IIT Delhi developing technology to reuse water

NEW DELHI: While there is a paucity of water in India, and reusing of water is becoming a regular affair, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi’s Civil Engineering department has started to develop a mechanism to identify and assess Delhi water that can be reused by checking for such pathogens in them that can cause diseases and infections.
Funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the project in support of the Delhi Jal Board aims to develop a system “to understand possibility of exposure of microbial pollutants during different reuse practices,” said Arun Kumar, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Delhi.
He added that this effort will lead to address knowledge gaps and issues identified during review of available information on water reuse activities and associated possible health risks.
“We want to act as a support system to DJB and other authorities and help identify problems in the water and to check if there exist any pathogens that can cause viral infection and diseases. This is because in India, people are exposed to emerging contaminants, such as pathogens from different environmental media, such as air, water, and solids,” explained Kumar.
IIT Delhi informed that in India we have information on occurrence of fecal coliforms and total coliforms, but no detailed information.
“This information is needed to develop quantitative microbial risk estimates for the Indian environment. Towards this effort, the first hurdle is to determine an appropriate methodology for detecting pathogens in environment,” Kumar added.
The research will act to find answers to how there is a correlation between environmental exposures to pathogens with resulting diseases in the Indian population.
“The trend of water reuse is increasing in India due to shortage of clean water. Efforts have been increasing to explore feasibility of using wastewater, both domestic and industrial wastewater, as gardening water, irrigation water, and finally as potable water. However, considerations of exposure risks and impacts on environment during reuse practices have not been explored. We want to provide a mechanism that someone planning to reuse water from a water body will get assessment and certification from the DJB,” said Kumar.
The project, in collaboration with Patrick Gurian of the Department of Civil Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University, USA is part of the VAJRA (Visiting Advanced Joint Research) Faculty scheme that enables NRIs and members of the overseas scientific community to participate and contribute to research and development in India.
This project will be featured by IIT-Delhi on its Industry day on September 21.