BWSSB to supply 3 lakh litres of treated zero-bacteria water to Wipro daily

In a major step towards water conservation and sustainability, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has started supplying tech giant Wipro with 3 lakh litres of treated water daily from Thursday, 2 May.

The water will be supplied to Wipro from the Agara sewage treatment plant (STP), said BWSSB chairman V Ram Prasath Manohar, who has taken overall charge of monitoring the supply.

The BWSSB will supply 3 lakh litres of treated water daily to Wipro through tankers.

Incidentally, “zero bacteria” water was made possible due to a collaboration between BWSSB engineers and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

Previously, the water from BWSSB’s STPs met pollution control board standards but still contained a few bacteria and people were advised to use it only for flushing and gardening, said Manohar.

The BWSSB and IISc worked on an indigenous technology that improves the quality of treated water, which was implemented at Agara, KC Valley and Bellandur STPs, said the chairman.

The technology became operational about two weeks ago, he added.

“We have 34 sewage water treatment plants because of which we have been able to get 1,200 MLD of treated water of very high quality. This will reduce the burden on Cauvery water. Toward this end, the Board’s effort to supply treated water for the last two months has received a positive response with IT companies seeking supply of treated water,” said Manohar.

According to Manohar, 40 IT parks and companies like Brookefield and Adobe, as well as HAL have expressed their need for zero bacteria water.

“With this technology, we can produce one crore litres of zero-bacteria treated water every day. This can be used for cleaning and as well as in air coolers, which was not possible earlier due to negligent bacteria present in treated water.

“With the increasing demand for the supply of treated water, the board can now save and redistribute Cauvery river water. This will also help to decrease the pressure in groundwater,” said Manohar.