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Matter of Prevention of Pollution of The Ganga

Prevention of Pollution of Ganga and Yamuna from Sewage: A Dream Project of Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister How I Innovated it To Make it a Reality

One day in 1977, I went for lunch to hotel Diplomat in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. While having lunch, I overheard two people at the next table, talking about a human waste based biogas plant. I was all ears, listening to the story and my curiosity was aroused. I couldn’t help getting up and asking them more details about the person and place where this biogas plant existed. Being informed that there was a tribal/adivasi family near Indore, where this plant existed, I decided to go there and see things for myself. Ms. Prem Verma, niece of my friend, Mr. P.C. Gandhi, Special Correspondent from the Times of India, was a teacher in Kasturba Gram, where she imparted vocational training to girls. On being given the address by her, I decided to go with Mr. Gandhi to village Niwali in Sandawa Tehsil, Khargaon District which was 60 km from Kasturba Gram near Indore. We took the flight to Bhopal which was by coincidence being piloted by Shri Rajiv Gandhi whose initiative of Ganga ActionPlan was launched later. Unfortunately, because of a flat tyre, the flight was grounded at Bhopal and we were off-loaded. Thus, we decided to go by car to Indore.A Canadian International Development Association project was nearby. Ms. Prem Verma arranged for a jeep and we went to the adivasi, Kashi Ram’s house. We had halwa, papad and tea there and came back. He was a recipient of several awards before for doing an excellent job in the field of agriculture.

After returning to Patna, I requested various government agencies for support, but in vain. Then I asked a person at Patna to set up a biogas plant at Adalatganj. But, because it had a floating dome, after conversion of human excreta into biogas, the remaining excreta floated on the sides causing a bad odour. There was a school next door, which objected to the smell. Another problem was the diameter of the inlet and outlet pipes which were 4 inches only and would get clogged. Hence, they had to be cleaned with bamboos by scavengers. Thereafter in 1980, I got in touch with the Planning Research Action Institute (PRAI) and it helped me make a fixed dome digester. The diameter of the inlet and outlet pipes were made one foot, which stopped the choking of the pipes. Hence, there was no bad smell. In winter the gas production in the floating dome was less than the fixed dome. The temperature was constant in the fixed dome digester which remains underground between 250 C to 300 C. Hence, the production of biogas was not affected by the temperature and remained the same in winter as in summer. To remove the bad odour caused by hydrogen sulphide, we tried copper foil and iron foil which removed the smell, but the process had to be carried out every thirty days.

The biogas was then put to various uses, such as, lighting of mantle lamps, cooking and body warming. Efforts to generate electricity from biogas were made by us with the Kirloskar engine which used 20% diesel and 80% biogas. In 1983, when the then President of India, Giani Zail Singh visited Patna, the 3 km. street lights at Bailey Road and around Gandhi Maidan were lit by electricity, produced from human excreta based biogasdigester at Adalatganj and Gandhi Maidan. Many government agencies including Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) also tried to minimize the use of diesel for the production of electricity but did not succeed. Now, after research and modifications no diesel is required for igniting the engine to convert biogas into electricity. It is straight away ignited with a battery.

The effluent waste water of the biogas digester was 87% pure and 13% impure. Hence, we heated it to purify it, but the nitrogen got lost which was a valuable fertilizer. After 23 years since 1977, the wellknown scientist Dr. Raja Ramanna came to Sulabh on 16th March, 2000 and after the visit commented, “The visit has been most useful to me for it is the research in small things that changes a community to do great things in the country”. I asked him what the solution was to the nitrogen getting lost on heating of the effluent. He suggested that it should be passed through ultra violet rays, which will purify the water. We added sand and a charcoal filter in the process before the effluent was passed through UV rays. This technology was named Sulabh Effluent Treatment (SET) Technology. This brought down the Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) to less than 10 mg/l which was below the government permissible limit. As this water is a rich fertilizer because it has nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, it is a good and safe fertilizer for flowering plants, horticulture etc. If it has to be thrown or discharged into rivers, it will not pollute the water bodies. In 1986, the Ganga Action Plan was a dream of the then Prime Minister of India, Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi, but no new techniques were developed and old technologies were used.

But now the new Sulabh technologies have been successful in housing colonies, high-rise buildings, colleges, hotels, hostels, etc. Biogas digester should be used for recycling of human excreta. With some modifications in this, the government can use this technology for preventing environmental pollution. If the technology is applied for treating the waste water of cities the pollution of rivers like the Ganga and the Yamuna could be prevented from getting polluted from sewage. In this way the dream of the Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi seems to be becoming a reality, resulting in sustainable development of the environment.