Students as the New-Gen leaders bringing learning, ideas, energy to Social Impact projects

Author – WIN Foundation

 Introduction:

India is blessed with a talented young population. Our students, from diverse backgrounds and with enormous information exposure today, have strong capabilities to understand complex issues and take informed decisions. So WIN Foundation is confident that is they are introduced to the grass root communities and the social impact world, through our projects, they can develop excellent understanding and empathy for the challenges facing our less privileged communities and contribute towards ideas, strategies and plans in our culturally diverse, democratic society.

 

Students exposure to communities and social impact projects will:

• Help them see parts of diverse communities, lifestyle, constraints – which they may not have seen in their own life earlier.
• Helps them see and comprehend firsthand the complexity and ambiguity inherent in social systems
• Helps them to see challenges for such communities and also think of opportunities with new generation ideas and solutions, building upon their learning from academic world
• Build confidence of interacting at different levels in diverse communities across rural, tribal and urban lower middle class areas.
• Build strong personal and interpersonal development, particularly the ability to work well with others, and hone their leadership and communication skills.

 

NGOs and Communities in turn will:

 

• Get new ideas including new technologies, management processes, IT applications etc.
• Get opportunity to increase the human resources focused on specific projects for tasks like surveys, measurements, data analysis, etc.
• NGOs and communities usually do not have access to and cannot afford consultants from the market for above.

 

In India, knowledge and technology translation to the filed, and particularly in social impact domains, is lacking due to:

 

• Lack of connect between academia and field practitioners
• Lack of connect between those with strong management and technology competencies and those who implement things on the field either as skilled or as unskilled workers.

 

WIN Foundation is actively promoting student involvement in its projects by bringing students at various levels, from bachelors to Phd/Post-Doc, This helps in following ways:

• It helps to transfer expert knowledge and technology to the field implementers.
• Students take the problems and challenges observed back to their institutions, where with faculty guidance, resources like labs and library, work to develop more mature solutions/approaches. Thus they help build bridges between institutions and communities.
• Students, due to their sheer numbers, can also help in tasks which require basic skills and knowledge in large numbers – e.g. surveying, trying out multiple solutions, etc. This would be either infeasible or too expensive by normal means

 

List of student projects and internships:

 

Summary:-

This new generation, through skills and knowledge acquired through such on ground experiences, will emerge as innovative problem solvers for myriad challenges facing India and the world. Whether they go on to become employees, social entrepreneurs, policy-makers, or community leaders, they will have the tools and mindset needed to make a meaningful impact on society, and also have fruitful careers.

 

 

Khambhati Kuva for surface runoff: Cheapest and most effective traditional technique

 Author – Mr. Lokendra Balasaria, an architect, is actively promoting water conservation and natural farming, in urban and rural areas in Gujarat (urbantreewalks@gmail.com)

• A technically fine tuned soak pit modified and designed for percolation of higher quantity of rainwater run off, long operational life and better safety
• This is best suited for largely paved urban areas where surface runoff has low turbidity. In tight spaces, these can also be easily made under the driveways.
• This can be effective in regions with absorbent sand layers at shallow depths and deeper water table. Fractures in operable layers can allow for larger absorption of water below ground.
• Khabhmati Kuva of larger diameter have been observed to have higher absorption rate and also longer active life. A 25 feet diameter at Bimanagar, Ahmedabad has been in operation now for almost 2 decades with little maintenance. This society has also reported lower TDS in groundwater over the years and also higher water table compared to nearby areas.

For Ahmedabad’s geology, probably one of the most efficient, minimal maintenance and economical solution to rainwater harvesting

In most places, a 10 feet diameter and 30 feet deep well can absorb between 35 to 45 thousand litres of rainwater every hour.

Wastewater treatment and management in India

 

Author- Mrs (Dr.) Seema Sukhani  Director, Tellus Habitat Pvt Ltd.

