Treatment of sewage water essential to meet challenge of water scarcity in coming years: Vardhan

Treatment of sewage water is essential to meet the challenge of water scarcity in the coming years, Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.

The minister exhorted scientists of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to scale up their sewage treatment technology and install it at all their campuses across the country.

Vardhan was virtually addressing CSIR scientists after inaugurating the eco-friendly and efficient Phytorid Technology Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL)-Pune, developed by CSIR- National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, and CSIR-NCL.

"Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that treatment of sewage water is essential to meet the challenge of water scarcity in coming years," an official statement said.

The minister appreciated sewage treatment using Phytorid Technology by the CSIR scientists and said it was a natural treatment method by which treated water could be utilised for various purposes, including for drinking.

Phytorid is a subsurface mixed flow constructed wetland system developed and internationally patented by CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur, with successful demonstration in the field for more than 10 years of continuous operation as a stand-alone sewage treatment system.

It is a self-sustainable technology for wastewater treatment that works on the principle of natural wetland. It uses certain specific plants which can absorb nutrients directly from wastewater but do not require soil. These plants act as nutrient sinker and remover, the statement said.

Using Phytorid Technology for the treatment of sewage, it is possible to recover and reuse the treated water for gardening purposes, it added.