(Story contributor: Akhilesh)
Industries are one of the important engines for economic growth, employment and livelihood opportunities in every country. A variety of industries played a crucial role in India’s richness in the pre-colonial period; similarly, industries led England as an economic power after industrial revolution in mid18th century. However, the industrial revolution brought a significant changes in the environment in the form of emissions into air; and effluents (wastewater) into water bodies and soil.
Like every country, India is also not exceptional for challenges posed by industrialization. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) assessment in 2009, 43 prominent industrial clusters out of 88 are critically polluted in 17 states; and another 32 clusters are severely polluted.
Based on the activities and size, different industries generate different types of effluents in different quantities and these effluents contain different substances. Based on the types of substances, effluents are grouped mainly into Inorganic substances, Chlorinated organic substances, other anthropogenic substances and Heavy metals categories.
The statement from the Environment ministry of India mentioned that 351 polluted river stretches have been identified on 323 rivers based on Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels in 2018. Further the ministry said discharge of untreated and partially treated industrial effluents and sewage from cities are the major source of river pollution.
As per the State of Environment (SoE) report published by Centre for Science and Environment and Down to Earth magazine, between the years 2011 and 2018, there is a 136 percent increase in the number by Grossly Polluting Industries (GPI) or the industries which discharge more than 100 KLD of wastewater/hazardous chemicals into the rivers. Improper treatment and disposal of the effluents leads to contamination of the environment; particularly, soil, surface water and groundwater. By accessing these zones people are also exposed to toxic substances which in return causes serious health problems.
“The nature of the climate crisis, our desire to resist the shift towards a greener lifestyle and the widening gap between demand and supply of fresh water and wastewater management solutions are compounding the problem. From a technology perspective, finding the optimal fit between our technology and conventional solutions has been an interesting challenge”, told the team who are behind Indra water.
Indra’s vision is to drive the world’s transition towards sustainable water management and prioritizes solving water challenges with the help of their innovative methods and technologies whether they are domestic wastewater, industrial wastewater, agriculture pollutants or new emerging contaminants and pathogens which pose a serious threat to the quality of water. After wastewater treatment, retrieved water can be used for non potable purposes.
“Currently, we (Indra) offer a variety of water treatment solutions based on the nature of the wastewater. One, Indra flow series, is an electro-coagulation (EC) based system to remove pollutants from industrial waste and other wastes like residential, municipal and commercial.
Two, Indra activated flow series, is a combination of SAF (Sludge Activated Flocculation) technology and Activated treatment process. This technology helps to treat effluents with very high content of Chemical oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), turbidity, coloration and harmful chemicals.
Three, Indra Electrox series, is a combination of Activated flow series and Electro Oxidation technology. This is a multi stage controlled wastewater treatment process; it can treat very high content of organic carbon, oxygen demanding substances and host of other pollutants present in the industrial wastewater effluent stream. After the treatment, recovered water can be used for a variety of non-potable activities based on its quality”.
Indra solutions has customers across India. Some of them are Aditya Birla Group, Gelnova Laboratories, Gadre Marine Exports, Orient fashions, Monginis, Godavari biorefinaries Ltd., and Sands synergy pvt Ltd., in Maharashtra (MH), Tauruz in Bangalore, and Sterling pigments & chemicals in Gujarat. Besides, they also treated a lake called Kudikunta in Hyderabad to reuse water for irrigation.
“These plants can save up to 35% cost, 80% space and generate 65% less solid sludge. These treatment plants can be built in less than a month. Indra’s sub-modules or reactors can also be integrated with existing plants and take up 70-80% of pollutant load. Besides, no harmful chemicals are used in the treatment process. Further, unlike conventional reactors, Indra’s novel reactors require much lower maintenance for its Electrocoagulation systems and electrode lives are much longer”.
Team Indra, recalled the hurdles in their journey since it took months of field studies, 100s of prototypes and took hundreds of customer feedback for developing relevant technologies. As per the team, Indra water treated 500 million+ litres of wastewater and positively impacted the lives of more than 500,000 people.
Treating complex pollutants in textiles, dyes, food and pharmaceutical industries are part of their future treatment technology plans. Indra is part of Imagine H2O’s third cohort of water tech startups and was invited SIWW 2022 which held in Singapore. They are also planning to expand their services to geographies with similar problem statements especially in south Asia and the ASEAN region.
On policy level, they believe that wastewater must be charged based on pollutant content, henceforth promote better compliance and to help achieve better parity in cost of water treatment across industry and society.
Indra water is using innovations and technology as a tool to treat water from effluents.
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Photo courtesy: Indra water
