According to the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 10% of the world’s population consumes foods produced by irrigation with untreated wastewater from residences. How does this piece of information even matter to us city people driving around in luxury cars and living in sexy highrises? It is because we may be eating vegetables, rice and wheat grown in water polluted with the most God-awful pollutants on earth as well as faeces and urine.
Wastewater treatment in most Indian metropolitan cities is a dystopian nightmare. Come to think of it, the biggest reason for water pollution in India is untreated sewage from apartments and residencies.
According to a recent report by the Central Pollution Control Board, the majority of sewage generated by 135 billion people is discharged without treatment and there are less than a thousand sewage treatment plants in India.
Just think of this!
This is the main reason sewage treatment plants (STP) for apartments are a must-have! This and only this will allow you to be sure that the wastewater produced by your apartment is not being let loose into the environment untreated, polluting water bodies and drinking water reserves needed to ensure clean drinking water for all of us as well as our children, and grandchildren.
Another good reason for having STP, especially if you are not awake enough to realize the importance of protecting our fast-dwindling drinking water resources, is that new environmental laws have now made this mandatory.
In Mumbai, for example, housing projects with more than 20,000 sq metres are given clearance only upon the condition that they treat solid waste in-house using sewage treatment plants for residential buildings. In Telangana, the building plans for commercial, industrial and residential structures constructed in 10,000 square metres and above should have an STP on-site. In simple terms, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is now mandating an STP for apartments with more than 100 flats.
These are the revised standards that need to be followed for treated wastewater –
- BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) level – 10mg/L
- pH value – 5.5-9.0
- Total Suspended Solids – 10mg/L
- Nitrogen – 10mg/LÂ
- COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) – 50
- Faecal Coliform – 230 per 100 millilitres
What are the Benefits of Sewage Treatment Plants for Residential Building
A sewage treatment plant is a plant designed to remove most contaminants from household wastewater, a collection of sewage from toilets, bathrooms, and kitchens.
This treated wastewater is then safely discharged into the sewer lines. The amount of wastewater from the residential buildings that is usually released into the environment is reduced, thus nurturing the earth’s most precious resource- water!
Sewage Wastewater Demystified
Household sewage wastewater is a mix of microorganisms that can cause serious diseases as well as chemicals like detergents, soaps, cleaning liquids, etc.
This wastewater is usually grey in colour, has a musty odour and a solids content of about 0.1%. This solid part is a mixture of faeces, urine, grease, food particles, oil, toilet paper, salts, dust, metals, detergents, and sand.
Due to the complex nature of contaminants, a number of physical, biological, and chemical wastewater treatment processes are used to treat household wastewater before it is in any shape to be discharged into the environment. Â
Sewage Treatment: The Process
 Here are the steps that are followed in treating wastewater very broadly-
- First stage: The wastewater is screened to remove plastic bottles, wrappers- all the biggies so to speak
- Primary stage: Sedimentation in which solids sink to the bottom and the lighter particles like the oil and grease float to the surface to be easily removed using skimmers
- Secondary stage: Activated sludge filter (AFM) or treated filter used to allow the anaerobic bacteria that consume biodegradable soluble contaminants
- Tertiary stage: Disinfection and removal of nutrients and solids. All advanced treatments are clubbed together in this stage to remove and reduce pathogens, nitrogen, phosphorus and other inorganic compounds by disinfecting the water chemically, through ultraviolet light, or micro filtration, before releasing for reuse the Sludge so generated is treated in digesting tanks with anaerobic bacteria and later used as fertilizer.
Cost of Sewage Treatment Plant for Apartments
Sewage treatment Plant for apartments is an eminently affordable process. It yields clean reusable water which can be used for washing, cleaning, watering plants, etc. The STP also usually doesn’t cost much to maintain.
Reach out to Hydromo for installing an STP at your apartment complex. The Hydromo team will inspect your facility and design and operationalize the perfect STP for your needs. Apart from designing and operationalizing, Hydromo also carries out desludging and service at least once a year so that the STP functions without any problems.
 STPs are the best bet for a sustainable ‘water’ future, not to mention mandatory for larger apartment complexes. The sewage treatment plant cost in India is sustainable too. It is thus prudent to make STPs a way of life to allow water to come full circle and not flow to drains untreated.
