Liquid waste management at Manka village, Mandawar Block, Rajasthan

Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi has handholded the district officials of Alwar to plan and implement Decentralized Wastewater Treatment system (DWWT) in Manka Gram Panchayat (Mundawar block, Alwar). Toilets are present in all the houses in the village and the villagers use them regularly. The village was declared Open defecation Free (ODF) in the year 2016 – the first village in Alwar to be declared ODF through active participation of the communities under the leadership of the sarpanch. The black water coming out of the toilets were treated in pits attached to the toilers.

The grey water from bathrooms and kitchen could not be managed in the village. The village suffered the problems of water logging especially in low lying areas. For days the water kept standing and this impacted the health of the villagers. The officials planned to treat grey water at two points in the village – the grey water was drained to these points through natural slope. The plan of treatment systems of capacities of 80 KLD (System 1: where 70 per cent of grey water flows) and 20 KLD (System 2: where 30 per cent of grey water flows) was made. 

The capital cost of the project is Rs 25,56,000 /-. The DWWT systems consist of Settler, Anaerobic Baffle Reactor, horizontal planted bed and Polishing Pond. The funding of the project has been under a scheme of convergence through Swachh Bharat Mission, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and State Finance Commission Fund. The operation and maintenance of the implemented DWWT will be done by the communities. As agreed between gram panchayat and villagers, a sum of Rs 30 per month will be collected from each household to sustain the system. The treated wastewater will be further reused for irrigation and pisciculture.