Water. Desalination + reuse
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18 In Site March 2019 Water. desalination + reuse NATIONAL AGENDA • Regulation on wastewater discharge is driving new wastewater treatment plant and plant upgrade projects • A new hybrid annuity model has been designed for desalination project financing to revitalise public-private partnerships (PPPs) • Municipal water tariffs remain low, impeding municipalities' ability to procure projects India is drought-prone, histori- cally-speaking. But the combined impacts of rapid population growth, urbanisation, climate change and large-scale defor- estation have depleted water resources creating an imminent water crisis. The country is home to almost 1.5 billion people, 16 per cent of the global population. They have access to just four per cent of the world's water reserves. Per capita water availability is gradually de- creasing. These issues have been compounded for two reasons: seasonal monsoons have been poor, depleting a vital, tradi- tional water resource; and there is inadequate water management including lack of investment in storage. Governmental think- tank National Institution for Transforming India (Niti Aayog) expects 21 Indian cities to run out of groundwater by 2020. Corporates operating in India are under increasing pressure to conserve water, optimise its use and develop new sources. Gradi- ant won a commission in Febru- ary to supply four zero liquid dis- charge (ZLD) projects for clients in textile processing, dyestu' , alkali-chemical manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. Each will recycle between 100 and 4,000 m3/d of highly-contaminated industrial e– uent. Further, there are many new sewage recycling projects. These are driven by low cost of water and tightening regula- tions on the quality of waste- water discharge."National-level regulation introduced in 2015 lower the maximum permissible biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in wastewater discharge to 10 mg/L. Utilities are spending a great deal of money to upgrade their treatment plants to meet this new standard, and they are thinking hard about how best to utilise the high quality e– uent," says Owais Farooqi, project man- ager of engineers Black & Veatch. New regulations Thermal plants produce 83 per cent of the nation's electricity and sap about 20 per cent of the water supply. But regulations in- troduced by the power ministry in 2017 now require them to pur- chase treated wastewater from sewage treatment plants if they are located within 50 kilometres. The government also signed a memorandum of understand- ing (MoU) with the ministry of railways. The MoU ensures that recycled wastewater is used to clean rolling stock and for other non-potable purposes on the railway network. The long-term project to clean up the Ganga, India's largest riv- er, also o' ers potential opportu- nities for suppliers. The project includes a 2017 regulation which bans 500 medium- and large- scale industries operating along the river banks from discharging sewage or e– uent into the water. India's emerging water markets: demand, technology, fi nance A 2017 regulation bans 500 medium- and large-scale indus- tries operating along the banks of the Gan- ges from discharging wastewater into the river Chennai, Tamil Nadu, is among the number of large Indian cities that are working to reduce pollution of natural waterways through improved wastewater treatment and water recycling