Located in a distance from the lively Devanahalli town, on the out skirts of Bangalore, a shallow aquifer water treatment plant is providing safe drinking water to more than 45,000 people residing in the town. This is the first aforesaid project in the state of Karnataka and it is assisting the town municipality’s management in promoting the use of water with a view of the future.
The treatment works which provides two stage treatment to the water treatment works was commissioned on 30th August. DTM has partnered with Biome Environmental Trust (BET) and Boson Whitewater (BW) to undertake the project internationally conceived in 2016. The Plant provides 6.4 lakh litres of treated water per day which is potable. About this project, it is supplying 10% of the entire household water consumption. The chemical analysis falls within the drinking water regulations of the Bureau of Indian Standards BIS-10500. It is however worth noting that this water is being put into other household uses.
The BET and BW are using shallow aquifer which is recharged by SIhineerukere which is next to Devanahalli fort. This project has been carried out under the CSR budget and makes use of natural resources without disturbing the environment.
From HN valley
How did the lake water come in? Avinash Krishnamurthy, co-founder of BET, told The Hindu: “Sihineerukere, apart from meaning receiving water from its catchment area, also receives pumped water from Bagaluru lake. There is also treated domestic wastewater which flows from Hennabanna… Hebbal-Nagawara (HN) Valley, which finds its way into Bagaluru followed by pumping it to Sihineerukere.”
The water from the lake enhances the dynamic of the aquifer in general. Appreciating the advantage, such a traditional, and presently unused well, was repaired as regards how it would be useful. This traditional well, which is 30 feet deep and 25 feet in circumference is able to sustain water provision for up to 2 lakh liters of water a day.
“In 2018-19, the town municipality had made a resolution to seal the well since it was not being utilized, but the BET impressed upon them to cancel the decision. I mean in 2020-21, the well was desilted and rejuvenated after which because of the aquifer recharge the well filled with water”, stated Mr. Krishnamurthy. “This became the basis of the project,” he concluded.
Vikas Brahmavar Adiga, the co-founder and the person who acts as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BW, stated that “In the year 2022, works on the plant started. The first phase was shaped by the year 2023, while August 2024 was the time of the second phase. The first phase makes use of water from aquifer well. While treated water from Bagaluru is fed into Sihineerukere, water from the aquifer undergoes earth treatment. This water is sent to the treatment plants. The plant is then used for disc filtration, high iodine value carbon filtration, UV filtration as well as chlorination before the water is supplied to Devanahalli which is quite a distance away.”
Low power use
In the second phase, six filter borewells of 100 feet are decommissioned. Water from these borewells is pumped into a sump and then pumped to a different level which is then filtered before supplying to people through municipality connection.
Mr. Adiga stated that the project implements energy saving measures, using only 0.25 electro-units per 1,000 litres of water used.
