ECO-India: Innovative solutions for sustainable community-based water supply

ECO-India stands for energy efficient community-based water and wastewater treatment systems for deployment in India. Eco-India was supported by the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Directorate-General for Research & Innovation from the European Commission (FP7). The project developed a sustainable, innovative, environmental friendly and cost effective water supply system for arsenic-affected water-stressed regions in India. The two consortia, Indian (DST) and European (FP7), have established pilot schemes for:

• Sustainable catchment area and reservoir management
• Surface water supply schemes based on solar power
• Arsenic removal (including monitoring using UFZ’s field-tested Arsolux arsenic sensor)
• Disinfection treatment for potable water based on Trustwater’s CE-certified mixed-oxidant generation systems
• Water distribution network, sewerage and wastewater treatment together with online/offline water quality monitoring programmes
• In addition, prototype energy-efficient modules for water deionisation and heavy metal removal were developed and a feasibility study performed to assess the potential for energy harvesting from sludge.