Grey Water Reuse and Recycling: Need of Hour

  • Dr. Nidhi Poonia, Bhawini Sharma

Abstract

From depletion of water levels to taps running dry, from locals in Maharashtra protesting over shortage of drinking water in Aurangabads Khuldabad to regions in Jaipur being declared as dark zones (regions with depleting groundwater), problem of water shortage has already affected many parts of India. And given the polluted state of Indias rivers, lakes and other freshwater sources and overuse of groundwater leading to its depletion and contamination, the need of the hour is to conserve and recycle water. India, one of the worlds most water-stressed countries, will become water-scarce with time. Per capita water available is set to decline to 1,465 m3 by 2025 from 1,544 m3 in 2011 (and 1,816 m3 in 2001), according to a 2018 Niti Aayog study. If appropriate and time-bound measures are not taken, the country may have to confront a series of associated problems, ranging from health issues due to poor sanitation and conflicts over water access, to food security and climate change. Therefore, the question arises where would India get water from in the coming years? India will need 1.5 trillion m3 water by 2030, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. The gap between water demand and supply is increasing day by day. A best alternative to Indias growing water crisis is the recycling and reuse of treated grey water. This can be one of the measures to reduce the pressure on fresh water resources. Central urban development schemes such as Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart Cities Mission and Namami Gange are crucial for wastewater treatment. They also emphasize on the use of grey water for various purposes, especially non-potable ones like horticulture and flushing. This study is aimed to evaluate the characteristics of grey water in MNIT Jaipur campus. The grey water from kitchen, laundry, bath, wash basin and the composite water was passed through a sand filter model which was fabricated in the campus laboratory. Turbidity removal percentage was 81%. Total alkalinity was 865.7 mg/l. TDS was also found to be high in laundry water with the average value of 4237.8ppm. Bath water showed the highest concentration of chloride in the feed water with average value being 62.55mg/l.  The product water quality was found to improve continually over the duration of testing.

Published
2019-12-21
Section
Articles