Eco India: Treating sewage water to make it drinkable could hold the answer to Delhi’s water woes

Every week, Eco India brings you stories that inspire to build a cleaner, greener and better tomorrow. Our top story this week looks at how an eco-friendly wastewater management technology, that converts sewage water into clean, potable water, is trying to mitigate the problem of access to this precious resource in the water-stressed city of Delhi. How viable is this technology?
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CREDITS:
Supervising Producer: Nooshin Mowla
Director of Photography: Siddharth Subramanian
Second Camera: Amit Bose
Video Editor: Sujit Lad
Script & Field Producer: Juhi Chaudhary
Associate Producer: Shibika Suresh
Executive Producer: Sannuta Raghu
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Eco India is a co-production between DW and Scroll.in. You can watch the full episodes on scroll.in/ecoindia
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[@hrishikeshkotian]

Dear Eco India team, you are doing a great job of finding and documenting these pioneers, who are tackling our most pressing issues with utmost innovation. Thank you and please keep up the great work.

[@screative3170]

But this is delhi not india

[@rajeshkandukuri1042]

@@screative3170 em matladuthunaavu ra maidha pindi

[@rockerjasoria8888]

We also need to help people like these who r trying hard to do something good if we share even 100rs with people like this it will really help them after all this is not only there prblm...

[@archit2894]

​@@screative3170 huh?? Are you high???

[@sagek7949]

I know that corruption is inevitable . But for a country with such natural resources isn’t it disappointing that we have failed our people terribly..

[@sagek7949]

乙乇ᗪㄖ几Ꮆ爪卂ㄖ that makes sense.

[@nikhilsukumar23]

Yes, and Delhi is the capital.

[@bm8292]

@Shee XinPing don't talk bull shit. Explain how Singapore is an efficient country. It has public sectors that are doing extremely well, while India is gifting it public sector to thugs. You seem to belong to the animal kingdom, proof of your thinking.

[@Aloewells]

@@bm8292 Now Singapore is in recession. INDIA will only rise only when Reservations based on caste is abolished. The tech showed here is Ancient Indian water filtration system used in many places.

[@KashmirSingh-fg1ie]

People are more corrupt than the system.

[@MrArchit16]

If Industrial sewage is separated from domestic sewage then the Cost of filtration will drastically come down due to lesser chemical toxic substances

[@sanketkumar8040]

In our rules ad regulations are only on paper and nothing is followed on ground

[@rushikeshhiwrekar1003]

Agreed. This is already being done at various levels. Just that in the densely populated cities, and slums it is difficult to control the entry of industrial effluent from SSIs. Apart from that, sewage os treated in a sewage treatment plant seperately.

[@pulz1191]

Industries should be told to install water treatment systems before releasing it. Compulsory Law. New colonies and builders should be told to install such systems as rule of Law.

[@bbgg1690]

Sunday Dosage of motivation and inspiration only here

[@suyashgupta87]

Love the pattern of your documentaries, don't just talk about problems, you talk about solutions that are innovative. Also the narration is so precise and easy to understand that everyone can understand your content. Keep up the great work! Liked and subscribed.

[@suyashgupta87]

@AminFromKZbin what's dw?

[@AkshatSharma1505]

@@suyashgupta87 Makes great documentaries.

[@user-uz4gh7sm9l]

Delhi doesn't have scarcity of rain, and generally get good monsoon showers. Water harvesting should be made mandatory for the big houses, at least.

[@taifshams]

Make it mandatory for every building in area to have rain water harvesting and solar panels.

[@Nomad_Wanderer]

One of the best thing we can do is rain water harvesting I am from Rajasthan & we are using rainwater for drinking since ages we still use rainwater one season rainwater can last Upto a year for a family of five person Delhi government & government around India should make it mandatory for everyone to use rainwater harvesting

[@mamanature4992]

How it stored

[@Nomad_Wanderer]

We make a underground water storage tank and use the rainwater from our building roof there are usually two drain holes in the roof one for drainage second one for the water storage tank, we clean the roof before taking in water to the storage. 3-4 good annual rain for about an hour or so is enough to fill the tank. After the water gets collected in the tank we don't use the water for few days so the sediment settles down after that we put alum tied in cloth into the water this alum purify the water thou one can use it or not we can also use a normal filter to further clean the water the taste of rainwater is unlike anything you have ever drank it keeps your gut healthy

[@dariiabaranova1595]

Honestly, treating sewage water for Delhi should have been implemented around 50 years ago. Really. Like it is implemented for many other metropolises in the world. Are people in India any worse then the others? Ok, nobody can travel back in time to fix some issues, but now it is really time to catch up. People in Delhi and around India should really demand it every single day and do any action possible to push the authorities to implement treating sewage water system. It is really important.

