Challenges
A glimpse into existing challenges faced by
members:
Technical Challenges
Water for reuse: People generally are not
concerned about waste in the open and are unwilling to reuse treated
wastewater even for flushing purposes in apartments. Since no fines exist,
they are disinterested in installing STPs. Moreover, only limited amount of
treated water can be reused and the problem of letting out the rest of it
remains.
Also, design related issues such as
availability of space which poses the biggest constraint since the planning
of STPs is done at a stage when the foundation of the construction has
already been laid. There is a need to educating planners about the importance
of doing this at an earlier stage.
Operational Challenges
Generally there is a wide disinterest among
the operators even when they are trained. This disinterest comes from the
limited scope for career growth for the STP operators.
There is a need for dedicated and skilled
operators with a facility to upgrade their existing skills so that they can
improve their prospects.
Usually
only those in desperate need of money work in the sector as there are social
stigmas attached to it.
Services are
generally for a limited time without the need for daily maintenance but
the
employment
of operators is usually for the whole year which is costly and inefficient.
Financial concerns
Besides government regulations, the actual
implementation cost of STPs is a huge issue. The labour required for O&M
also creates challenges due to the competitive labour market in
Bangalore.
Legal concerns
The policy on zero-discharge: The
zero-discharge policy of the BWSSB through a notification dated March 3,
2016,has made it compulsory for any building consisting of more than 20
houses or apartments or flats to have its own modular sewage treatment plant
and dual plumbing lines to use this treated water for flushing the toilets
within their premises. However, this requires a lot of energy and the scope
of utilising treated wastewater within the premises is limited. This leaves
lot of excess treated wastewater which can be marketed to potential buyers
like builders. This will meet the requirements of the zero liquid discharge,
retrieve the cost of treating wastewater and also open new possibilities of
using treated wastewater.What is perhaps more important is to prevent
pollution and plan STPs for new foundations, rather than make the rules
stricter for existing infrastructure.
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