Hi Elisabeth,

My take is liquid waste includes any water not originating from toilets/septic tanks. Therefore, it includes water from kitchens and bathrooms. Water from toilets/septic tanks is considered black water and covered separately.

Liquid waste management is considered along with solid waste (plastics, mostly) management in SBM 2.

Hope this helps. If there are other views, happy to hear them.

Regards
Nitya

Hi Elisabeth,

From my understanding based on Swachh Bharat Mission documents available online, it seems the liquid waste refers to both greywater and septage. Septage here refers to the effluent from containment (septic tanks/pits). This thread of discussions  focuses on the greywater part alone.

From Primer SLWM
"Waste
Waste is any item beyond use in its current form and discarded as unwanted. It can be solid or liquid with respective management methods.

Solid Waste
In rural areas, examples of solid waste include wastes from kitchens, gardens, cattle sheds, agriculture, and materials such as metal, paper, plastic, cloth, and so on. They are organic and inorganic materials with no remaining economic value to the owner produced by homes, commercial, and industrial establishments.

Liquid Waste
When water is used once and is no longer fit for human consumption or any other use, it is considered to be a liquid waste. Wastewater can be subcategorized as industrial and domestic:
 Industrial wastewater is generated by manufacturing processes and is difficult to treat.
 Domestic wastewater includes water discharged from homes, commercial complexes, hotels, and educational institutions." 


I feel wastewater has been mentioned as "liquid waste" so that it might be easier for a general audience to differentiate different wastes that are generated in a rural community. Correct me if I'm wrong. 


Best regards,
Vasanth.

Hi Nitya and all,

Just a small question from someone outside of India: why is the Indian government now using the term "liquid waste" instead of simply "grey water" for SBM Phase 2? Is liquid waste in this context meant to be exactly that same as grey water? If so, then why invent a new term?

Also what would they call the effluent from septic tanks? I would call it "partially treated domestic wastewater". Do they also call it "liquid waste" or is it excluded from the discussion as it contains fecal matter and is therefore not "grey water"?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Posted on behalf of Rajiv Sinha:

I developed an INNOVATIVE VERMIFILRATION TECHNOLOGY for management of LIQUID WASTES (WASTEWATERS) by EARTHWORMS at Griffith University, Australia in 2005.
 
Several VERMIFILTER PLANTS are Operating in Gujarat & Maharashtra & the CLEAN WATER (Disinfected & Detoxified) is being used for Farm & Garden IRRIGATION saving HUGE GROUNDWATER of India.
 
Tell this to Ms. Sandhya Haribal & FORWARD my Mail to her with the attachment. See my 30 mins. VEDIOFILM on YOU-TUBE - ‘Wastewater Treatment by Earthworms- RajivSinha’.   She can contact the CEO & Tech. Manager of TRANSPEK Company in Gujarat who commercialized my Technology with great SCIENTIFIC IMPROVEMENTS. 

With Best Wishes
Prof. Dr. Rajiv K Sinha
Environmental Scientist & Retd.Assoc. Professor, Griffith University, AUSTRALIA

Posted on behalf of T K Das:

The  following  may  please   be  noted in  respect  of   Liquid  Waste  Management in  rural  India:

1. Best  method  of    managing  

“grey  water  “ from  bath room  “,waste  water from   cleaning  of  utensils   and  cloths “would  be  to   dispose   off  the waste  water    in  the   “kitchen  garden” of respective   households , which  would  also provide  water  required  for  irrigation  and 
no   waste   water  would    be required  to  be   disposed  off   in the  drains.

The  grey  water  can  also  be  disposed  off   in  the  household premises  as  well  by  constructing  a simple  soak  pit  (with  layers  of  rocks (bigger  size  at  the  lower  level ,followed by   smaller  size  rocks  ,pieces  of bricks, sands  etc.). Link  of  video  (

) method of  constructing   soak  pit  for  grey water  in  Jamuna  Nagar  of  Haryana.

