Denmark experts conducting pilot study for optimisation of wastewater treatment plant in Delhi

New Delhi, May 29 (PTI) Experts from Denmark have partnered with the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to conduct a pilot study for optimising the performance of an existing wastewater plant in the national capital, officials at the Danish Embassy said.
     The study which began at the Coronation Pillar plant in Delhi early this year is expected to conclude in three months.
    "This is an ongoing pilot study that focuses on optimising the performance of an existing wastewater treatment plant in Delhi by employing advanced Danish expertise and smart software solutions," Rasmus Abildgaard Kristensen, Denmark's Ambassador to India, told reporters here.
     The project aims to demonstrate how intelligent monitoring and control systems can enhance energy efficiency, enabling the plant to operate as energy-neutral or even energy positive, he said.
     The envoy said by leveraging cutting-edge digital technologies, the initiative highlights Denmark's leadership in sustainable wastewater management and provides a replicable model for improving resource efficiency in India's urban infrastructure.
     "What we are trying to showcase here is the opportunity you have with wastewater treatment plants to make them, transition them from being major energy consumers," he added.
     In India many municipalities or public utilities operating wastewater treatment plants consume an enormous amount of electricity, he said.
    "It is expensive and it takes precious electricity away from other tasks in society and it creates carbon emissions. So we want to transfer them from being energy consumers to being energy positive so that the wastewater treatment plants actually produces energy instead of consuming it."
    "The study is to show how that is done. Not only that it can be done technically, but also it can be done in a way where the payback time of the solutions you implement are relatively short," he said.
     From a cost-benefit perspective, too, it makes perfect sense to do it, Kristensen added.
     The ambassador said the Indo-Danish collaboration in water sector forms a cornerstone of the Green Strategic Partnership (GSP) between India and Denmark.
     Strengthening integrated and sustainable water management in Rajasthan; deploying smart metres and IoT-based solutions for maintenance of rural water supply systems; national ground water mapping; under smart water modelling and reducing non-revenue water loss in water stressed Indian cities, are among the ongoing collaboration initiatives in the sector between India and Denmark.
     The Indo-Danish Smart Laboratory for Clean Rivers (SLCR) at IIT BHU has also been established in partnership with National Mission for Clean Ganga and Danish company, Ramboll.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)