Skip to main content

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk
Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”
Developed by Dr Upendra D Patel, professor at the Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, Maharaja Sayajirao University Baroda, the note said, the technology” its operation and maintenance “does not require any daily computations or analyses, and hence, no skilled labour is required”, and “the only energy requirement lies with the operation of pumps”, which can be done with the help of solar panels, which may be “installed above the reactor.”
“UDMSR is a low-cost and reliable treatment system for domestic sewage requiring minimal energy and supervision”, the note contends. The installation of the system took place in village Luna, Taluka Padra, District Vadodara, Gujarat, in the presence of Gujarat Pollution Control Board Member Secretary DM Thaker, Regional Director Prasoon Gargava, and prominent environmentalist Rohit Prajapati.

Text:

The status of treatment of sewage in our country is dismal. Estimated Sewage generation in India is 72,368 MLD. Total capacity of installed and operational STPs in our country is about 26,869 MLD, which is 37.1% of total sewage generated. This means that ~63% of sewage generated in India does not have any system for its treatment and hence disposed untreated. Out of the operational STPs, less than 40% achieve the prescribed norms for the discharge of treated sewage. (Source: National Inventory of Sewage Treatment Plants, CPCB, March 2021)
No reliable and technically appropriate systems exist for the collection and treatment of domestic sewage in rural areas. Raw domestic sewage in most of the villages flows in open channels and ultimately ends up in a nearby pond or river. This causes significant deterioration of water quality which, renders these water sources unfit for any use. 
Treatment of sewage is not very challenging. Sewage contains easily biodegradable organic matter that can be removed in a biological treatment system. 
Dr Upendra Patel
Modern treatment systems such as Activated Sludge Process, Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket, Sequential Batch Reactors, etc. can efficiently treat large volumes of domestic sewage to the required disposal norms. However, substantial power consumption, high installation and operating cost, and necessity of skilled operators are the main deterrents to application of such systems at rural level.
A Sewage Treatment System suitable for rural areas must: (1) be easy to install and expand, (2) have low cost of installation and operation, (3) be reliable and efficient and (4) require minimal skilled supervision.

Introduction of Technology

The Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) is based on the principle of attached growth. It consists of multiple segments filled with a light-weight but highly porous medium such as polyurethane cubes. A specific microbial film is grown over the surface of medium. Domestic sewage after the removal of floating impurities and grit is fed at the top of the reactor. During this downward motion of wastewater, organic matter is removed by the microbes immobilized on medium. No mechanical/electrical energy is required to supply oxygen. The treated effluent can be used for irrigation or groundwater recharge. 
This technology is developed by Dr. Upendra D. Patel engaged as a Professor at the Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He is a PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He has been researching on this technology for the last 10 years. 
The UDMSR can be reliably used for the treatment of domestic sewage in rural areas. The design of UDMSR is modular and each individual segment can be removed for cleaning/maintenance. Thus, the operation and maintenance of UDMSR do not require any daily computations or analyses, and hence, no skilled labor is required. The only energy requirement lies with the operation of pumps. In areas with scarcity of electricity, solar panels may be installed above the reactor. Thus, UDMSR is a low-cost and reliable treatment system for domestic sewage requiring minimal energy and supervision.
It is advantageous to use UDMSR in a decentralized manner by providing different systems at different locations (serving a part of population) rather than collecting all sewage at one place through a huge network of sewers.

Installation and Operation cost of UDMSR system

The exact installation cost of the pilot plant is yet to be derived; however, the cost of installation will vary from Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 40,000 per KLD exclusive of land cost and land preparation cost. The cost of operation will vary from Rs. 300 to 400 per KLD per month for electricity (i.e. Rs 7,500 to Rs. 10,000 per month), and Rs. 15,000 per month towards the operator’s salary, excluding the maintenance costs of pumps and other equipment. 

25 KLD UDMSR system installed at Village Luna, Ta. Padra, Di. Vadodara, Gujarat

The pilot-scale UDMSR system set up in the village Luna is designed to treat 25 KLD of sewage servicing a population of about 400-500 persons. The design of UDMSR is modular in nature, i.e. it can be modified easily to accommodate more flow in the near future. The plant is running continuously since December 2023 and has since treated about 1.4 million liters of sewage with effluent COD and BOD ranging from 10-20 mg/L and 2-3 mg/L. The plant is also tested at 1.5 and 2 times the design flow capacity and its performance is found to be very consistent.
The system is installed with the financial help from Padra Industries Association and Farmers Action Group. Shri Pravin Rabadiya, Shri R. C. Patel and Shri Jayesh Patel of Padra Industries Association assumed the responsibility of installation of the system. Mr. Sanjay Gohil of Archroma now looks after the day-to-day monitoring of the system. Mr. Bhailal Solanki, a farmer living adjacent to the site is involved in the operation of the system.

Memorandum of Understanding

In a meeting followed by demonstration of the working of lab-scale UDMSR on 26.09.2022 by Dr. Upendra Patel at MSU-Baroda, and several subsequent meetings of Shri Rohit Prajapati of Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti with the Chairperson and Member Secretary of GPCB, it was decided that GPCB will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MSU-Baroda with Prof. Upendra D. Patel as a nodal officer to disseminate the UDMSR technology. 

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...
Post a Comment
»

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.
Post a Comment
»

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat
1 comment
»

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.
Post a Comment
»

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat*  As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.
Post a Comment
»

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra*   It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...
Post a Comment
»

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.
1 comment
»

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By  A  Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.
Post a Comment
»

Weaponizing faith? 'I Love Muhammad' and the politics of manufactured riots

By Syed Ali Mujtaba*   A disturbing new pattern of communal violence has emerged in several north Indian cities: attacks on Muslims during the “I Love Muhammad” processions held to mark Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. This adds to the grim catalogue of Modi-era violence against Muslims, alongside cow vigilantism, so-called “love jihad” campaigns, attacks for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” and assaults during religious festivals.
Post a Comment
»