Abstract

Unprecedented population growth in the cities of developing countries has put immense pressure on the existing wastewater treatment infrastructure. As a result, large quantities of untreated and partially treated wastewater flows in open storm drains. These flows have led to the contamination of surface water bodies. Recent incidents of large-scale fish kills, foam formation and fire in Bangalore lakes have put immense pressure on the policymakers to address the issue of wastewater flows into water bodies. This critical issue requires solutions that would address both monitoring & treatment of water before it finds its way into the waterbody. Through the integration of Bioelectrical Chemical Systems (BES) and instream treatment systems (STRAins), we propose to address both challenges. The core idea is to deploy treatment and monitoring systems at the catchment scale. We intend to use low-cost filter media and local flora to treat wastewater. We demonstrated the applicability of integrated system for wastewater treatment and current output the laboratory scale (ATREE, India). The data on effluent quality and the current output demonstrates the capability of the system in addressing water quality issues. This work also sets an example for the need to integrate multiple disciplines such as biology, electrochemistry, engineering, urban planning, social science and education to address the water quality issues in rapidly growing cities of India.

Bio Priyanka Jamwal is a faculty at ATREE . She is a doctorate in Environmental Engineering and Management. She broadly works in the area of water resource management with a focus on water quality. Her recent work on the fate of trace metals and nutrients in the urban hydrological systems has identified gaps in the current water quality regulatory frameworks prevalent in India. She has made significant contributions in the field of environmental pollution and human health risk assessment. She has been a PI and a co-investigator of projects funded by several Indian (Department of Science & Technology- GoI, MoEF, Arghyam and Tata trusts) and International organisations (IDRC, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Oracle CSR grant and The Scottish Government, GCRF seed grant).