Water Treatment, Supply and Recycling – An Indian perspective

Water is universally recognized as nature’s gift for human well-being. However with increasing urbanization and industrialization, our existing infrastructure of water treatment, supply and recycling is being severely stretched. A severe water crisis looms ahead for our country, until we change the way we manage water – and change it soon.

The per-capita availability of water in India has steadily declined from 5000 cum/annum in the year 1947 to 2000 cum/annum now. Estimates reveal that by 2020, India’s demand for regulated water will exceed all sources of regulated supply.

Faced with poor water supply services, farmers and urban dwellers alike have resorted to helping themselves by pumping out groundwater through tubewells. Today, 70 percent of India’s irrigation needs and 80 percent of its domestic water supplies come from groundwater. Although this ubiquitous practice has been remarkably successful in helping people to cope in the past, it has led to rapidly declining water tables and critically depleted aquifers, and is no longer sustainable.

A number of areas are already in crisis situations: among these are the most populated and economically productive parts of the country. The catastrophic consequences of indiscriminate short-term actions, pumping of groundwater, – including the provision of free power – have exacerbated rather than addressed the problem.

Huge investment is planned under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and 28 Cities with less than 40 lakhs population and 7 cities with more than 40 lakhs population have been identified for development. While we are making good progress in increasing investment for Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) in both urban and rural areas, there is increasing recognition that new environmental standards and budgetary constraints are creating opportunities for upgrading project and O&M services that are reliable, sustainable and affordable. Services at one’s side when problems occur, when it’s time to upgrade systems, integrate new components and technology,

Managing Water means one thing: shared responsibility. To meet the high expectations of citizens, municipal boards, regulators and those that industry sets for itself, we need not only reliable treatment technology - we need to create strategic partnerships that can reliably deliver against new paradigms. e.g when industries want to seriously look at alternate sources for intake, like treated sewage, that option demands a service capability to manage common effluent treatment facilities for a clusters of industries. A successful approach would encompass setting new performance standards in operation and maintenance for water treatment plants and distribution systems – based on life-cycle efficiency, material and space usage, power and chemical consumption etc and upgrading decision makers and operating staff for assimilating new technology and procedures.

Relevance of WaterTech 2008

As supply, treatment and recycling capacities expand, it is important to implement modern processes. Most modern water and wastewater processes are controlled by sophisticated computer-based systems. The use of industrial automation technologies is crucial to facilitating these processes enabling measurement and control, ensuring optimum efficiency, reducing wastages, maintaining regular supply and conforming to safety, environmental and a host of other stringent regulatory standards. WaterTech 2008 is a 1 day symposium that brings municipalities, industrial plant owners, equipment suppliers, project integrators, certification agencies and automation experts together to share experiences that have benefited many nations.

Theme at WaterTech 2008

Using the case study and presentation approach, automation users and technologists will demonstrate tangible benefits for the Water Industry.

Key topics addressed are:

• Water Conservation and Revenue maximisation
• Water Quality Protection and On-line diagnostics
• Waste Water Treatment and Recycling
  

WaterTech 2008 attended by

• State and Municipal Water Authorities
• Plant Operation Heads
• Reliability and Quality Auditors
• Safety & Health Auditors
• Process Engineering Specialists
• Technology Suppliers, IT analysts
• Equipment & Project Contractors
• Operation & Maintenance Contractors
• Water Consultants
• Automation & Instrumentation specialists
• Financing bodies
• Environmental NGOs
  

About AIA

AIA founded in 2004, is a nodal body of over 50 automation companies. Many of them serve the Water Industry and bring global experience to India in providing solutions and systems, from sensors, meters and controllers, to telemetry and complete SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) for full plant or process control and for monitoring the effectiveness of biological, disinfection, and other treatment systems.

AIA has been regularly conducting in-depth, industry-focussed Seminars along with partner associations. Past events relate to Pulp & Paper at Hyderabad, Metals & Mining, at Kolkata, Food Processing, in Delhi, Textiles, at Ahmedabad, Automotive, in Mumbai and most recently, Life Sciences, in Hyderabad.

Indian Water Works Association

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