In attempts to develop a cost-effective water treatment plant, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), along with four universities from India and Canada, are working to create a system that uses agricultural waste to remove heavy metals and other pollutants.
This sustainable system will also include floodplain filtration technique which will include the usage of plants and microbes apart from rice husk for purifying the flood water. This water can be further used for irrigation purposes.
“The innovative floodplain system will be optimised at a pilot level at Buddha Nallah in Ludhiana, where we have already selected highly-polluted sites,” Neeta Raj Sharma, chief of bioengineering & biosciences department at Lovely Professional University.
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Rs 4.5 crore has been awarded for the ‘green technology’ project by an India-Canada research centre that is being developed as an alternative to normal sewage treatment plants. Notably, the India-Canada Centre for Innovation Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability (IC-IMPACTS) was established for collaboration between the two countries in scientific research.
Apart from the IARI, Lovely Professional University in Punjab, Amrita University in Tamil Nadu along with McGill University and Guelph University from Canada will be involved in the water treatment plant project.
