NMCG ropes in TERI to help bring down point source pollution in industrial units
Even as the pace of work on sewage treatment projects across the main Ganga basin states begins to show signs of pick up in recent months, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has roped in the New Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to bring down the point source pollution across highly polluting industries along the river.
The two organisations have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a three-year collaboration that envisages implementation of TERI’s advanced oxidation technology (TADOX) in the existing and upcoming common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) and common sewage treatment plants (CSTPs) in order to achieve zero liquid discharge (ZLD) and enhance water reuse efficiency.
The agreement also aims at associating with pilot technologies for wastewater treatment under Pavitra Ganga project, jointly funded by European Union (EU) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under HORIZON-2020. Other strengths of TERI in training, capacity building and policy would also be utilised.
According to NMCG figures, the number of completed sewage treatment projects across Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal besides Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana have moved up to 138 as on October 2020 from July’s 132. The NMCG figures show as many as 152 projects under progress, up from 148 while in the tendering stage, the number has moved up to 30 from 28 in July 2020.
Commenting on the NMCG-TERI agreement, NMCG Executive Director (Technical) DP Mathuria said that interventions like advanced oxidation could help in capacity enhancement and augmentation plans of existing CETPs and present huge potential in solving both point source and non-point source pollution abatement.
The two organisations have also agreed to encourage indigenous technologies for pilot demonstrations that could be ramped up for full-scale implementation under augmentation plans or newer infrastructure projects.
“TADOX involves novel approaches with minimum use of chemicals, leading to reduction in sludge quantum and secondary pollution. The integration of TADOX will substantially reduce load on downstream tertiary treatment leading to affordable ZLD compliance, as per CPCB guidelines”, TERI Fellow and inventor of TADOX technology Dr Nupur Bahadur was quoted as saying.
The TADOX technology was developed under DST-Water Mission, Water Technology Initiative (WTI) Programme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
