AMANORA Park Town - Pune

The Amanora Park Town case study is one of the five case studies of the invalid link in urban sites of India. The treatment system is located in a residential area within Amanora Park Town, a sprawling 400 acre township located in Pune (the second largest city of the state of Maharashtra). Pune shows typical features of the ongoing water crisis suffered in urban areas of India, such as many inhabitants having no or only limited access to safe water resources, or only a fraction of the generated wastewater being treated. 

Amanora Park Town already has a local sewage treatment plant (STP) treating 3.5 million litres per day (MLD) at present. The technologies implemented through this project made use of these existing installations: pre-treated water from the existing STP is being pumped to a common buffer tank and from there to the Sequence Batch Reactor (SBR) or Membrane Bioreactor (MBR), respectively. The SBR is a variation of the well-known activated sludge system, but undertaking carbon degradation, conversion of ammonia to nitrate (nitrification) and conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas (denitrification) in a single reactor tank. All steps occur along a specified sequence of aerobic and anoxic periods, followed by settling and decanting to separate treated water from active biomass. The MBR is a combination of biological treatment (normally aerobic, although anaerobic is also possible) with membrane filtration. The retention of biomass is not achieved by settling, but by using a membrane as a physical barrier. Not only biomass is retained but also viruses and bacteria (depending on pore size). Treated water from both systems is collected in a treated water tank and fully available to feed the reuse network (garden irrigation and toilet flushing, taking place in the proximities of the treatment plant and residential buildings).

General data provided for the design of the treatment system corresponded to the following aspects:

• Water resources: 120 l/p.e.day and 30 gBOD/p.e.day
• People equivalent: 205 PE
• Flow: 30 m³/day
• Type of reuse: gardening and flushing
• Energy supply: 380/3/50 V/Phases/Hz

Certain adaptations of the technologies were essential to enhance their applicability in India, focusing on aspects such as reduced energy demands and lower maintenance requirements (achieved via low energy membranes, hydrostatic filtration, simplified reactor designs, etc.). All construction materials and most of the equipment used for this treatment system (e.g. pumps, motors, blowers, probes, etc.) are available in India. Only specific parts such as tailor made membranes (for MBR) were shipped from Europe, however, may also be provided in India.

Since the inauguration of the site, the treatment performance is being continuously monitored, demonstrating the potential of such compact technical systems. In order to foster sustainable operation and maintenance (O&M) of the implemented systems, a risk-of-failure-oriented NaWaTech safety and Operation and Maintaining planning is applied. Preventative, technology-focused O&M schemes are being developed (including stakeholder involvement). Major objective of safety and O&M planning is to overcome shortcomings of conventional O&M for establishing effective and more informed and target-oriented O&M and trouble-shooting routines.