Bangalore: The
BWSSB is working on a project to generate electricity from sewage. In a
pilot project, at Rs 220 crore, power will be generated using sewage in
Kora­mangala-Challaghatta valley and will be used to run the sewage
treatment plant at the same station.

In a first of its kind
project, the BW­SSB is planning to use sewage being collected in
K&C Valley. “We expect the project to start generating 1 kilo watt
power by mid 2015. The power will be used to a sewage treatment plant of
60 MLD capacity,” a BWSSB official said.

The project is being
done with financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation
Agency, whi­ch is already funding some of BWSSB’s projects. The BWSSB is
also working with a Singapore firm on building capacity in treating
waste water for household use in the future.  

Ideally, the sewage
generated by a city should be comparable to the water supplied to it.
In Bangalore, the sewage reaching the water bodies is less than 18 per
cent. When asked whether and how the power generation unit will have
enough sewage to operate, the official said: “Firstly, to generate 1.05
KW power that we aim to generate in the pilot project does not require
too much sewage. Also, with Agara, Sarakki and other lakes which drain
into K&C Valley, an adequate quantity of sewage should not be a
problem.”