71 out of 5. The report also stated that around 60% of urban local bodies fall under aspiring and promising categories, which means they need a more comprehensive approach.
The major challenge is to upgrade the existing Sewage treatment plants(STPs) and establish more STPs to match the wastewater generation rate of this rapidly growing population.
Long-Term Profits
Indeed, the construction of STPs demands significant investment, but the returns on investment on the other end are immense. A solution to the problem could be a Public-Private Partnership. The experience of the PPPs as formulated in cities such as Hyderabad has revealed that private funding in the area of sewage treatment can lead to the delivery of public services in a manner that is efficient and conveys the added advantages of proportional returns from sewage treatment, the water and advance by-products, for example, biogas and biosolids from the treated sewage can be utilized in energy production and as fertilizers, creating additional revenue streams.
Across the globe, several successful models can inspire and guide sewage management in India. One example is Singapore’s NEWater project, which radically revamped its management of water resources. It deals with water scarcity converted into an advantage of leveraging wastewater to create value. It is a means of treating wastewater for reuse and changing water insecurity to an asset for industrial and drinking water sources. This model shows the longevity and economic advantage that could be achieved, which is the sort of plan India greatly needs.
Sewage treatment industries also provide constructive employment opportunities in the construction and operation of treatment plants and in producing socio-economic returns. These projects create employment chances across different sectors, ranging from engineers to construction workers and plant operators to maintenance personnel. Thirdly, the growth of other support industries, such as the industries that prepare the chemicals to be used in the treatment and relevant equipment, creates more employment opportunities. It may also be pointed out that investment in sewage treatment has this economic advantage; these are the effects on local and national economic activity that results from this kind of economic activity.
At the implementation level, most STPs in India need better operational efficiency, low utilization, and non-monitoring of environmental norms. The existing infrastructure needs to be equipped to efficiently address the needs of the growing urban societies, as well as the revealed rate of industrialization. But sewage treatment is not simply a solution to an ecological challenge — it is, in fact, an economic prospect. When waste is managed as more than trash but as wealth, people’s health can be boosted, the planet can be saved, working opportunities can be given, and people’s standard of living can be lifted. Perhaps now is the right time to start looking at managing sewage as a goldmine for future development to advance sustainable development for many generations.
