Bangalore: The Airport is located quite far from the city, about 30 km away. To boot, it is located in what was called a ‘dark zone’ by the Central Ground Water Board, meaning groundwater was being exploited beyond recharge potential. An airport needs water, and plenty of it. So, what did it do?
For one it requested and sourced fresh water from the city paying Rs. 66 a kilo-litre, a high price which gave the water utility supplying it some monies. This fresh water is limited to about 1.5 million litres daily. It then did a smarter thing: it bought tertiary treated waste-water (two million litres daily), paying Rs. 25 a kilo-litre. This was separately stored and used for the vast beautiful landscape springing around, a huge bio-diversity of plants and even a small wetland.
For the internal waste-water generated, it set up its own sewage treatment plant using the extended aeration system. This treated water is then reused for flushing the toilets on the airport premises as well as for the air cooling systems. The sludge generated from the sewage treatment plant is composted and reused as manure for the landscaped area.
Runways and the area surrounding them generate large quantities of storm-water when it rains. It is therefore very important that this run-off be collected and quickly disposed of and flooding avoided.
06/06/14 S. Vishwanath/The Hindu
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For one it requested and sourced fresh water from the city paying Rs. 66 a kilo-litre, a high price which gave the water utility supplying it some monies. This fresh water is limited to about 1.5 million litres daily. It then did a smarter thing: it bought tertiary treated waste-water (two million litres daily), paying Rs. 25 a kilo-litre. This was separately stored and used for the vast beautiful landscape springing around, a huge bio-diversity of plants and even a small wetland.
For the internal waste-water generated, it set up its own sewage treatment plant using the extended aeration system. This treated water is then reused for flushing the toilets on the airport premises as well as for the air cooling systems. The sludge generated from the sewage treatment plant is composted and reused as manure for the landscaped area.
Runways and the area surrounding them generate large quantities of storm-water when it rains. It is therefore very important that this run-off be collected and quickly disposed of and flooding avoided.
06/06/14 S. Vishwanath/The Hindu
