Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd. NJS Co., Ltd
In India, there is not enough coordination between agencies regarding sewage sludge management, and it is necessary to strengthen appropriate management capabilities. In Sludge Management Project, the NRCD is the main implementing agency, and to promote the proper management of sewage sludge, which is expected to increase in volume in the future in India, sewage sludge management guideline will be formulated, and the dissemination of the guideline will improve sewage sludge management and water environment conservation. This project aims to improve the management of sewage sludge, conserve the water environment, and improve urban sanitation in India. It is an initiative that contributes to Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”
In addition, it is in line with the support policy that aims to “achieve sound environmental quality through appropriate environmental regulations and pollution control measures” in order to sustainably ensure the healthy and safe lives of people in developing countries in the global agenda “JICA Clean City Initiative” advocated by JICA.
This project is aimed at:
(1) Formulating sewage sludge management guideline and disseminating it to improve sewage sludge management and conserve the water environment.
(2) Strengthening the capacity of NRCD and related central government agencies to analyze issues related to sewage sludge, consider ways to solve problems, and provide guidance to state governments, in order to promote proper management of sewage sludge that is expected to increase in volume in the future, with NRCD as the main implementing agency. It is expected that this will contribute to the proper treatment and reuse of sewage sludge in India.
Output 1: Capacities of NRCD for holistic evaluation and assessment regarding sewage sludge management in India are improved.
Output 2: Understanding of sewage sludge management by India side is enhanced.
Output 3: Capacities of NRCD to consider the ways to improve the sewage sludge management in India are developed.
Output 4: Capacities of NRCD for guiding State Governments and ULBs on appropriate sewage sludge management are developed.
The implementation period of the project is divided into two phases, which are the first phase (from December16, 2022, to February 2025) and the second phase (from February 2025 to February 2026).
The project will be implemented led by a working group (WG), which is organized by JICA Expert Team, NRCD, NMCG, CPHEEO, MoAFW, MoPNG and CPCB. To elicit ownership from the Indian side, a representative of the NRCD will be the chairman of the WG. Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) on the Indian side will be established to implement activities of the project cooperating with the central government of India. The members of JCC will be consisted by Indian government and other related ministries and organizations. The JCC will conduct close communication and coordination, such as monitoring the status of activities by WG, exchanging opinions on activities, and discussing and evaluating important matters such as the table of contents of the sludge management guideline and the content of the draft guideline.
Site visits were organized along with NRCD officers for understanding the STPs and generation/ Monitoring/ usage of sludge. The JICA Expert Team alongwith NRCD officers had visited 60 STPs, 7 CETPs and having secondary data for additional 25+ STPs. The team also decided to get the sludge tested from some specific STPs periodically to have updated test result. The States covered during site visit are:
Vide various site visit the possible utilization of sludge till now is as follows:
| No. | Organization | Position | Name | Role in JCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MoJS-NRCD | Joint Secretary, MoJs | Sh. Pradeep Kumar Agarwal | Chairman |
| 2 | MoJS-NRCD | Director | Sh N. Ashok Babu | Member/ Secretary |
| 3 | MoJS-NRCD | Scientist ‘F’ | Sh S. K. Srivastava | Project Manager |
| 4 | MoJS-NRCD | Scientist ‘D’ | Dr S. M. Singh | Co-Project Manager |
| 5 | MoJS-NMCG | Director Technical | Dr Pravin Kumar | Member |
| 6 | MoHUA-CPHEEO | Deputy Director | Sh Rohit Kakkar | Member |
| 7 | MoEF&CC-CPCB | Head WQM - I | Sh P. K. Mishra | Member |
| 8 | MoEF&CC | Scientist ‘F’ | Sh Sundeep | Member |
| 9 | NEERI | Senior Principal Scientist | Dr Girish R. Pophali | Member |
| 10 | ICAR-IISS | Principal Scientist | Dr J. K. Saha | Member |
| 11 | MoAFW | Director – NCoNF | Sh Gagnesh Sharma | Member |
| 12 | MoPNG-IOCL | Chief Representative of Research | Dr Manoj Upreti | Member |
Less contamination: The proper treatment & safe disposal of STP sludge which is presently dumped on nearby STP land is contaminating the groundwater with leachate percolation. This will be reduced once the study will be completed and safe disposal methods will be suggested.
Pollution Abetment: The STP sludge presently dumped near main water bodies which in end pollutes the river water. The study will provide the methods for safe disposal and the city/ Common people will get good quality of river water for non-Potable uses.
Increase Health Quality: The unsafe disposal of sludge is promotes health hazards with the colonialization of micro-organism and vectors. The safe disposal will reduce the health risk for the common people and will increase the health quality.
Gas reactions: The STP sludge is organic in nature and releases harmful gases during its decomposition. The unsafe disposal is polluting the environment/ air quality due to release of these gases. However, the study promotes the treatment and safe disposal will restrict the gas release and reduce the pollution.
Illegal dumping of Sludge: The STP sludge is containing high nutrients like Nitrogen (N), Potassium (K), Phosphorus (P). If the sludge is illegally dumped on the forest/ horticultural/ Agricultural land it may increase the Nutrient value in a robust manner which will reduce the soil productivity, this phenomenon is known as Land eutrophication. The study will envisage the requirement of the nutrients to the land parcels and will apply the treated sludge on the lands as per the need.
Waste to Energy: Presently the STPs are getting power from State Electricity Board, which is an additional burden for the Operation & Maintenance which ultimately increase the sewer tariff for the beneficiaries. The utilization of STP sludge with help of digesters and gas generators will convert the generated gas into electricity and power requirement from the State Board will decrease. Also, the sludge after Digestors may be converted into Bio Compost as a Zero waste compost.
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