Wastewater management is a critical issue in India, where rapid urbanization, population growth, and industrialization have resulted in the generation of large quantities of wastewater. In this context, discharge of untreated wastewater into water bodies or groundwater contamination poses a significant threat to public health. Wastewater contains harmful pathogens, which can lead to waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Current estimates show about 70 percent of India’s water supply is already contaminated and nearly 1 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene-related diseases which could also be reduced with access to safe water and sanitation. Some of the key challenges and needs for wastewater management in India include:

1. Lack of infrastructure: to treat and dispose wastewater. Many cities and towns lack proper sewerage systems, and wastewater is often discharged directly into water bodies.
2. Industrial pollution: Industrialization has led to the discharge of toxic chemicals and heavy metals into water bodies, posing a significant threat to human health and the environment.
3. Agricultural runoff: Agricultural practices such as the use of pesticides and fertilizers result in significant runoff into water bodies, leading to water pollution and soil degradation.

 

But the most significant challenge is the mental stigma around wastewater. The lack of ownership and accountability from us as a community for handling our own waste is the fundamental issue. Wastewater management is a global issue, but can only be treated locally. Instead of transferring responsibility to the government and larger conglomerates, treatment at the point of discharge should be adopted and encouraged.

There are other factors associated with managing our wastewater properly apart from public safety and equitable water distribution. Our planet is drying out. Every day, more and more people are experiencing water stress. Humanity is facing a water crisis like never before and in a few years’ time, there simply won’t be enough water available for all of us. According to the estimates, around 40% of the world’s population will be living in seriously water-stressed areas by 2035. In the Indian context, our country is home to 18 percent of the world’s population, but only 4 percent of its water resources, making it one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. Nearly 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress, with about 2 million people dying each year as a result of inadequate access to safe water. If we continue doing what we are doing today, there will simply not be enough water to quench the thirst of the world population.

 

RECYCLE WATER TODAY, HAVE DRINKABLE WATER TOMORROW

 

We must act quickly, swiftly and locally. Every drop of used water needs to be recycled.

Water is considered to be a cheap resource around the globe and wastewater is often thought disposable. One key differentiator is associated “waste” with water which automatically bring a different response in the society. Instead, we can refer it as “used” water which can be “re-used”. This change in terminology and mind-set is necessary to ensure long term sustenance and water security.

Efficient and compatible technology and water practises should be implemented across habitable spaces to ensure that “used” water is treated before it is discharged into water bodies or re-used for domestic or commercial applications. There are several technologies available for wastewater treatment, each with its unique benefits and drawbacks. The most common wastewater treatment technologies are biological in nature, few of the most popular ones are Activated Sludge Process, Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors, Sequencing Batch Reactors, Oxidation Ponds etc.

There are two major outputs from a wastewater treatment system – the treated water and sludge. Both of these can be used in a variety of ways in both rural and urban areas. Treated water can be used for non-potable applications like flushing, gardening, irrigation, industrial processes and recharging ground water. In rural areas treated water can be completely used in agriculture and recharging water bodies. This can help to conserve freshwater resources and reduce the demand for water. Treated water can also be used for aquaculture or fish farming. The nutrients in the treated water can provide a food source for fish, while the fish can help to remove nutrients from the water.

The sludge produced during the wastewater treatment process can also be used in a variety of ways. In rural areas, sludge can be used as fertilizer for agriculture, while in urban areas, it can be used as a soil amendment for landscaping or as a source of energy. Some wastewater treatment plants even use sludge as a source of biogas, which can be used to generate electricity or heat.

The selection of appropriate “used” water treatment technology depends on several factors such as the nature and concentration of contaminants, the volume of wastewater to be treated, the desired quality of the treated water and the re-use application of treated water. Most of these technologies requires extensive energy, trained manpower and are not economical. They are also not suitable at lower scales (<75 KLD), which essentially means one family (0.5KLD) to group of 150 families (75KLD) do not have an economical, feasible “used” water treatment technology. A large contributor of “used” water has been ignored by the technology giants of this space.

 

IT TAKES A LOT OF BLUE TO STAY GREEN

Tellus Habitat was founded with the vision to bridge the gap of the under-served market and be a one stop water solution for the world’s increasing water needs and depleting resources. We offer technologically advanced, compact, portable affordable and automated systems of scales ranging from a nuclear family to a community of 1000 families for urban areas. We also offer passive nature based systems (NBS) for rural areas that treat water with the help of algae and consume negligible electricity. By recycling at the source, we can solve the worldwide water crisis.

