The rich love it, too | |
Green is the colour of sewage The Banker's Colony is a posh locality in Bhuj. Situated around one of the water channels feeding the Hamirsar lake at the heart of the city, the locality has long used the channel as a waste dump. But today, from the bridge over the channel, one can see a stark difference between its banks. The south bank is a small but healthy looking belt of green. About 30,000 litres of treated sewage nourish this patch daily, courtesy DEWATS (decentralized sewage treatment system). On the north bank is a garden that shows much care-and little success. P C Jadeja's land bears a paler shade of green. "We have employed three gardeners, used a lot of water and fertilizers. Yet, never in the 10 years of its existence, have we seen the results that the green belt opposite ours is showing now," said Jadeja's daughter. Hunnar Shaala, the non-profit that operates the DEWATS system of the Banker's Colony, built it in 2006. People objected initially because they associated sewage treatment with bad odour and more waste. Once they saw the plant running, as also the commercial viability the green belt afforded, the support increased. "There are skeptics still and the challenge is to get them to see the technology work," said Jadeja, who was one of the first to see the opportunity in the project. DEWATS was built on the site of a decrepit municipal sewage pumping station, so land acquisition was easy. In fact, the system uses the old municipal pump, slightly modified into a T-shaped pipe, ensuring that wastewater flows into the system by gravity. Sewage enters the septic tank where the floating debris is cleared. From here the wastewater goes into an anaerobic filter, where the sludge settles. The sludge-free water enters the underground sand filter with reed beds. The reeds oxygenate the water. Finally, the sun's UV rays disinfect the water in what is called the polishing pond (see diagram). It takes about a week for the water to be treated by the system for irrigation purposes. Tejas Kotak of Hunnar Shaala acknowledged the treated water has pathogens, but it is also rich in nutrients as the green belt shows. The green belt was part of the initial DEWATS proposal to create a half-km-long green stretch downstream of the plant. It has agreeable plants like dates and mangoes, and is expected to become commercially viable because of the produce. Another green stretch, about 300-metres long, is coming up opposite the plant. Earth and Waste Water Solutions, a unit of the non-profit which Kotak heads, monitors water samples yearly. A resident's welfare association is now being constituted, to pass on the working of the plant to locality residents. |
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