Treatment & Reuse of

Wastewater in Small
Decentralized System
FOR RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
 Water is precious
• Only 2.5% of water on earth is freshwater, rest being salty ocean water
• 70% of the freshwater is in ice and snow cover, 29.7% ground water and only
0.3% freshwater is in lakes and rivers
• 70% of the usable freshwater consumed in irrigation, 22% for industry and 8%
for domestic use
• 1Τ3rd of World population suffers moderate to high water stress
• Most of our lakes, rivers are extremely polluted and unusable as freshwater
• Cities totally dependent on collection of rain water but have very poor level of
rain water harvesting
• Erratic monsoon season is proving disastrous for our irrigation and city life
• Most cities are resorting to water rationing
 Water supply & Sewage disposal in cities
• Most cities source water from long distances ….
• Mumbai – Bhatsa, Tansa, Vaitarana 70 – 100 km
• Bangalore – Cauveri river > 100 km
• Chennai – Veeranam lake 230 km
• Delhi – Tehri dam 500 km

• Huge sums of money spent on these projects, but huge losses on the way
• Highly inadequate sewage treatment capacity in most cities*
• Slums not covered by the drainage network
• New settlements on outskirts of growing cities and towns not covered as well
• Overall, water supply in urban centers is under stress in the country

* https://bit.ly/36901Zj
 Water supply and wastewater generation
Recommended LPCD Break-up
Max. Supply LPCD
Drinking 5
Towns with piped
supply but no sewage 70 Cooking 5
system
Bathing 55
Cities with piped
supply and sewage 135 Washing cloths 20
system Washing utensils 10
Metros & megacities
with piped supply and 150 House cleaning 10
sewage system Flushing 30

Wastewater as % of supply 80% Total 135

 Sewage treatment Large and Small
Centralized city wide sewage treatment
involves
• Sewage treatment plant of larger capacity
• Long underground Sewer Pipeline network
connects buildings to the treatment plant
• Highly complicated infrastructure project
• High Capital and O&M costs
• Treated water is disposed of in water bodies
(wasted)
• Overall money spent in water treatment/
transport is lost
• End of the Pipe solution
Decentralized small wastewater treatment
requires
• Smaller individual plants covering localities
in large numbers
• Minimal sewer pipelines,
• Easier to construct and manage
• Comparable overall capital costs but much
Lower O&M expenses
• Treated water is usable for non-potable uses
• Recovers Money in freshwater treatment &
transport
• Reduces burden on public infrastructure
• In-line solution
 Small Wastewater Treatment System
• Treats Black, grey, brown and yellow sewage
• Involves 4 stage anaerobic as well as aerobic biodegradation
• Based on gravitational flow of the wastewater so requires no/minimal power
• First three stages underground, which reduce land requirement
• Last stage involves plantation in gravel filter opportunity for Landscaping!
• BOD/COD of output below the allowable level for disposal
• TDS & pathogen level can be improved with additional stages
• O&M cost is very low, as very few dynamic equipment
SWTS Schematic
 Cost of establishing SWTS
• SWTS is site specific hence tailor made for each dwelling and cost would differ
greatly, however, approx. costs are as below
• Range of cost* (rough estimate)
• 10 – 20 m3/day - ₹ 45,000 - ₹ 60,000 per m3/day
• 30 – 80 m3/day - ₹ 35,000 - ₹ 50,000 per m3/day
• > 80 m3/day - ₹ 25,000 - ₹ 35,000 per m3/day

• For 7 storied building with 28 flats with 5 member each sewage load ~ 15m3/day
cost will be approx. ₹ 10 lakh to ₹ 15 lakh i.e. average ₹ 40,000 per flat
• For a community with 200 houses and 1000 residents cost ranges between ₹ 30
lakh to ₹ 38 lakh i.e. ₹ 20,000 per house.
• Actual costing can be worked out after detailed site survey and discussions

* CDD Society estimates

 O&M Costs
• Advantage of SWTS are
• No dynamic equipment or moving parts
• O&M cost ~ ₹ 40 per m3/day against ₹ 400 per m3/day for centralized treatment
• Cost of laying sewer line per Sq. Km ₹ 2 crore against ₹ 12 crore for centralized
• Major maintenance required for long underground sewer lines

• Price of water
• Municipal water ₹ 3 - 23 per m3 against Cost of production ~ ₹ 300 per m3
• Water tanker ₹ 250 - ₹ 400 per m3
• High saving by reusing treated water
 Modular decentralised systems
• Prefabricated in wide range of sizes
• Can be set up above ground as well as underground
• Long lasting material
• No moving parts → low maintenance
• Low/No power consumption
• Treated water can be used and sludge is good manure
 Bottom line message
• Anything that has value is saved/reused/recycled! (ex. Raddi paper!)
We must value wastewater.
• Drop of Water recovered is = many more drops saved!
• Building an SWTS at the time of construction means lifelong savings for the
occupants. Proper explaining of SWTS concept to the flat buyer would improve
acceptance
• For city administrations, it is highly advantageous in the long term
• If needed and additional capital is available, the water from SWTS can be further
purified up to potable quality (Singapore example)
• Any major water supply scheme must have a sound wastewater
treatment and recovery system as precursor
 Thank you

Contact us
Clean Tech Solutions
C2-302, Swastik Garden
Pokhran Road 2
Thane (West) 400601
Tel.: +91 88501 24036
Web: cts-india.net
Email: vinay@cts_india.net