Participants at the demonstration site. Photo: ICRISAT
Action plans for bio-treatment of industrial and domestic waste water for use in agriculture and aquaculture at four sites in three Indian states were drawn up at a recent training course held in collaboration with the University of Florida, USA.
Lessons learnt from an ICRISAT-led project that demonstrated the use of ‘constructed wetlands’ as decentralized wastewater treatment systems (DWATs)helped in the planning.
The four proposed sites are as follows:
- In Fasalwadi village, Telangana, a constructed wetland with a capacity of 176 cu m per day will ensure cleaner water with nutrients for agriculture while preventing contamination of open wells and reducing water pollution load in the local environment.
- In Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, a small constructed wetland as demonstration site with treatment capacity 25 cu m per day will treat urban sewage runoff. The focus will be on reduction of fecal coliform load as well as the nutrient load. The treated wastewater will be used for aquaculture and gardening in colony parks. The biomass generated in the wetland will be harvested with the help of community volunteers and used as compost in the colony parks.
- In Pandravedu village, Tamil Nadu, waste water from the dyeing industry will be treated through a 850 sq mconstructed wetland with a treatment capacity of 18,000 cu m per year. This will reduce the inflow of polluted water into the irrigation channels in the village, improve tank water and groundwater quality, and reinforce aquaculture practices. The long-term benefits will be improved ecosystem services, reduced adverse health impacts, improved floral and faunal biodiversity.
- In Chintalapalem village, Andhra Pradesh, the proposed constructed wetland will treat ferro-alloy industry waste water and make it safe to be released into the local public water bodies.
The course on ‘Wetlands for Water Treatment and Resource Recovery: Science and Applications’, was held at ICRISAT, Patancheru, from 25-29 July. Participants for this course were from agriculture, health, sanitation, and water sector backgrounds.
Faculty from University of Florida – Dr Ramesh Reddy, Graduate Research Professor and Department Chair, Dr Mark W Clark, Associate Professor, Wetland Ecology, Dr Patrick Inglett, Associate Professor and Dr Kanika Inglett, Assistant Professor, shared their expertise in wetland treatment technologies. Dr SP Wani, Regional Program Director – Asia and Theme Leader, ICRISAT Development Center, Dr Mukund Patil, Scientist, Soil Physics, Asia Program, and Dr Aviraj Datta, Visiting Scientist, ICRISAT, shared their experiences. As part of the course, a field trip was organized to established DWATs at Kothapally and the proposed site at Fasalwadi.
