Minister On How Nuclear Technology Is Helping Maintain Hygiene At Kumbh

There is "no sign of any disease outbreak" at the Maha Kumbh even though millions are taking a bath at Prayagraj, asserted the country's science minister, attributing it to the wonders of nuclear technology.

It is estimated that by now more than 500 million have taken a bath at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the lost river Saraswati. To put this massive number in perspective -- it is more than the combined populations of USA and Russia.

"More than 50 crore devotees have already visited and yet no sign of hygiene disruption or epidemic risk," said Science minister Dr Jitendra Singh -- also the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office - who visited the Sangam yesterday.

A trained diabetologist and a practicing physician, Dr Singh called it a "Herculean task".

This unique feat has been made possible thanks to the deployment of unique Indian sewage treatment plants that have been pioneered by the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), Mumbai, and the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam.

Both institutions are affiliated to the Department of Atomic Energy.
A sewage treatment system named Hybrid granular Sequencing Batch Reactors or hgSBR technology has been deployed at the Maha Kumbh.

The plants use microbes to treat the dirty water and are often called Fecal Sludge Treatment Plants. The technology has been researched and developed by Dr Venkat Nancharaiah, who works at DAE.

Plants set up on the banks of the River Ganga can treat almost 1.5 lakh liters of sewage a day at the Maha Kumbh site. 

The technology uses bacteria-laden granules (bio-beads) based treatment as a sustainable biological treatment alternative for waste water treatment plants (WWTP) over activated sludge systems due to high biomass retention, superior settling and treatment properties. 

The granules-based system can significantly cut-down the costs due to lower land footprint, lesser infrastructure and lower operational costs. 

For implementation, a novel method was developed for cultivating bio-beads - a combination of biofilms and granules -- from wastewater-microbes. 

Apart from superior treatment, it can lower the land footprint and costs by up to 60 per cent and 30 per cent. 

The benefits are huge as compared to the conventional process. 

It cuts down the volume of biological treatment tanks by up to 20 per cent as compared to conventional sequencing batch reactors (SBRs). 
It can help in accelerated bridging of the gap between sewage generation and treatment capacity in the country.

This is a remarkable achievement since earlier, Kumbh's cholera and dysentery outbreaks were quite common, owing to open defecation and dirty water. 

This year the Uttar Pradesh Government has made 1.5 lakh toilets at the mela site.

There are 11 permanent sewage treatment plants and three temporary ones, which are catering to the huge outflow of sewage at the mela site. 

Clean drinking water is being supplied through more than 200 water automatic dispensing machines.