Restoration of nullah during Kumbh: NEERI gets CSIR Technology Award
   Date :27-Sep-2020
 
neeri scientists_1 &
 
 
Principal Correspondent :
 
Rivers have their own importance in Indian tradition. Most of the holy activities are held either on the banks of rivers or in the middle of it. In most cases these activities result in damaging the ecology of rivers. Considering this aspect, last year during Kumbh Mela on the banks of river Ganga, help from team of National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) was sought.
 
The team of NEERI proved this decision as right. It came up with the technology Restoration of Nallahs with Ecological Units (RENEU). This technology did a wonder during last year’s Kumbh at Ganga that fetched the CSIR Technology Award 2020 (CTA-2020) for it. RENEU is different from the conventional Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), as it treats the flowing wastewater in the drain itself. Besides this uniqueness, RENEU is economical and consumes far less time for construction and operation.
 
It eliminates the need for the construction of piping and pumping networks for taking the sewage to STPs. A team of scientists including Dr Atya Kapley, Dr Ritesh Vijay, Hemant Bherwani, Dr Rita Dhodapkar, Dr Tuhin Banerjee has developed this technology under the leadership of Dr Rakesh Kumar, Director, CSIR-NEERI. Moorthy Nair, Saisaurabh Asoria, Narendra Kumar and Shahique are the project assistants who contributed to the development and optimisation of the technology. RENEU was successfully implemented in the drains, meeting river Ganga in Prayagraj, during ‘Kumbh 2019’.
 
The treated water from drains was not only visibly clean but also met all the discharge norms set by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). RENEU helped in the cleanup of river Ganga during the crucial time of Kumbh when devotees took bath in the holy water of the river. The inset shows the transformation of the drain and shows the clean water discharging into the river. RENEU reduces the odour and mosquito problem near the drain, while promoting biodiversity in the area. RENEU is planned to get implemented in more 100 drains across the country in more than 5 states including but not limited to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Delhi.