A team of scientists at Osmania University led by a botanist claims to posses what it takes to clean up lakes like Hussainsagar at a fraction of the cost of past attempts made by the government.
C. Venkateshwar and a few others had made headlines in the past when they claimed that their chemical technology can clean the lake’s water in a few hours and turn it potable. Now, the scientist and his team have published the results of a study that suggests that a lake can be used for fishing and aquaculture after the treatment. “The technology that we have developed and patented has been demonstrated in the past. But we have not had a positive response from the government. We are therefore planning to reach out to countries with water crisis,” said Prof. Venkateshwar of the Department of Botany, Osmania University.
In a recently published study, the team treated Hussainsagar water with a chemical formula dubbed ‘CV technology’ and found that the water met the WHO and Indian standards. In the study, the researchers claimed an improvement in 12 parameters in the treated water. For instance, the biological oxygen demand of the treated water had reduced to 14.5 from 34.08 in the untreated water. A lower BOD indicates the water’s suitability to sustain life dependent on oxygen. The researchers also claimed a significant improvement in the total dissolved solids and reduction in metal ions.
“This chemical treatment is faster than a sewage treatment plant that uses a biological method of treatment. We have also shown that the technology works on leachate from the Jawarharnagar dump yard,” the scientist claimed. “The chemical treatment is easy to demonstrate and also use,” he added.
The State’s last plans to introduce aquatic life to the lake after treating a portion of the water did not take off as planned as treating the water adequately proved challenging.
