Pune: Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science and Technology and Vice-President of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) virtually inaugurated the Phytorid technology based sewage treatment plant (STP) at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) on Wednesday. The plant has a storage capacity of 4 lakh litres and will be used to recycle water generated at the NCL and neighbouring CSIR-Unit for Research and Development of Information Products (URDIP). Initially, the recycled water will be used for gardening purposes.
The Phytorid technology has been developed by CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur. The technology uses specially identified wetland plants, which feed on effluents present in sewage water, for water recycling. As a result, the processing is environment friendly and cost effective. Less than two per cent of sewage water contains chemical effluents. We have identified about 40 to 50 varieties of plants that grow in wetlands and will be used to treat sewage water, informed Rakesh Kumar, director, NEERI.