Making A Difference! This Bengaluru Based Company Converts STP-Treated Water Into Clean, Potable Water

Every day, Bengaluru produces about 1400 million litres of wastewater and a majority of it ends up in drains and lakes. A study indicates that apartment complexes use only 20% of their STP treated wastewater while the remaining 80% is let into drains.

This is a common problem in cities across India. For a country that faces severe water shortages year after year, wastewater holds great potential to address water scarcity in cities.

Recycling The Wastewater

Boson Whitewater, a Bengaluru based water utility company, was founded with an aim to change the way industries, IT Parks, malls, and apartment communities recycle their wastewater. Founded in 2011 by Vikas Brahmavar and Gowthaman Desingh, Boson Whitewater converts water from sewage treatment plants into high-quality potable water that can be used for household purposes, centralised air conditioning in commercial buildings, and even for drinking.

"Almost every day during my working days in London, I would walk to the Tower Bridge for lunch. I was surprised to notice that there was absolutely no smell emanating from the River Thames. It was a stark contrast to some of our lakes in Bengaluru. In the back of my mind, I always had this urge to come back to the country and do something in and around water infrastructure," Vikas Brahmavar, Founder, Boson Whitewater told The Logical Indian.

Brahmavar then decided to move back to Bengaluru and work towards creating a sustainable wastewater infrastructure for cities. During the initial years, he focused on non-chemical water treatment. In 2014, he decided to take a step further and create a larger impact by focusing on water recovery.

"We realised there are many people who are working on Sewage treatment plants (STP). However, the intention of setting up STP was to meet government norms and not to save water," he said.

A survey was done for about 200 apartments and it was found that only 20% of STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) treated water is reused for garden and flushing purposes, while the remaining 80% is sent to the drain.

The team found that massive volumes of water get entirely wasted and is one of the primary reasons behind pollution of lakes, excessive borewell exploitation and water scarcity.

"Developed cities in other parts of the world plan their water management based on the wastewater going out of the city as it's more predictable. They don't depend on rain to manage their water requirements, like India. We wanted to change this infrastructure and focus on recovering potable water from wastewater," Brahmavar said.

Boson Whitewater created a scalable business model supported by viable technology to make a massive impact on the water infrastructure in cities. It is the first company to bring viability in the Circular Economy for Decentralised Wastewater Treatment in India.

The Boson Whitewater system is remotely monitored by efforts and innovation from co-founder Gowthaman Desingh. Remote monitoring and IoT allow real-time data on water quality and quantity to be monitored from the office, and workers to be scheduled for service on a need basis rather than being stationed at the site.

Steps To Recycle Wastewater

The input to the Boson Whitewater System is STP treated water which meets the norms for garden reuse and flushing. The input STP treated water is treated in the following 11 stages:

1. Very efficient 4 stages of pre-treatment, which removes smell, colour, suspended solids, turbidity (the opaqueness). All stages have pressure and input water quality monitoring devices.

2. There is a specialised membrane-based treatment (2 stages) which recovers every drop of water with a reverse reuse monitoring mechanism

3. There is post-treatment (3 stages) which is designed specifically to the customer's water quality requirement. For example, malls may require water for cooling tower reuse, or industries may use it for laundry or any specific water quality requirement.

4. The Boson Whitewater system also has a UV and Ozone Dosing system in its post-treatment stages.

At the end of all the stages, the water does not contain contaminants. E Coli, Coliforms, heavy metals, high hardness, pesticides, and herbicides are all removed, and the water is crystal clear and potable. NABL certified lab reports indicate the water is drinkable.

Aims To Save 50 Cr Litres Of Water By December 2022

The current installed capacity of the Boson Whitewater system from 2020 is about 34 crore litres of water per year. It aims to touch 50 crore litres of water savings by December this year and targets 500 crore litres over the next three years.

"We believe there will be a day when cities of India will have piped connections for "Whitewater" in their taps and the world will see a day where every drop of wastewater is valued," Brahmavar pointed.

The company's future goal is to create water abundance in cities. It believes in creating a solution that will help people move away from water scarcity.

"When cities aren't dependent on river water, it allows the rural belt to have more water for agriculture, enabling the agricultural belt to flourish," Brahmavar said.

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