There is an increased generation of waste water which brings its own challenges. While all apartments, gated communities and corporations are required to treat their waste water prior to discharging it into public drains, experience shows that the level of treatment is often shoddy and as such polluted wastewater finds its way into lakes and ponds which dot the landscape.
The regulation of pollution of water sources (surface or ground) is managed by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. Apart from regulating industrial effluents, they have also developed some norms for new real-estate developments of various categories in terms of domestic sewage treatment, treated waste water quality and waste water discharge.
Ravi Iyer’s home is surrounded by a bright green garden and lawn even at the peak of summer. Plantains and other trees, flowering plants and creepers thrive here. Located along Sarjapur road, Iyer’s layout gets no municipal water supply at all. For years, he had used tanker water for all purposes, including gardening. Then around… Continue reading A wastewater treatment system in a residence
The household of Mahalakshmi Jayaram, an architect, is nearly independent when it comes to water. Wastewater is treated and reused here, and rainwater is directly used and also recharged into the ground. In fact, rainwater meets the household’s needs 10 months in a year. RWH and greywater treatment systems were integrated back in 2011, during… Continue reading A combined wastewater treatment and rainwater harvesting system