The Hindu Business Line : Recycled water can work wonders

TIME has come to think of using recycled wastewater for several unimportant purposes at home as the scarcity of water is causing acute problems in the country, experts at a recent seminar here said.

However, the process of wastewater recycling is at an incipient stage as compared to sewage recycling. Though the method of wastewater recycle is simple, it is hard to convince the public in general due to its simplicity, Prof S.M.Patil, Faculty at VJTI, Mumbai, pointed out.

With proper planning, he said, various multipurpose and unimportant needs such as gardening, air-conditioning, car washing can be carried out through recycled water. The treatment technologies that are in use for recycling of wastewater nowadays are essentially the same that are used for sewage treatment. However, these are not useful for recycling the sullage of small townships or large residential complexes as the capital cost and day-to-day maintenance cost will be a constraint.

Therefore, simple to use and having low capital cost technology had to be studied so as to make the sullage recycling more beneficial, Mr Patil said. Treatment technologies that are more useful and suitable in recycling of domestic wastewater of small townships and housing complexes are to be studied in more detail for their viability and usefulness.

According to Mr Patil, sullage or grey water from kitchens and bathrooms can be treated and re-cycled for toilet flushing, gardening etc thus reducing the requirement of freshwater by about 60 per cent. The system is very cost effective, compact, easy to install, operate and maintain. Recycling and reuse of sullage for housing societies is being practised in the western suburbs of Mumbai where water supply is scarce, he said.

The hotel industry, he said, is also laying emphasis on good housekeeping and adoption of simple measures for conservation of water. A number of hotels in India and abroad have begun adopting simple measures for conservation of water with dramatic results.

Wetlands have been serving the purpose of wastewater treatment for a long time. The sewerage from townships passes through the wetlands before mixing in the river. In the process, a large amount of pollutants are filtered out. Since natural wetlands are precious ecological resources, its protection and use is important as far as possible. The use of constructed wetlands (constructed and operated for the very purpose of waste treatment) has gained popularity in the recent past, Mr Patil said.

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