[@aditravovlog]

We are very fortunate... That we are having enough water supply Do we have to use accordingly Don't waste the water. Save water save life

[@gyanwanggyantaba2701]

water supply aint the problem. THe problem is with the management of water

[@vodkaboy]

"Don't waste the water." or at least you know, treat/clean it after shitting in it.

[@javadoctor101]

necessity is the mother of invention.. keep up the good work guys..

[@rashn2065]

I am so thankful for this channel. It makes the future look less bleak in some way. And a big thank you for how logically you sequence the parts of these videos. From introducing the problem at hand, to the steps being taken, it's mplementation and ending the video with an outlook to the future- Bravo!

[@subingsubingervinjay3468]

Toilet to Tap project in India is a very good solution to water scarcity and water pollution. I wish Philippines would also do the same 😭

[@kavitamehta759]

Seriously impressive! Decentralised approach will solve the problem forever!

[@subirsharma2211]

Praiseworthy work Absolute water, kudos to you and all the team, I wish a grand success to you. Thank you, Mishra Ji, for being an angel to Delhi, We really need your guidance. I wish if the world can treat water similar to their precious belongings. Thank you team Scroll.in for bringing such unique story's. I wish a grand success for you too.

[@arkin5854]

Out of all the channels here in you tube , yours is the one that I follow... Really an inspirational channel focused on the environment without boring us and keeping us aware of the ongoing threat that hovers around us

[@sree376]

we are proud and i am so glad to congratulate and appreciate your team for your efforts you are putting towards future eco India

[@hiShivamhere]

Great job team eco. Talking about solutions to current problems and presenting them in a effective manner. Please make such videos in Hindi as well, it needs to reach more people.

[@sud8981]

It's a pleasure to know that Delhi Jal Board is taking up steps for reformation of the conventional systems by using innovative technologies and actually putting it to practical use. When we can spend thousands on crores on good for no use statues, what hurts if we spend on technologies that could really save mankind!? #stupidpoliticians

[@roguenation4387]

We had this in Karnataka a decade ago..Delhi is far behind us

[@roguenation4387]

I know whatever happens just tell one thing - statue,mob lynching, Fascism and shits..Give good arguments atleast

[@harsha6655]

Delhi is shithole

[@swatisonawane1192]

Thanks a lot for the eye opener. your video must be watch every single person on this planet then they get the idea of coming disaster thank you so much

[@subirsharma2211]

Hi Swati, you are right, it's a must-watch.

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

Start harvesting water when it rains instead of letting it flow into the oceans there are ancient temples who did this sort of work many many years ago. I think this channel highlighted a village where someone dug trenches to store the rain water and the whole village benefited from it.

[@mdzaid5925]

Kejriwal sir should keep high water prices which will ensure efficient usage of water. In compensation he can reduce electricity bill even further down.

[@AK-fz2wq]

I am so happy that things aren't so severe in Assam.All pure naturally and unlimited ❤️

[@AK-fz2wq]

@chakraborty001 Assam have all amenities required to live a civilized life.When you haven't seen nature,u can't value nature.Delhi being a capital, it's all unplanned urbanisation, comparing to capital city of other countries.Assam atleast being away from the city, people breath pure air ,eat organic vegetables and drink water which just need filtration,not treated water from sewage 😂 or water from Yamuna.Morever there's no unplanned development in Assam just to extract the leftover petroleum resources from assam.Assam produces tea and send its oil&gas to other parts of the country but Assam doesn't want unwanted unplanned urbanisation and slums just like in so call developed cities of India 😂Cut trees,urbanize city,have open defaces in the streets and complain no water.

[@AK-fz2wq]

@chakraborty001 When U lack knowledge about Assam,so u shouldn't comment having zero knowledge about a topic, Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.But in the end we can't eat money and drink money,if you can do it then u should do, it's time now.Eat&Drink money.

[@imbatido]

Ever been to Guwahati? And all the tankers in uzan bazar

[@shubhamyadav9998]

Delhi needs a team like you...thanks a lot

[@mirzafaizanbaig4679]

I also have the feelings for water like you. So, in my b.tech project I did STP method to slove the water cruises and generate electricity from it. Insha Allaha One day I will also set a STP plant and show how it will slove water cruises.

[@sherkhan_5050]

Hope you succeed 👍🏻

[@berlianakusti460]

This is such an amazing system. Great job Eco India! Greeting from Indonesia ❤

[@sivabalankaniapan6275]

Incentives from the government needed, even if it is not fully government, then a non-government entry needed to make it viable. This is so much sustainable than one can even imagine. Thank you for such an amazing video.

