Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s septage infrastructure is one of the best in the country, opined experts at a regional workshop on the reuse of bio-solids harvested from septage and sewage organised by the Housing & Urban Development department in collaboration with Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi held yesterday here at Odisha Urban Academy.
The Workshop focused on the reuse and resource recovery of harvested bio-solids from FSTPs and STPs, these bio-solids can be a rich source of fertilisers in agriculture in India, say CSE reports.
G Mathi Vathanan, Principal Secretary, H&UD, Odisha in his keynote address presented an overview of different urban sanitation and water initiatives, missions and programmes in Odisha, and the emerging challenges of re-use of harvested biosolids. Odisha is known for its pioneering Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM), especially decentralized community-led inclusive sanitation in the country. The State has built 118 faecal sludge treatment plants (FSTPs)/sewage treatment plants (STPs) across all 115 ULBs.
The State-wide roll-out of convergence of rural & urban sanitation is currently underway, he added.
He further highlighted the role of Odisha Urban Academy in strengthening the capacity-building ecosystems in water, sanitation and inclusive urban development space.
Speaking at the workshop, Depinder Singh Kapur, Director, Water Programme, CSE, said: “There are over 500 FSTPs all over India, generating an estimated 250 tonne of bio-solids every day. Another 104,210 tonne of bio-solids are generated from the 1,469 STPs that exist in India. Odisha leads the country with its septage treatment infrastructure, covering 115 towns.”
Vinod Vijayan, Deputy Laboratory Head at CSE shared the detailed technical findings of CSE study on Bio solids.
Sagarika Pattanaik Special Secretary and Durgesh Nandini Sahoo Additional Secretary represented H&UD Department in the workshop.
The delegates represented a cross-section of senior government officers, academicians, scientists, municipal officers, and consultants who deliberated to address some key issues on the findings of the research reports disseminated and discussed in the workshop with the focus on recommendations for what can be done to immediately address the issue of safe handling and reuse of harvested bio-solids from FSTPs/STPs in Odisha.
