The SWINGS project: Optimising waste water treatment in India

The Safeguarding Water resources in INdia with Green and Sustainable technologies (SWINGS) project was conceptualised to address the challenges faced by Indian water supply. The SWINGS project is an EU/India joint venture. DHI DK – one of the EU partners – is implementing sustainable pathogen monitoring methods in the disinfection step of waste water treatment. Thus, we are effectively contributing to sustainable and low-cost waste water management in India and consequently helping to meet rural Indian demand for safe water.

Water resources are scarce in India and they face various challenges. The sustainability of rural and urban water supply in many regions of the country is constantly threatened by: 

• a decreasing ground water table
• worsening ground water quality

Although sustainable and low-cost waste water treatment technologies are available, it is necessary to demonstrate them in an Indian context. An EU consortium has been formed to help align the known waste water treatment technologies to an Indian set-up.

The consortium consists of suppliers of leading technology and know-how. The main goal of the SWINGS project is to generate optimised municipal waste water treatment concepts. It hopes to do this by combining ‘green’ and sustainable technologies for:

• provision of safe water
• enhancing water recycling and reuse
• decreasing energy demand
• utilising beneficial by-products from the process as a secondary resource