The most palpable reason for the mismanagement of water is indiscriminate usage (“An opportunity being drained away”, May 22). With proactive steps, a large amount of wastewater being discharged untreated to the rivers can be used for agriculture. Delhi has even started a “Toilet to Tap” initiative to treat sewage water and make it fit for consumption. NGOs need to begin campaigns on the need to shun water-intensive crops and use sprinkle and drip irrigation. Finally, water needs to be brought under the concurrent list.
Gagan Pratap Singh,
Noida, Uttar Pradesh
The emphasis in the well-intentioned Swachh Bharat scheme has been more on the collection of waste rather than in its profitable utilisation and appropriate disposal. I describe a project for the profitable utilisation of waste material. A project has been set up successfully in Canada for the production of methanol — 50,000 tonne per annum — from municipal sewage waste. The construction of a waste-to-methanol plant (90,000 tonne per annum capacity) using synthesis gas generated from residual sewage waste is under development in the Netherlands.
India is now a net importer of methanol to the extent of 1.7 million tonne per annum. Methanol is an important and versatile chemical with rapidly increasing application areas. Being largely produced from natural gas, it is susceptible to price fluctuation.
Utilisation of sewage water for the production of methanol will solve several problems in one stroke in India. Considering the demand potential for methanol, it would be appropriate to implement at least 20 such methanol projects, each with capacity of 100,000 metric tonne per annum across India.
N.S. Venkataraman,
Chennai
