India and Netherlands launch 2nd phase of LOTUS-HR for sewage treatment

The launch programme was held during the visit of Dutch King and Queen to the India-Netherlands water laboratory at the Barapullah drain in Delhi.

Announcing the scaling up of LOTUS-HR for treatment of sewage water in the  function Dr Harsh Vardhan said “Today, we are going to enter into the second phase, wherein 10 thousand L of sewage water will be treated per day. Dutch and Indian companies are contributing to the project by sharing their existing technologies and will showcase how one can treat urban waste water into clean water for various purposes. We are also in the process of emulating this in other projects across the country.”

LOTUS-HR was initiated in July 2017 and aims to demonstrate a novel holistic waste water management approach that will produce clean water which can be reused for various purposes.

The innovative pilot scale modular plant upon commissioning will treat 10,000 L sewage water per day and will showcase a self-sustaining model for the end user.

This pilot scale facility will employ multiple technologies so that the data generated at the pilot scale becomes a tool-box of treatment technologies for replication at other sites in Delhi as well as other parts of India where similar drains exist.

“The rationale is that the mixing and matching of technologies from this tool-box will depend on the quantity (flow rate) and quality (pollutant load) of drain water, land availability, site accessibility as well as topography”, the official statement said. 

The LOTUS-HR project is jointly supported by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology and Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and STW.

The visit of the royal couple to the water laboratory signifies the importance of the on-going collaboration between both countries while further strengthening the collaboration by expanding the activities through second phase of LOTUS-HR project for cleaning up the Barapullah drain, the official release reads.

The visiting royal family was informed about collaboration in the area of water technology and witnessed project demonstrations by the involved researchers. Their Majesties also appreciated the numerous initiatives in this regard.

The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal; Principal Scientific Advisor VijayRaghavan; Secretary, Department of Biotechnology Secretary Ms Renu Swarup and other dignitaries were present at the event.