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| Guidelines
on Construction, Operation and Application of RootZone Treatment Systems for the
Treatment of Municipal Industrial WasteWater |
| Foreword
Rootzone Treatment Systems (RZTS) use natural processes to effectively treat domestic
& industrial effluents. This technology was developed during the seventies
in Germany and since then spread out all over the world. The process incorporates
the self-regulating dynamics of a specially designed soil eco-system. RZTS are
by now well known in temperate climates and are easy to operate on-site treatment
facilities, which involve less installation, maintenance and operational costs
than the conventional treatment methods. Also RZTS offer cost effective options
for decentralization of wastewater treatment.
The term Rootzone encompasses
the interactions of various species of bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms,
the roots of wetland plants (helophytes), filter bed media, sun and, of
course, water. The helophytes
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conduct oxygen
through their stems into their root systems and create favourable conditions for
the growth of aerobic microorganisms. Since the process occurs in a deep filter
bed, aerobic and anaerobic zones exist side by side. The wastewater enters the
root zone horizontally or vertically and it passes through the system where the
organic pollutants are decomposed biochemically by the microorganisms present
in the rhizosphere of the helophytes. The filter bed media are selected or mixed
carefully to provide favourable conditions for both plants and bacterial growth
and to ensure optimum hydraulic load.
To investigate the efficiency of
Rootzone Treatment Systems in warm climates, a pilot project in collaboration
with the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) has been set up at Mother Dairy,
Delhi to treat the dairy wastewater. On the basis of data collected from the Mother
Dairy project as well as from other plants in India and abroad, Guidelines for
Construction, Use, Operation & Maintenance were elaborated by a Committee
set up for this purpose under the Chairmanship of Dr. K.R. Ranganathan. The contributions
of the members and experts of this Committee and the support by the management
and the staff of Mother Dairy are gratefully acknowledged. We hope, this document
will be useful for municipalities, panchayats, individual house owners and industries.
However, this document presents the present state of knowledge of application
of RZTS in tropical climate and it will be updated periodically with growing experience
and availability of a larger database in India. |
Dilip Biswas Chairman, CPCB | |
