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Wastewater Treatment Systems for City-Based Municipal Drains for Achieving Sustainability

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Abstract

Currently, drains in several cities carry both rainwater and untreated greywater with black water from settlements nearby. In emerging economies, cities often become hubs of illegal and unauthorised colonies which thrive in the vicinity of stormwater drains. These create a unique pressure on the infrastructure and pose a challenge for civic bodies for ensuring adequate outflow quality as per environmental discharge norms. The flow characteristics (variable, seasonal, minimum or continuous flow) and structural constraints (the bed and site complexity) in the design of these drains restrict the options for implementing large wastewater treatment plants. In addition to the above, the techniques that rely heavily on structural, mechanical and energy inputs are economically not feasible and demand more maintenance, which acts as hindrances in these harsh environments. In these scenarios, human health is a critical factor, as frequent exposure to sewage without any protective equipment during maintenance could lead to health hazards and high-stress levels. The utilisation of decentralised and distributed wastewater treatment systems offers an in situ choice for achieving the desired result in quality and nutrient removal in the influent. These systems enable the water to be safely discharged to rivers or channelised for agriculture or industrial purposes. Furthermore, the solid fraction in the sewage is extracted as manure or composted after curing. The selection, design and implementation with maintenance are essential for improved efficiency and productivity of the system. Therefore, an investigation into such processes presently utilised, and a few other possibilities are discussed in this paper. This paper aims to establish various concepts and schemes that municipal corporations could adopt sustainably for efficient treatment within the limited spatial and temporal boundaries offered by city drains.

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Availability of Data and Material

The data and material utilised for this paper are part of an unpublished report undertaken by the CRDT, IIT Delhi, on management of municipal drains for North Delhi and South Delhi Municipal Corporations in 2020–2021.

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Acknowledgements

At the outset, the authors would like to thank the CRDT, IIT Delhi department for allowing to use the data and tables from the study, Action Plan on “Alternate Technology for Management of Wastewater in Drains” under the Jurisdiction of SDMC sponsored by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and a similar one by North Delhi Municipal Corporation. Gratitude is extended to the organisers of the 1st International Conference Strategies toward Green Deal Implementation-Water and Raw Materials for providing a platform and opportunity for the presentation of this topic.

Special acknowledgements are due to Dr Rajesh B. Biniwale, Sr. Principal Scientist & Head, NEERI, who has inspired building the technical base of this paper and to Vivek Ramakrishna Jangde, Dy General Manager, Ecologique Science Technik (India) Private Limited, Nagpur, and team members of the abovementioned study for their timely suggestions and their encouragement.

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  1. Centre for Rural Development & Technology (CRDT), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, 110016, India

    Pinaki Dasgupta, Vivek Kumar, Anushree Malik & Madan Kumar

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  1. Pinaki Dasgupta
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Correspondence to Vivek Kumar.

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Dasgupta, P., Kumar, V., Malik, A. et al. Wastewater Treatment Systems for City-Based Municipal Drains for Achieving Sustainability. Circ.Econ.Sust. 3, 585–606 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-022-00163-z

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