Across most cities in India, water is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity even as the demand for it only keeps on increasing. It is only going to get worse in the coming years as the water table is only going down.
One solution, many have suggested overcoming this ever-growing crisis is to recycle and reuse wastewater.
A number of cities across India have already begun taking steps in this regard. Nagpur is leading the efforts with recycling more than 90 percent of the sewage water it generates.
Now Noida is all set to outdo Nagpur by recycling 100 percent of the sewage water generated in the city.
The Noida Authority had last week announced that its massive sewage treatment plant in Sector 168 has raised its capacity from 50 million litres per day (MLD) to 100 in an attempt to cater to a growing number of high-rise apartments.
Noida has a total of six STPs across Sectors 54, 50, (two each) and 123, 168, with the capacity to treat a total of 231 MLD of sewage, which is beyond the 175 MLD the city currently generates. Another STP is also planned at a capacity of 246 MLD near Sector 1 in Greater Noida where 80 MLD water will be treated in the first phase.
The Noida Authority uses the treated water which is distributed through 20 km of pipelines to irrigate parks and other “green areas” in the city.
According to Rajeev Tyagi, General Manager, Projects, Noida Authority this will help in not recycling but also help in reducing dependence on groundwater for irrigation.
The Noida Authority has already entered into an agreement with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for supplying 160 MLD of treated water which will be used by NTPC for their cooling plants.
By scaling up its capacity to recycle and reuse sewage water, Noida has set an ambitious target to become a 'zero discharge city' by 2021.