Options for Indian wastewater treatment A joint EU-India team is evaluating the performance of decentralised wastewater treatment technologies in India and piloting selected proven European wastewater treatment technologies. Industrial Technologies © Thinkstock The EU-funded project SARASWATI (Supporting consolidation, replication and up-scaling of sustainable wastewater treatment and reuse technologies for India) aims to contribute to the decentralised wastewater treatment in India.. Researchers will document and evaluate several wastewater treatment technologies in India. Further goals include piloting proven European technologies, providing tools to assist such implementation and suggesting technical improvements. Work during the second year focused on evaluation of existing wastewater treatment plants in India, and on piloting European technologies. Project members conducted a qualitative evaluation of approximately 55 existing Indian wastewater treatment plants. Analysis is underway – around 15 plants have been selected for more detailed evaluation, for which a monitoring protocol has been defined. Second-year work also saw continuation of feasibility studies for eight EU technologies. The extent of implementation varied. Two pilot exercises remain in planning stages. Most of the rest have been at least designed and tendered, and two are operational. The SARASWATI project will result in evaluation of wastewater treatment technologies in India, and implementation of selected proven European technologies. The work should have an economic impact, contribute to the development of treatment technologies and assist policymakers. Keywords Water pollution, wastewater treatment, wastewater management
