Soil Biotechnology Plant: An option for wastewater treatment

Project Summary

Untreated sewage water is a significant and widespread problem in both cities as well as in rural areas. With rising population comes a rise in the consumption of water, which results in large amounts of waste water. While there exists solutions, they come with disadvantages that have prevented them from gaining popularity and wide acceptance. There is a clear need for new solutions that meet this need.

It is this need that Arghyam wanted to fulfil by supporting the installation of a 15KLD (kiloliter per day) domestic wastewater treatment plant using an innovative, indigenous technology called Soil Biotechnology (SBT). SBT is a waste-water treatment process, which is based on a bio-conversion process where fundamental reactions of nature, namely respiration, photosynthesis and mineral weathering take place in a media housing micro & macro organisms which bring about the desired purification. SBT is an oxygen supplying biological engine and so the process can treat all types of water – domestic, municipal and industrial.

The ACCEPT Society in Bangalore, which is a AIDS hospice was looking for a solution for their waste-water as their existing borewell supply was not sufficient to meet their water requirements. This provided Arghyam with an opportunity to to test and validate SBT as a technology.

This action research addressed the challenges of waste-water treatment in India by seeking to assess and consider SBT‘s effectiveness in treating wastewater, through the analysis of the construction and operation of one such treatment facility at ACCEPT Society.

Hinren Technologies carried out the civil construction work based on parameters set by Vision Earth Care (VEC). The installation of all mechanical and electrical works was done by VEC.

After construction and commissioning of the SBT plant, Arghyam regularly monitored the SBT plant. Water samples were periodically tested by an external laboratory for all relevant parameters.

Outputs

Installation of a waste-water treatment plant, using soil biotechnology, of 15KLD (Kilolitres per day) capacity at the campus of ACCEPT Society, which provides water to support the agricultural and horticultural activities on the campus.