As the number of devotees visiting the temple increases, so was the wastewater generated and the Sri Guru Narasimha Temple at Saligrama in Udupi district was no exception to this norm.
With the number of devotees visiting every day touching an average 500 and about 4,000 on Saturdays, the temple located between Udupi and Kundapur abutting National Highway 66 had been facing the stupendous task of managing wastewater. Since wastewater was being discharged behind the temple, it used to affect the agriculture fields adjacent to it too.
A few months ago, the temple managing committee decided to go ahead with the wastewater recycling plant using the latest technology. A Bengaluru-based firm offered to provide 50 kilolitres/day capacity treatment plant.
Designed on Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR), the plant can be operated in a batch mode with aeration and sludge settlement both occurring in the same tank. The SBR tank carries out the functions of equalisation aeration and sedimentation in time sequence rather than in the conventional space sequence of continuous flow system.
Temple managing committee president K. Anantapadmanabha Aithal told The Hindu that the plant is operated at regular intervals depending upon the quantity of wastewater generated. The plant set up at a cost of about Rs. 30 lakh is partially sponsored by Karnataka Bank Ltd.
The plant has come up on a rather small place. The recycled water is stored in a tank and utilised for watering the gardens, Mr. Aithal said.
He said that the Sri Guru Narasimha Temple is the first temple in Udupi district to deploy a wastewater treatment plant.
Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district which attracts thousands of devotees every day commissioned a 25 lakh l/day waste water recycling plant a couple of years ago.
