Project Name : Water- the elixir of life
Theme Name : Natural Resource & their Conservation
Water scarcity is fast becoming urban India’s number one woe, with government’s own data revealing that residents in 22 out of 32 major cities have to deal with daily shortages. More than 80% of water needs of the country are met by exploiting the ground water resources of India. This has aggravated the depletion of water table, and led to an unprecedented water shortage. More than 75% of the water resources available in India are used for agricultural purposes.
Since most of the modern technologies are in its nascent stage in India, irrigation is still carried out in the traditional way. Lack of planning and coordination has led to the failure of numerous water treatment projects.
Reclamation Process: Wastewater must pass through numerous systems before being making it available for use. Here is a partial listing from one particular plant system:
Barscreens – Bar screens remove large solids that are sent into a grinder. All solids are then dumped into a sewer pipe at a Treatment Plant.
Primary Settling Tanks – Readily settable and floatable solids are removed from the wastewater. These solids are skimmed from the top and bottom of the tanks and sent to the Treatment Plant where it’ll be turned into fertilizer.
Biological Treatment – The wastewater is cleaned through a biological treatment method that uses microorganisms, bacteria which digest the sludge and reduce the nutrient content. Air bubbles up to keep the organisms suspended and to supply oxygen to the aerobic bacteria so they can metabolize the food, convert it to energy, CO2, and water, and reproduce more microorganisms. This helps to remove ammonia also through nitrification.
Secondary Settling Tanks – The force of the flow slows down as sewage enters these tanks, allowing the microorganisms to settle to the bottom. As they settle, other small particles suspended in the water are picked up, leaving behind clear wastewater. Some of the microorganisms that settle to the bottom are returned to the system to be used again.
Tertiary Treatment – Deep-bed, single-media, gravity sand filters receive water from the secondary basins and filter out the remaining solids. As this is the final process to remove solids, the water in these filters is almost completely clear.
Chlorine Contact Tanks – Three chlorine contact tanks disinfect the water to decrease the risks associated with discharging wastewater containing human pathogens. This step protects the quality of the waters that receive the wastewater discharge.
One of two procedures is then followed according to the future disposal site:
1. Reclaimed Water Pump Station – The pump station distributes reclaimed water to users around the City. This may include cricket pitches, agricultural uses, cooling towers, industries, houses or in land fills.
2. Water is passed through high level purification- Reverse Osmosis to make it fit for portable purposes.
Conclusion: The project in itself is an effort by the students to reduce and provide a solution to the shortage of water in India. This project, through the means of science, can help solve one of the biggest issues of worry of not just the nation, but the entire globe.
Benefits: Water reclamation provides enormous environmental benefits. It also provides an additional source of water for various purposes. This a list of some benefits that water recycling can present.
Water reclamation decreases the extraction of water form sources that may be dwindling and may stop being viable as habitats for valuable and endangered wildlife.
Reclaiming wastewater can decrease the discharge of effluents that may damage and pollute the ecosystems of the sensitive bodies of water.
Reclaimed water can be used to create new wetlands or to enhance and improve the quality of existing ones.
Water reclaimed can reduce and prevent pollution by leaving damaging pollutants at the treatment plant.
Even though this project involves a huge investment cost in the initial stages, but the recurring maintenance costs is less as there is only one time investment of setting up the apparatus. The only cost required is the cost of cleaning the chambers, refilling the chemicals etc. This cost is worth investing as it helps solve the problem of water scarcity of an entire city in one setup.
Name of the School: N.H. Goel World School, Chhatisgarh.
