Rural sanitation in US

http://www.wvnstv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=81886

More than 160,000 of West Virginia's 900,000 homes may use straight pipes for sewage.

By Pam Kasey
Email | Bio | Other Stories by Pam Kasey

On or about July 5, the state and all its counties are going to be sued.

Those entities are allowing more than 160,000 of the state’s 900,000 homes to discharge raw sewage into streams in violation of the Clean Water Act, according to Atlanta lawyer William “Bo” Gray.

That’s nearly one-fifth of the homes in the state.

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Is It Worse in West Virginia?

Jennifer Newland of the nonprofit Canaan Valley Institute, which provides wastewater technical assistance to rural communities, doesn’t believe so.

“If you find any rural, low-income community, they probably don’t have adequate treatment,” she said. She pointed to documentation of similarly pervasive problems in Kentucky, Minnesota and other states.

NESC Director Gerald Iwan, who has worked in Connecticut and New York, doesn’t believe so either.

It’s a problem for disadvantaged counties everywhere, he said.

“It begs the question, in a country as wealthy as we are, why do these problems persist?”

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Sanitation and Corporate Social Responsibility

http://www.hnb.net/csr.asp
CSR
Home / CSR

HNB launches safe drinking water and sanitation programme in Mannar
With latest research highlighting bowel diseases as one of the most critical health issues in the ountry, HNB embarked on an ambitious safe drinking water and sanitation programme that saw its very first project being completed in Mannar. The village of Siruthopu in Mannar recently received access to a proper source of safe-drinking water when HNB stepped in, distinguishing themselves yet again as a bank whose interests go beyond business. A well was built and a tank set up along with six taps in a central area of the village, providing the much-needed solution to dire water and sanitation problems faced by the people in the village.
The people of Siruthopu had next to nothing to come back to, but received a somewhat solace when a NGO pitched in to build houses for them. Safe drinking water and sanitation however remained a burning problem as their only source of water came from a bowser that found its way to the town daily to fill a single plastic tank out of which over 75 families received water. That water too was not safe for drinking and was the cause of many cases of bowel and other diseases, and sickness became an everyday experience for the people of this area.
The plight of the people living in Siruthopu was brought to the Bank’s notice by HNB’s Mannar Branch Manager and steps were immediately taken to determine what the Bank could do for the people. The 15th of November saw the grateful locality of over 75 families receiving a steady mode of clean water that would be sufficient for all. “Water and sanitation is as important as a roof over your head, maybe more so. The project in Mannar is the first of a series of similar projects that will be instigated in various needy areas of the country,” said Mr. Rajendra Theagarajah, Managing Director Hatton National Bank.
Similar projects to provide safe drinking water and sanitation will be taken up in Anuradhapura, Puttalam Chunnakam and Kataragama in the immediate future. This project was initiated with the guidance of Mr. J. R. P. M. Paiva- Deputy General Manager – HR & Administration who is heading the CSR initiatives of the bank. Providing safe drinking water and sanitation is a key millennium goal identified by the United Nations Organization.


Extract from Ashok Leyland Ltd CSR Report 2005 – 06

• During the heavy downpours in end-2005, the ponds filled up and overflowed. After the rains, the living organisms in the ponds, including the fish, were found to be dying in large numbers.
Extensive analysis of the reasons was carried out in coordination with a few Governmental agencies. The root cause was found to be an increase in the ‘Biological Oxygen’ demand due to sudden changes in atmospheric conditions accompanying the downpours - a serious threat to the living organisms in the water.
• As a solution, a chemical called Nualgi was used to increase the Oxygen content in the water and the problem was solved.

http://www.ashokleyland.com/performance-reports/2005

Biological Aeration

Nualgi - Biological Aeration

Aeration is one of the most critical and expensive processes in Wastewater Treatment. Sewage Treatment Plants and Effluent Treatment Plants that use aerobic process have to provide the oxygen required by the aerobic bacteria to enable them to breakdown the organic matter in sewage.

Aeration is conventionally done using mechanical electric powered aerators. The power consumption by the aerators is very high and accounts for upto 50% of the operating cost of the STP / ETP. In addition it leads to emission of CO2 at the power generation plants.

Diatom Algae are a specie of beneficial algae (unlike Green Algae and Blue Green Algae) that can grow rapidly and these are microscopic aquatic plants that release oxygen during photosynthesis.

