Maharashtra Metro, DRDO ink MoU for technology to treat sewage at metro station

MUMBAI: With its effective usage in Indian railways and Nagpur Metro, the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha-Metro) on Tuesday, January 05, inked an agreement with the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for adopting the Biodigester Technology for the treatment of human waste and recycling water consumed in Pune metro rail.

Brijesh Dixit, Managing Director of Maha- Metro, said that Biodigester Technology is environmentally friendly, inexpensive, decentralised, on-site human waste treatment technology that uses anaerobic microbial consortium. He said that adopting this technology will help conserve a significant amount of water in a state where water scarcity is increasing day by day. He added that the decision was taken after its accomplishment for the Nagpur Metro rail and it would go a long way in achieving the objective of Pune metro to adopt environmentally friendly measures. Dixit added that the Pune metro is approximated to have a footfall of five lakh people daily and the Biodigester Technology will be used at all metro stations.

A K Singh, Director General – Life Sciences of DRDO, said that human waste is a major challenge in developing countries and inappropriate disposal leads to containment in drinking water and ground water resources, which causes many health complications and diseases. He added that this technology developed by DRDE is a great as it is low-cost, efficient onsite alternative to traditional sanitation techniques. It is successful in wide geo-climatic conditions by tweaking the design. Singh said that the technology has been previously adopted by the Indian Railways leading to zero toilet discharge on the tracks.