CSE’s Vinay Vikram Singh (Lab Team) and Rahul Mankotia (Water Team) has attended a ""Workshop on Standards for Wastewater Discharge and Bio-solids from Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants(FSTPs)" organized by IIT Madras on12th Nov 2019.
The workshop was organised to critically review wastewater discharge and bio solid standards within the context of present-day India with major focus on the revised water discharge norms directed by the NGT. The meeting was attended by members of the committee formed by the NGT for recommendation of the standards (Mr Kazmi IIT Roorkee, Prof Tare IIT Kanpur, Prof Liggy Philip, Prof.Nema), other eminent professors from IIT / IISC and professionals from NFSSM Alliance.
The members in the workshop debated on the motivation for the revised norms & challenges in implementation of these standards. While the Mr Kazmi argued that the revised standards are necessary for protection of water bodies, it is both technically and economically feasible. States like Goa already have STPs built much before the NGT norms running successfully for which the additional cost is only 20-30%. Though, the benefits outweigh the cost involved. Executive Engineer from Chennai Water Supply and Sewerage Board said the new norms are needed in Chennai due the focus on reuse and Chennai has already started tendering for the implementation of the new norms.
There was an argument from other professors including Prof Tare and Prof. Asolekar that such standards would end up creating islands of excellence but with majority population would remain neglected. There was discussion on the incremental approach. It was argued that the reason for contaminated water bodies was not the existing standards but the lack of compliance and necessary infrastructure to treatment of the wastewater even to the previous standards. The practicality of implementing the new standards to all the STPs in the country was argued.
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