These however require iron, silica and other minerals to grow rapidly. Nualgi is a plant nutrient that provides all the nutrients required by diatoms and this results in a rapid bloom of diatoms within minutes of dissolving Nualgi in the water body.

1 kg of Nualgi results in release of about 100 kgs of oxygen over 5 days, this increases the DO level of the water to about 6 mg / litre. Regular use of Nualgi will maintain the DO level.

The aerobic bacteria breakdown the organic matter into base constituents and this becomes food for the diatoms. Thus diatoms and aerobic bacteria have a symbiotic relationship – Diatoms provide the oxygen required by bacteria and the bacteria provide the food required by the diatoms.

The cost of 1 kg of Nualgi is just Rs. 275/- and this treats about 4 million litres of water, thus cost of aeration is just Rs. 0.07 per kilo litre.

Use of electric powered aerators also results in emission of Carbon dioxide by the power plants. Whereas use of biological aeration results in absorption of Carbon dioxide by the diatoms.

Useful links

http://www.ilec.or.jp/

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/fisheries/420-252/420-252.html

http://www.issha.org/index.php

http://carbonsequestration.blogspot.com/

http://www.cleantech.com/news/2635/climos-hires-tetra-tech-for-environmental-analysis

http://www.planktos-science.com/

http://www.climos.com/aboutus.php

NUALGI - SOLUTION TO POLLUTION

Nualgi
Solution to Pollution
Solution to human waste treatment (Water pollution)
Solution to Carbon dioxide emissions and Global Warming (Air pollution)
By product – fish (increase in food availability)
www.nualgi.com/new and www.kadambari.net
* * *
Key Words – Phyto-remediation, bio-remediation, wastewater treatment, sewage
treatment, lake remediation, aeration, diatom algae, water pollution, polluted lakes.
* * *

All of us contribute to sewage and pollution.

We generate waste and flush it down the drain and it flows out as sewage.
In Indian cities one person generates about 100 litres of sewage per day.

We burn fossil fuel -
for conveyance – two wheelers, cars, buses, trains and aeroplanes,
LPG for cooking, and
electricity at home and office.
50 litres of petrol releases 150 kgs of carbon dioxide and 1 kWh of electricity from coal fired thermal power plants results in 0.8 kgs (Avg) of carbon dioxide emission.

The Problem:
Disposal of human waste is becoming a great challenge day by day. Rapid urbanization has increased the amount of sewage and higher population density has reduced the space available to set up STPs. Pumping and treatment of sewage is very expensive and lack of adequate sewage treatment facilities is resulting in pollution of lakes and rivers.

Higher CO2 in the atmosphere is leading to global warming.

The Solution :
Now there is a simple and effective solution within the reach of everyone to contribute directly to the cleaning up of sewage and to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere – NUALGI.

You are aware that aforestation leads to cleaner air, similar results can be achieved by growing algae in water. Algae are aquatic plants that also use photosynthesis to absorb CO2 and release oxygen.

Higher oxygen levels in water enable aerobic bacteria to grow and these breakdown organics in sewage into the base constituents, these are consumed by plankton or become harmless sludge.

What is Nualgi?

Nualgi is a plant nutrient in Nano particle size and this is used to grow diatom algae in any water including water polluted with sewage. It has micronutrients (P, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, S, Co, Mo, Si) in nano form (20 nano meters to 150 nano meters in size) and these are easily absorbed by the microscopic diatom algae (0.05 to 0.5 mm in size).

Diatom algae are aquatic plants that undergo photosynthesis and absorb carbon and release oxygen and they also consume nutrients like nitrates and phosphates, thus removing them from the water body.

Diatoms have a silica body and are eaten by zooplankton, these are in turn consumed by fishes, higher fish population attracts birds, thus polluted lakes and rivers are restored to their original glory.

Green and Blue Green Algae have a cellulose body and hence cannot be consumed by Zooplankton. Thus when these proliferate in polluted lakes the lakes become green in colour and smell due to the decaying organics and algae.

Nualgi dispersed in water looks like a solution but has very fine particles of the size estimated to be 20 to 150 nanometers. The particles are not visible to the naked eye or under compound microscope.

Nualgi is made by a complex process. The product has been patented, Indian patent no. 209364 dated 27/08/2007. PCT Patent has been also been granted.