Dharmasthala goes green with units for treating waste water

MANGALURU: Temple town of Dharmasthala ushered in a new system on Sunday that recycles waste water generated from various guest houses. Once purified, the water can be used for agriculture purposes. Inaugurating the new system set up at a cost of Rs 1 crore, minister for environment, forest, ecology and DK district in-charge, B Ramanath Rai, said that a scheme will be formulated to replicate this model in one town municipality and one gram panchayat with government funds.
Noting this to be an environment-friendly move, Rai said if town municipality and the gram panchayat so chosen under the pilot, utilize the equipment needed for water purifying and maintain the total system well, they will be rewarded. The government will then think of extending the project to the rest of the state, he added.
Rai also said that he would discuss on the modalities of the project with officials concerned shortly and orders will be passed to implement the scheme on a pilot-basis.
Noting that such water purification units can be dovetailed into multi-village drinking water schemes, he said if recycled waste water is made available for agriculture purposes, then availability of potable drinking water will increase.
Further, Nalin Kumar Kateel, DK MP, called this a revolutionary step and observed that scarcity for drinking water could only increase in the future with global warming.
Presiding over the function, the dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, D Veerendra Heggade, said the water purification unit has been set up under the concept of cleanliness followed at the kshetra.
The unit treats waste water from dining halls, guest houses and other sources, he said, adding that it will also take every possible step to ensure that cleanliness is maintained not only in the kshetra, but also in Dharmasthala village.
D Harshendra Kumar, younger brother of Heggade, said the new purification unit will purify sewage and waste water from 1,790 toilets and 1,406 bathrooms, where 25 lakh litres of water is used everyday on an average.
This water post-purification will be used for agriculture, he said. Heggade felicitated Pavan Kumar Jain, Shaila Aiyer and Gopi from Bengaluru, who helped in setting up the water purification unit.
BBC to shoot documentary
Meanwhile, BBC and a television channel from Germany, showed interest in the daily mass feeding that goes on at the kshetra, said Heggade, adding that the TV crew is expected to come shortly to shoot the processes involved.
He also said that the documentary, which will be aired later, will give global recognition to the best practices and pro-people policies, which are followed at the temple town and attracts people from far.