KWA to supply grey water to construction sector

30-MLD generated at Muttathara STP

The Sewage Treatment Plant at Muttathara. File Photo: S. Mahinsha

With no major headway being made by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in convincing private firms and public sector undertakings, including Railways, to use grey water generated from the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at Muttathara, the KWA has decided to supply the water to the construction industry as an immediate solution and in future establish low-capacity treatment plants in the vicinity of the STP.

The KWA plans to supply at least a small quantum of the 30 million litres per day (MLD) of grey water currently generated at the plant to the construction industry free of cost, a senior official with the KWA told The Hindu . The plan, he said, was to provide necessary infrastructure at the plant site so that the industry could send its tankers to fetch grey water. Grey water is treated and recycled water.

The plant, which was established at a cost of Rs. 80 crore with original capacity of 107 mld, has begun generating 30 to 35 mld of grey water since its commissioning a year ago and the water is now being let out to the Parvathy Puthanar canal.

The KWA’s efforts to supply the water to the Airports Authority of India, Railways, and Titanium did not materialise as it involved capital investment for laying pipes, said an official with the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project, the funding agency for the STP project.

“Recently, representatives of the construction industry visited the site and held talks with KWA officials on how to go about the initiative. We have agreed to their demand to provide facility to pump the water to the tankers,” said the KWA official.

Meanwhile, the technical wings of the KWA and KSUDP have started a study on the feasibility of setting up effluent treatment plants of small capacity.

Several available models such as the membrane-based bio-reactor technology, which is now being used at Cubbon Park in Bangalore, for grey water recycling are being studied. Initially, the effort would be to establish 2-mld capacity grey water recycling plants, which need minimum investment and land, near the STP site, the official said.