INTERGRATED WATER AND WASTE MANAGEMENT THROUGH INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Water is a natural resource significant to human beings, animals and plants. Water and waste disposal cause devastating environmental problems such as pollution. This occurs either through direct discharge inform of domestic or industrial waste waters. To resolve this problem or difficulty an “Integrated Water and Waste Treatment Scheme (IWWTS)” is adapted. This scheme shows how rain water is harvested and reused several times in domestic applications. It also points out how domestic wastes is optimally treated and utilized for generating biogas and for horticultural farming (vegetables).The scheme is important because it can be implemented in many parts and becomes useful where space is a constraint especially in towns. How IWWTS works: rain water is harvested and used for cooking and bathing purposes, and Sullage water results thereby is minimally treated for reuse in toilets. The sewage from the toilets and vegetable wastes from the households are given to biodigester.The slurry from biodegester, is used in a vegetable farm, and with wastes from the farm being fed back biodigester.The reuse of Sullage water virtually doubles the availability of water for household purposes. According to Indiresan (1991),the (IWWTS) scheme has three advantages; firstly, the effluent is virtually non-toxic and hence the biodegester replaces sewage treatment.Secondly,it cuts down the lead distance for transporting sewage and domestic wastes.Thirdly,as most of the wastes are re-cycled, the need for landfills for dumping wastes is appropriately reduced. The scheme is operated in two modes: small individual units for each household or medium sized digester for cooperative households. The scheme has no technological problems to be solved, but real problem is with management where innovation is required. This paper indicates some specific steps that may be taken to overcome the present tendency to increase further size and congestion of already over-sized and over-congested cities of the world.