Sustainable development

Success stories from India

The wars of the future will be fought over water, not oil ~ Source unknown Water is life, no matter wherever we are; we need water to survive. Water not only makes up for more than 60% of human physiology, but also proves to be the most essential resource for producing food, clothing and even computers. Water, thus is the most vital parameter to keep the humans and the environment hale and hearty. Since decadence till civilization, human beings have learnt and adopted to be efficient in whatever we do, but unfortunately, have proved to inefficient water users. Primarily due to the fact that we have always considered it as replenish able and available in abundance within our natural eco-system. But thanks to the exploding population and fast depleting water levels (remember, the total available water is only 0.007% of planet s total water and the population is 6.8 billion and growing by the millisecond) across the world, the competition for a clean, copious supply of water to sustain life is intensifying day after day. A recent UN report mentions that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity (in the last water usage has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase) and 2/3rd of the world s population is already living in water-stressed regions. India, as a country, has always been blessed with abundance of water, but in recent times, it has become one of the worse managed countries in terms of water management, its towns, cities and mega-cities producing more than 27,000 million litres of waste water every day. It is estimated that by 2025, India will also join the list of water-stressed countries which may lead to conflict between three major uses of water i.e. agriculture, industrial and domestic, worsening the existing scenario of water poverty. In India, the problem of water-scarcity more often than not gets amplified due to the caste system and the existing concept of the untouchables worsens it further. Families get exposed to unsafe water because their pump is broken; girl children are forced to carry water from distant water-bodies sacrificing their school. In the Indian context, the idea of water management will not only address the water woes, but will also relive families of the social, economic and the health burdens associated with poor water supply and sanitation. ECOSAN services foundation (ESF), a Pune based NGO has taken up this imperative task of closing the loop between Taking and Giving, by providing the sustainable sanitation solutions, the task to convert waste into wealth! ESF works in close association with German Development Cooperation, GTZ, Seecon International, Switzerland and Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India in shortest span through knowledge, communication and implementation. Ecological Sanitation, ECOSAN , is endeavouring to provide economically viable, socially acceptable and technically appropriate sanitation solutions for protecting the environment and achieving long term sustainability. With its philosophy of moving from flush and forget attitude towards Waste to Wealth recycle approach, closing the loop between sanitation and agriculture by providing many eco friendly, user friendly, cost effective and low maintenance solutions for reuse of waste water as nutrients for crops. ECOSAN concept is based on segregation of different flow streams at source reuse after appropriate treatment.

Few Technological options provided by ECOSAN: 1) Urine diverting dehydration plant: A collection system of separating human urine at the source before it mixes with faeces. Urine is stored separately for about 90 days, faecal is flushed with dry material for dehydration and anal cleaning water is percolated in to the ground through sand filter. 2) Decentralised Treatment system: Treats waste water making maximum use of natural resources like gravity, temperature and microorganisms. There are four steps that are involved in the treatment process: a) b) c) d) Primary treatment and sedimentation in biogas settler Secondary treatment in anaerobic baffle reactor and anaerobic up flow filter. Tertiary treatment in planted gravel filter. Tertiary treatment in polishing pond.

3) Water saving urinal: State of the art solution saving substantial amount of flush water, pumping energy and plumbing cost. Its odour free and saves 45,000 litres of water per year per urinal. The Decentralised Wastewater treatment System (DTS) implemented by ESF in a college in the Badlapur town of Thane district comprises of toilet blocks including urinals and a treatment system for wastewater generated from toilet blocks. The treatment system is designed for 3000 people and consists of all technological options mentioned above and produces 8000 litres treated wastewater every day, which is used for gardening purposes and 300 litres of urine which has a fertilizer value of NPK. The amount of fertilizer thus generated amounts to 1890Kg/year, which the town municipality uses in the gardens in the town. The sustainability of the project earned it the National Urban Water Awards (NUWA) in 2009. The sustainability solution provided by ESF is groundbreaking not only because it s easy to replicate and maintain but also because of the (economic) feasibility of scaling it up without extensive capital investment. The treated wastewater can be recycled to be used in the flushing system and for gardening/landscaping use, reducing the costs incurred. The model suggested can easily be implemented in office spaces and it will continue to provide substantial return not only in monetary terms but the reduction in water-footprint will also portray its concern for the environment which might crucial for the corporation to achieve the green status, quite literally. Implementing a full scale processing plant will help the corporation to save about 1520% of their costs related to water bills, which, in turn, can be utilised in developing better infrastructure and/or providing better facilities for its employees. On the other hand, helping the agricultural cooperatives with the NPK grade fertilizer (which increases the yield by 20-30%) can be a part of the CSR activities. Thus, it s safe to conclude that such initiatives will earn the corporation the status of an environment friendly, socially responsible and economically profitable organization, assisting it to achieve the triple bottom line .

Sustainability story referred to: Success stories of sustainable sanitation initiatives in India by ESF by: 1) Pradnya Thakur, Head of projects, ECOSAN Services Foundation, Pune 2) D.B. panse, Director, ECOSAN Services Foundation, Pune

A paper

The complete story is available at: http://www.sswm.info/sites/default/files/reference_attachments/THAKUR%20and%20PANSE%20ny%20Suc ccess%20Stories%20of%20Sustainable%20Sanitation%20Initiatives%20in%20India%20by%20ESF.pdf Company website: http://www.ecosanservices.org

Authors: 1) Ranajay Sengupta (ranajay11@micamail.in) 2) Rishabh Tickoo (rishabh11@micamail.in) Institute: Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad