Pilot 9 – Disinfection by means of sand pressure filter plus UV and ultrasound

Location: Burhanpur (Madhya Pradesh)
Pilot Leaders: CENTA/CEMDS/NITIE

Water challenge in this location: An existing WWTP will be upgraded with a tertiary treatment.

Benefits of the technology: The aim is to provide a sustainable and robust tertiary treatment train which can be easily employed in the upgrading of obsolete existing STP or new ones. The combination of UV-LED lamps (lower energy costs) and chlorination guarantees the safe reuse of the reclaimed water (maintenance chlorination avoids the reactivation of pathogens after the UV- disinfection).

Potential for India: Decentralized wastewater treatment plants that do not provide sufficient treatment to provide safe reuse are very common across India. Therefore, there is a high potential for low cost post treatment systems to enhance effluents of existing treatment plants to be safe for reuse. In particular there is a high demand for agriculture to use safe treated wastewater as more than 60 percent of India’s irrigated agriculture is dependent on groundwater which is depleting fast in many areas. The implementation of low- cost and low O&M treatments for the reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture, such as those included in this pilot action, will significantly contribute to reducing the negative effects derived from overexploitation of conventional resources and the drought on the agricultural sector of India.

Scope of replication/upscaling across India: As the technology will be locally constructed and implemented at an existing wastewater treatment plant there is a large demand for post treatment of existing treatment plants, there is a great potential for replication and up-scaling of this technology.