Septage treatment: State for new tech

Thiruvananthapuram: The state, which has a bad history with centralised solid waste management plants, is close to establishing a string of liquid waste treatment plants in seven cities based on a relatively new, untested technology for septage treatment.
A total of 14 septage treatment plants based on E-KID (electro-coagulation) technology to treat septage will be set up across seven cities under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme. These plants are estimated to cost around Rs 84 crore. The projects are in tendering stage in these cities and in a few cities, it has already gone for re-tender.
The technology mooted by Ram Biologicals is expected to incur huge operational expense had been a point of contention between the technical committee and state high-powered steering committee (SHPSC).
As per the documents available with TOI, the technical committee had raised serious environmental and health concerns against use of this technology. It recommended only biological process for septage treatment as E-KID was not a proven technology and that it was not technically feasible for a large-scale septage treatment plant. “Since it is a new electro-chemical technology, the working cost, maintenance cost, electrode consumption, power consumption, frequency of cleaning, quantity of sludge produced are yet to be analysed,” the report pointed out. It had even raised health concerns as the treated water collected from mini working model set up by Ram Biologicals showed high presence of aluminium and quoting a WHO report, the committee warned that it was a suspected causative agent of neurological disorders. The committee further noted that unless a properly designed engineered landfill was available in the vicinity of the proposed plant, disposal method for froth produced from the process would be cumbersome.
However, following the submission of the report, K Swarnalatha, who was the chairman of the panel was replaced by Ajayakumar Varma. Another member quit later. SHPSC had, however, maintained that biological treatment was not successful and T K Jose, additional chief secretary, local self-government, had stated that the technology was implemented and successfully running in Kerala and other states. SHPSC even ignored the suggestion of the technical committee that a similar project in Kasaragod could be used .
Suchitwa Mission who did site visits and Pollution Control Board said E-KID was suited for industrial uses and its viability was yet to be ascertained. Representatives of agencies empanelled for liquid waste management by Suchitwa Mission also said that E-KID was not a proven technology except in industrial sector and biological treatment has always been cost-effective and environmentally-sustainable method for sewage.
Ram Biologicals is yet to respond to queries by TOI .