As per standards laid down by the CPHEEO (Central Public Health Environmental & Engineering Organisation), the fresh water consumption per day per person should be between 135 to 150 litres per day. It is officially expressed as “litres per capita daily” (lpcd). By and large public water supply and sewerage bodies/authorities all across the country use the former figure to work out probable water consumption.

Waste generation in a residential complex:

When water is consumed by people living in a residential complex without access to an underground sewerage/drainage system , the amount consumed is estimated to be 135 lpcd. The total quantity (No. of residents X 135 litres) comes into a sewage treatment plant(STP) in the premises, and , this total volume has to be treated by the STP.

In a vast majority of cases, the actual waste generated exceeds this figure comfortably leading to overloading of the STP. This happens routinely because almost all residential complexes do not install water meters or similar water volume and flow measurement devices to keep track of water consumption in a residential complex/ gated community.

Consequently, when a device is installed and readings monitored, consumption has been found to be double and some times triple the suggested figure of 135 lpcd.

Waste generation in a commercial complex:

Human occupation of this kind of building is only during “duty hours”,i..e for approximately 8 to 10 hours per shift if there is more than a single shift. In this case water consumption is considered as 50 lpcd per person per shift.

Waste water contains all the dissolved minerals present in the fresh water that was used and which became waste water as well as all the other contaminants mentioned above. These are proteins, carbohydrates, oils & fats. These contaminants are degradable and use up oxygen in the degradation process.

Therefore, these are measured in terms of their demand for oxygen which can be established by certain tests in a laboratory. This is called Bio Degradable Oxygen demand(BOD). Some chemicals which also contaminate the water during the process of domestic use also degrade and use oxygen and the test done to establish this demand which is called Chemical Oxgen demand (COD).

Typically a domestic sewage would contain approximately 300 to 450 mg/litre of BOD and COD on an average. Sewage also contains coliform bacteria (e coli) which is harmful to human beings if water containing such bacteria is consumed(drunk). E coli is bacteria that thrives in the intestines of warm blooded creatures such as humans, animals and birds.

Another feature of sewage is the high level of Total Suspended Solids (TSS). This is what gives the sewage a black colour ,hence the name “ black water”. If sewage is allowed to turn septic, it then also has a strong, unpleasant odour.

Much of the water used for domestic purposes does not require potable ( suitable for drinking) water quality. For instance, water used for flushing toilets or for washing floors, yards or roads & gardening does not require to be potable. In a scenario where fresh water is getting increasingly scarce and when enormous volumes of sewage generated in the country are not being treated ,but goes unchecked to pollute fresh water from lakes, rivers and the ground water table, it must be treated.

Discharging untreated sewage into any drains other than an underground sewerage system, or into open land , is an offence and invites prosecution under the laws of all Pollution Control Boards in the country.

Sewage must necessarily be treated correctly and then re-used/re-cycled for various uses that do not need potable water quality. Recycling/re-using treated sewage can reduce fresh water requirements very substantially, by almost 50-60%.

In a scenario where fresh water availability itself is increasingly in doubt this is critical.

Sullage (grey water) which is mentioned above, if collected in a storage tank separately can be treated by aerating it to prevent it from turning septic, and then dosed with a coagulant, chlorinated and then subjected to filtration by pressure sand filtration followed by activated carbon filtration and stored in a separate overhead tank or tanks from which it can be used for flushing toilets and other uses where fresh or potable water is not required.

However, the current practice is to combine sullage and sewage (black water) and treat the mixture in an STP (Sewage treatment plant). This practice has come in predominantly to reduce the cost of construction of two separate plants and because space is now at a premium in any building.