[@kch2810]

While working on any innovation to help water crisis, it is just as important to make efforts to bring about changes in public behaviour regarding conscious usage of water.

[@sanitationEng]

sure

[@dineshkumar-ry4cy]

That multi level nano membrane is called REVERSE OSMOSIS. The pump push the water through the membrane and gets through the other side.

[@macberry4048]

I love this whole video series of people finding solutions to their own problems

[@saiharishk3232]

I do agree with what Mr. Manoj Misra says, availability is not the actual problem, mismanagement is. And what Absolute Water is doing is really amazing and Eco India recognising it as well. I do see that in the process of water treatment, the trash is being separated from the water. What I wanted to know was, what is happening to the trash being separated? How are they managing that?

[@aiswaryabersan7983]

Interest has helped indians to come close to each others Helped in understanding the culture diversity, knowing about the problem faced by each citizens in states and finding solutions for it.

[@junebhattacharjee9669]

Good initiative ,but the situation is still grim for the common man they should be provided with water supply line

[@subirsharma2211]

Hello, sir We have to be part of it with whatever little initiative.

[@junebhattacharjee9669]

@@subirsharma2211 keep up the effort may be one day your organisation will meet the requirements good luck

[@mayankdandhare3342]

Excellent work team...thanks for such a informational video...at least we know now waste water management is the big challenge which mankind have.Thank you✌️

[@piyushgupta6179]

The job which our mainstream media should be doing is done by you. Great job💗💗 All the best👍👍

[@mautkajuari]

Amazing underrated work. Hats off

[@simisharma286]

Awesome initiative i must say. We need much more like this.

[@rutujoy7071]

Eco India gives us a positive view towards India 🇮🇳 thankyou Eco India for such a amazing videos

[@alankarjoey258]

kudos to Delhi Jal Board as well for recognizing and promoting such great initiatives

[@paramdagli3168]

One of the best practical solution we can have

[@deepankarroy774]

These documentary give me hope

[@kumarivandana2250]

Amazing💕😍

[@Jags22079]

Very good and sustainable technology.... keep up the good work

[@nagarajgouda3788]

Thanks to eco India...amazing program.. Please keep it up and bring new ideas more..

[@rony.samuel]

Just wow!

[@reena5892]

Great work.hope all cities will follow this plan and rivers will have pure water.

[@ruthmoore2246]

Wow. I love you please don,t stop doing this amazing work . We just have to promote that to the big government , keep up the good work.

[@bantunameirakpam6157]

Kudos to the Team ....

[@WildDisease72]

This is great - we do this in developed countries so this is definitely the way to go!

[@anjani._.]

Thank you so much❤

[@aiswaryabersan7983]

India need to stabilise population. Should maintain mediam growth because low population will affect the working force of country. Many European countries face problems because of low birth rate. These forces the government to adopt immigration policy to balance the workforce of a country also government need to take care of a huge number of old citizens which cause economic barden to govt.

[@shrin210]

Low population is only propoganda news by the Rich people. In future robots and machine will do most of the work. Govt should focus on development, happiness of low income group.

[@udaykiran7018]

Absolutely Wonderful Project....

[@DineshKumar-uv3xb]

Thank you.

[@SANTTUBHAI]

Every city should use this method

[@mindescape9602]

Nice project.. should be spread entire India.

[@varunprakash6207]

Eco India Great Initiative to Implementation each and corner to Country Sewage Industrial water 💧 into clean water 💧 To Utilizes the Indian people 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@arobindamohanty6886]

Good initiative..

[@jisnudeepmandal]

Thanks for such awesome videos. Government can implement these ideas too....I wish Kejriwal sir was watching your videos, he could learn how to change the structure of Delhi. If he could have given free rides to women I guess it wouldn't be hard enough to build water treatment plants instead. *But the main problem is again, the acceptance of public* . People's mindset must be changed first.

[@chandrasekar8506]

only answer to water scarcity is recharging ground water , easily done by rain harvesting and having ponds/lakes to recharge ground water .Water supply makes it necessary to be supplied and makes access difficult.

[@jpraharshjoshi]

Good investigation very nice report

[@RK-ve4xp]

Amazing how far human society has developed and modernized. Drinking sewage water or eating products grown from sewage water and waste is next stage of human progress and development.

[@vidyadharjoshi5714]

The river pollution must first be stopped. All the waste water must be treated.

