Jain Asvarya Apartments on Dr. Ranga Road in Mylapore realised that almost one-third of water is lost through the reverse osmosis (RO) water filters and initiated a simple but effective system to collect the reject water and reuse it.
The residents are also saving the condensed water dripping from air conditioners.
All they did was connect the outlets of the RO machine to a pipeline and collect the reject water in plastic drums.
The initiative began about three months ago and the residents of this 16-unit apartment building are saving about 220 litres of water every day. “The number may seem small but at this point, saving even half a litre of water is crucial. The collected water is used to water the plants on the campus, to clean cars and also the common areas around the building. At the end of the month, we are saving about 6,000 litres of fresh potable water from going down the drain,” says Nagarajan A.S., secretary of Jain Asvarya Flat Owners Association.
This apartment complex is also experimenting with grey water recycling without the extra cost of installing a sewage treatment plant but with a Canna plant bed. A pipeline takes grey water (run-off water from washing machine and bathwater) to a Canna plant bed.
As the grey water trickles down, the Canna roots and the natural microbes in the soil, purify the water and only the treated water percolates into the ground. “We are still in the testing stage and pipelines from only two houses are connected to the Canna bed now. We are planning to send the water sample for lab analysis. If there is no risk of contamination we will connect all the houses with the plant bed. This method will be a big boost to the groundwater table,” says Nagarajan.