Kejriwal’s advocates ‘toilet to tap’ by drinking water after sewage treatment

Kejriwal also sought to break the stigma associated with treated sewage by drinking a glass of water offered to him by officials at Delhi’s first such plant at Keshopur.

Amid increasing demand for water and depletion of groundwater resources in the city, the capital’s first ‘toilet-to-tap’ project started functioning at Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) Keshopur Sewage Waste Water Treatment Plant in West Delhi on Thursday.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who launched the project, said that colonies across the capital needed such plants, as conventional methods could not satisfy the growing water needs of Delhi.

Set up in collaboration with NGO Sana, ‘Sujala Dhara’ is expected to generate 4,000 litres of water per hour. According to DJB officials, water at this plant uses bio-filtration nano membrane filtration technology. Built at a cost of Rs 55 lakh, the plant can generate approximately 25 million litres of water per year.

Explaining the water treatment method, a senior DJB official said, “After screening, raw sewage is pumped into the five-layered biofilter — comprising earthworms, cotton extracts, bacteria, organic sand, pebbles, stones etc. This treated sewage is then pumped into the membrane system, measuring 0.001 micron, where it is chlorinated and made available for drinking purposes. The whole procedure uses solar energy, making it eco-friendly. This project is an example of how potable water can be produced from waste water flows and used for all domestic purposes, including drinking.”

Emphasising the need for such plants, Kejriwal said, “Imagine if such small plants are set up in every colony of Delhi, there will be no need for laying down huge sewer and water pipelines or setting up huge sewage treatment plants”.