[@avdeshtomar5986]

You people are doing amazing work

[@jessicagandalam3456]

Nature's long lasting patience...ended lyk this

[@deevyangvaishnav5838]

The need of the hour 👍🏻👍🏻 Great work 👏🏻👏🏻

[@rakhisaini5561]

Infinite soluions for finite problems😍😍

[@vthilton]

Sharing, Justice and Peace for All.

[@zeenathkouser7507]

It should b implement in each and every city may b it's big or small... 👏

[@jamsheertirur1758]

Absolute water good initiative for real people ❤️

[@NikhilKumar-oy7mx]

Still missing daily fix. Why?? Why ?? Why?? You stopped.

[@Aitorma_Debbarma]

Thankz for showing path👍

[@mominahmedalimahammadali9132]

Great documentary, to avoid the problem of money for filtration, we can treat water for two or three-level and again reused it for the purpose of irrigation.

[@suryocakraningrat5668]

great job, keep going

[@rushikeshhiwrekar1003]

Its industrial effluent. Sewage is the term used for municipal wastewater. Grey water contribution is around 65% of initial water consumption. 80% is the sewage generation. Anyway good initiative.👍

[@Rudra-mm1qf]

I think they should also consider methane, which will be generated from the plant because it can also be a big problem in the future.

[@prashant20061978]

New Delhi should have a Sewage Treatment Plant for safe drinking water and cleaning rivers.

[@divya4810]

this is great.

[@JESUS-js9oe]

Respect from México

[@aaryajoshi4874]

Nice video

[@ph6263]

It is expensive but not expensive than river pollution, health issues, smelly spread sewage water, water borne diseases, jammed drainages and flooding due to it, health of street animals and fishes, health of manual scavengers etc. If we compared the governments budget to minimize these problems its quite huge , so we can simply nullify these problems instead minimizing them

[@mytravls]

Not sure why are people living in these conditions. It's inhumane condition. They should move to their cities.

[@sherkhan_5050]

Its not easy just to switch, already economy is failing, jobs are not available etc.,

[@jackychannel]

india needs this

[@earthsouljah4116]

Only good for India Bharat 🙏🌺..

[@shreeyashrasal8574]

A wonderful initiative taken by eco. Please bring some simple and smooth background music in your videos so that I doesn't sound too much serious.

[@dpkapmr1287]

a great effort indeed --- if not drinkable then for other uses at least it should be --- for drinking water there should be more reservoirs to collect and hold rain water as delhi gets its course of rain through out the year . if can be collect for drinking---

[@dineshthakur4046]

good job

[@prashant20061978]

New Delhi should have forests surrounding it. This will decrease air pollution. Plants like Snake Plant Spider Plant Boston Fern Golden Pothos Indian Lilac Indian Banyan Banana Plant Silver Maple Dwarf Date Palm Areca Palm Bamboo Palm Should be planted which filter more air.

[@aditisk99]

They could also add some filtering plants in water too.

[@KhairulAnwar-mp8lo]

Singapore also treats its toilet water turning it to drinkable water. Tackling infrastructure issues and acceptance from the public in using toilet to tap water is key.

[@nikhilsukumar23]

What about creating tanks all over to collect rain water? It can revive ground water, too. Delhi is quite large and it can use such huge area to revive ground water. And colonies and communities can treat their waste water and use it to plant trees and vegetables which can create food and rain. Houses can treat waste water individual wise. That clean water from sewage can be used to clean floors and clothes.

[@marthabartel604]

This could work for all waters. Sewage treatment plants basics.

[@69bobr]

Whatever happened to cleaning up the Yamuna? WHY can't they build rain catchments? Even back in the early 1990s, the water table in Delhi was at dangerously low levels!

[@ashishranjan8338]

We don't want industry....We want water....

[@JiThIn__Pj]

👌

[@justinedcunha5520]

If governments really want to do good then they will listen and work with these experts.

[@sudo2998]

Imagine that. Just 22 drains carrying 220 million gallons on untreated sewage into the Yamuna every day! The problem is so contained, it can be fixed.

[@Dharmaveerp5463]

My duty is also waste water treatment 🇮🇳 Jai Hind

[@Mrcoolsky]

Hi Scroll Team, you can help fund these startups through your videos. Definitely every organization need help through donations or crowd funding.

[@michaelserrao1123]

Hello I really liked the tech and work you have been doing How does the plant cost (don't wanna install just wanna know the cost) It's seriously amazing wish in near future we have technology to purify millions of gallon in a day to solve our river problem Thank you for this video

[@praseedpg]

very good eco initiative , how can we produce chemical free cleaning solutions?