Eco-friendly methods to handle sanitation problems

MUMBAI: Public sanitation, which has been a chronic problem at most religious congregations in the country, can now be handled in a natural and eco-friendly manner, say experts.

���To handle public sanitation in the most natural way, control the foul odour as well as to initiate the disposal of waste including its proper decomposition, we have developed appropriate technologies, including a close-cycle model with Beneficial Bacterial Combine (BBC) sprays and Deod powder processed from natural minerals," Ravindra Dnyansagar, Director of Vikalpa Technologies, said.

The technologies are being used in some of the religious places and have given positive results, Dnyansagar said.

Public sanitation infrastructure is grossly inadequate in most of the religious places where lakhs of people congregate.

The poor infrastructure resulted in human excreta and waste spread all over, including open spaces. It generates foul odour causing severe discomfort to devotees and residents, besides posing serious health hazards.

Most waste products and excreta were disposed either untreated or improperly treated and posed a major threat to public health to the extent of causing epidemics.

Moreover, leaching of toxic waste containing chemicals and pesticides usually used for treatment by the local civic body cause pollution of soil and groundwater and the lime used normally increases soil alkalinity.

The technology developed by the Pune-based company supported by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the concerned civic bodies will be made use of, during the Ashadi Ekadashi event at Pandharpur, where over one million devotees are expected to attend the Ekadasi puja for Lord Vithoba on July 13 this year, he said.

Almost for 15 to 18 days, the devotees will be walking along the routes of Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant Tukaram carrying 'Palkhis' from different parts of Maharashtra towards Pandharpur where the devotees, after attending nature's call, take holy dip in the sacred Bhima river and then proceed to the temple.

For one million people, at least 40,000 to 50,000 temporary toilets are needed; whereas, the local civic body has been able to provide only around 1000 such toilets along the river front every year.

Explaining the technique, G Padmanabhan also the Director of Vikalapa Technologies said, "A totally safe BBC spray for human beings (including those who apply it), animals and plants is sprayed on the human excreta as a first step. The microbial organisms in the BBC use this organic waste as food to multiply, multifold and reduce the population of pathogens in the waste by using it as their food."

They also slowly break the decomposition chain reactions generating foul smelling gases (ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, mercaptan, volatile fatty acids), he said.

During this fermentative decompostion by the microbes in BBC, the organic matter is converted into elemental/compound forms, which can be suitable for uptake by the plants, a useful compost.