Challenges to Wastewater treatment in India

“Water is life”. Among all the sources available on earth, it is a unique and the most basic natural resource. No life form can be sustained without water on the planet, but this valued resource is increasingly being threatened as human population grow and demand more water of high quality for domestic purposes and economic activities. Among all the different types of environmental challenges that India is facing in this century, freshwater scarcity ranks very high. India is struggling with water scarcity like no other nation and the picture of the future doesn’t look good. It is imperative that we pay attention to this problem and take wastewater treatment more seriously than ever. Water treatment companies in India like Sauber Environmental Solutions are committed to helping the nation overcome this problem.


Since India is currently an economy that is in transition from being a developing nation to a developed nation, the country is majorly facing two problems – on one end there is lack of infrastructure while on the other end the country is witnessing constant rise in the urban population. Public services have not been able to keep pace with rapid urbanization. Water supply, sanitation measures, and management of sewage cover only a part of the total urban population. Over the years we have experienced the dire need to use wastewater treatment plants and common effluent treatment plant manufacturers in India like Sauber Environmental Solutions are working to carve feasible solutions to serve the purpose.

Easier said than done! Here’re a few challenges to wastewater treatment in India-


Wastewater Generation and Treatment

According to an estimation, about 38,254 million litres of wastewater per day (mld) is generated in the urban centres which comprises of Class I cities and Class II towns having the population of more than 50,000 (which accounts for more than 70% of the total urban population). The municipal wastewater treatment capacity developed so far is about 11,787 mld, that is about 31 per cent of wastewater generation in these two classes of urban centres. Majority of wastewater treatment plants are out of order due to lack of maintenance. The untreated water also pollutes the existing water sources only to add to the problem even more. Considering the population of India, ignoring the wastewater treatment issue isn’t an option anymore.

Lack of rainwater conservation
 
The rainwater goes waste as it fails to percolate into the soil and since it doesn’t get absorbed by the soil it causes huge issues such as floods. Domestic and industrial untreated water also pollutes water sources such as rivers, lakes and ponds.

Dearth of wastewater pre-treatment systems

 
Wastewater treatment infrastructure is essential, especially to manage industrial waste and domestic waste in big societies.  All industries and big societies must have a sewage treatment plant system to pre-treat wastewater before it is dumped into a big plant. Industrial waste is mostly chemical and hence it becomes an absolute necessity to have an ETP/CETP plant for industries. 

Lack of investment
 
India has been one of those developing countries that have a serious lack of wastewater treatment infrastructure. The main reason behind this has been a lack of will of the government and other associated bodies. Wastewater treatment must be an integral part of Indian infrastructure and the ignorance of the government has worsened the issue.
Off-late we have seen some positive signs indicating that we have at least made a move towards addressing this huge concern.

Way forward

Considering the current scenario, there arises a need to generate water from all available resources including wastewater by reuse, recharging, recycling, and natural and manmade storages. Our country is in urgent need to devise right strategies and give thrust to policies in order to maximize the augmentation of water supplied as well as increase development of infrastructure and facilities for wastewater treatment.

If you have any questions or suggestions about wastewater treatment process or plants, feel free to write us and we will be happy to answer all of your queries.

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