 

Waste-water management, and overview of challenges and opportunities

 

Author – WIN Foundation

 

Waste-water management, and overview of challenges and opportunities:

 

Every human should have the idea of taking care of the environment, of nature, of water. So using too much or wasting water should have some kind of feeling or sense of concern. Some sort of responsibility and with that, a sense of discipline.” -Dalai Lama

Wastewater Management is an integral part of managing the water cycle effectively.

 Traditionally, the water cycle took care of the supply of fresh water to the living world on land, including its purification by natural means. However, increase in population and industries have led to huge increase in water demand and also created massive water pollution. Nature’s water cycle is grossly insufficient to meet these needs. This puts pressure on our water sources, while at the same time degrades them. Waste water management is a critical need, alongwith water conservation, to meet these challenges.

 

Grossly inadequate wastewater management has led to stagnant water in our localities, leading to their contamination. In turn, such water has degraded a large number of our water bodies.

 A related problem is stormwater management, which manages the vast amount of water brought by rainfall during the monsoon months across the country. It is becoming increasingly clear that the current system of trying to collect and carry the stormwater over large distances is dysfunctional. Isn’t it ironical that, in most places, due to stagnation on ground for many hours or days, as well frequent mixing with sewage water, we manage to convert the pure rainwater given by nature into contaminated and polluted water and then we add it to our water bodies? We are all aware of the diseases this brings on every monsoon. The solution is actually available in the Rainwater Harvesting technology. RWH systems have been traditionally used over centuries, and modern adaptations can easily enable us to use such systems to collect a major part of rainwater from roof as well as surface and recharge groundwater. In addition to the well known increase in water availability, RWH is a better way of managing “stormwater”, before it becomes dirty. RWH systems can vastly reduce the water overflow on ground, and thus reduce the substantial stormwater drain capital and operational expenses of our local government bodies.

 

Some major negative effects of inadequate wastewater and stormwater management are:

 

1. Stagnant water in our localities, which further flows into our water bodies, has led to waterborne epidemics due to the resultant water contamination and pollution, often impacting the poor more due to their physical proximity to such stagnant water. For children it can mean poor mental and physical growth
2. Degraded water bodies reduce the water available for humans and other living systems. In most such water bodies, aquatic life is severely impacted.
3. Women, particularly in rural areas, may need to travel farther to fetch potable water, or pay a high price for purified water.
4. Government has to deploy much higher resources to treat water and transport the same to households over longer distances.

 

The government’s excellent scheme to bring water on tap for all households in progressive manner will remove some of the last mile problems. However, in turn, it will make the need for wastewater management at local levels, including in rural areas, even more acute.

Several technologies have been developed by institutions and industry, including in India. WIN Foundation, for example has supported the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, to develop a multi-stage modular plant for wastewater treatment to bring it to near potable level at very reasonable cost. This plant is already functioning on IIT Kharagpur campus. Methods of natural root zone treatment of wastewater have also been implemented showing potential of natural methods to treat wastewater.

 

In an article in this issue, Dr. Seema Sukhani, founder of Tellus Habitat, a startup with packaged modular products, talks about wastewater treatment at decentralised levels of varying sizes, features and cost.

 

Similarly, there are several techniques for RWH. in the following picture-poster, Mr. Lokendra Balasaria, describes one such technique, called “Khambhati Kuva” in Gujarat, which can carry down vast amounts of rainwater to the aquifers, vastly reducing the on surface stagnation, and stormwater volume to be carried horizontally.

 

An important challenge in wastewater management systems is competency to install, operate and maintain such systems. This requires large-scale skilling in each of these areas, in urban and rural areas, to manage the vast variety of systems which may be deployed. This can, in turn, provide better quality livelihood opportunities to lakhs of our youth, in urban as well as rural areas.

 

Conclusion:

 

An integrated approach to wastewater and stormwater management will provide multiple benefits of better water availability and quality, reduced contamination, cleaner water bodies, reduction in water borne diseases, with lower capex and opex.

 

It can also vastly increase good quality water available for humans and all living systems. It further reduces the energy and cost of treating polluted or contaminated water.

 

As the Slovakian proverb says: “Pure Water is the World’s First and Foremost Medicine.”