As   per  a  report  of Quartz  ( qz.com/india/661119/toilets-toilets-ever...re-does-the-shit-go/ )shows  proportion  of  Indian  villages  with waste  water  disposal  (No-arrangment-44.4%), Pakki Nali-36.7 %;Kachi  Nali -19%). (2)The  main concern  is  with   the   “black  water “ from septic tank(32  % are septic  tank  &  41  % are  single  pit  toilets  in  rural  India  -as  per Quality Council of  India ( QCI)-Ministry  of   Drinking Water  &  Sanitation Study  2017) in  rural  areas  ,in most  peri-urban villages and  substantive proportion  of    villages  of  rural  areas.

Most   septic  tank toilets ( 32%) and  single  pit (41%) toilets   are  not connected  by    sewer  line  to  STPs of  cities  and  towns  .The  black  water from   septic  tank  is mostly   drained out  to  drains  that  pass  through village   ,where  even  children  play
near   drains    and some  villages households  even dispose black  water   off  in open  space  near  the  toilets .Although recommendation  is  to  construct  soak  pit along  with  septic  tank  toilets  ,mostly during  NBA  or  SBM(G)  soak pits  were 
not  built  along  with  septic  tank toilets. If  there is  space  soak pit  can  still    be  built ; but  in most   households  in  per-urban  areas there  will  not  be  space  for  building  soak pit  with  each  septic  tank. In  that case only  method  left  is  to  carry  “black water”  from  septic  tank  and  treat  in “Waste   Stabilization  Ponds  “,where  ever there  is    space  for  three  to 
four  tanks  in  the  village.

As  a  best  practice  example  in  “Patoda” GP  of  Maharashtra, all  drains  are  covered   andlead  to  a  Waste  Stabilization  Pond  System  consisting  of     six   tanks  (in  lieu  of  ponds)   and grey  water  households   are   poured in  the  first  tank    and  subsequently   treated  from  first  to second   …..to  6^th  tank   and   finally   pumped  out  to community   gardens .BOD  &  COD  of treated  water found  to  be 13  and 44 respectively.

In  Punjab  Waste  Stabilization  Pond”  have  been  constructed in  substantive  number ( cdn.cseindia.org/userfiles/Mohd%20Ishfaq...ct-DWSS%20Punjab.pdf )of villages   in  convergence  of  fund  under 
SLWM  in  SBM(G)   and  “Sustainability “fund under  NRDWP.

In  most   villages  community  mostly  favor  C.C. road , but  it  does  not facilitate    percolation  of   rain  water  down wards   and  obvious recharging hence,  awareness campaign   and   advocacy  initiative  at  policy  level  should   be  mounted 
 for  construction  of  roads  with  boulders in  lieu  of  CC  road   ,which  facilitate  percolation  of  rain  water  and  recharging.
(56)The  best  method  of  getting  rid  of “black  water “  from septic  tank   (where tanks  are  off  the  toilet   structure) and   even  lifting  of  fecal  sludge ,if space  for  even a  single  pit,  then even  one  pit  may  be  divided  by a sealed  wall (extended  by  1 ft  below  the bottom  level of  pit  ) and  connecting two pits  via  a  Junction  Box  with  pipe coming  out  from bottom  of  pan  trap .The tank  may  be  discarded.  Through  a  training on  “retrofitting”  in  a  few  toilets  of Haryana  in   Nilokheri  block  this  has been  demonstrated  (6^th  February, 2020)during training (TOT) of  60  engineers  from  all district  of  Haryana  (for  septic  tank and  single  pit  toilets  .This  will  not only  solve disposal  of  black  water from septic  tank ,but  fecal  sludge ,at  least where  there  is  space  available for at  least one  pit   and tank  is  off the toilet   structure. Interested person can read  an article  ( www.linkedin.com/post/edit/6696047141992857600/ ) in Linked in.         
 
Dr.T,K. Das
Independent  Consultant ,WASH [Former   National  Resource  Center (NRC)  Consultant
Department of  Drinking  Water  &  Sanitation (MDWS  )&
Former  State   Consultant ,UNICEF   (Rajasthan , Chhattisgarh  &  West Bengal) ,WASH

Posted on behalf of Ravishankar Sunkadakatte:

My views of the said subject are as below.
 

• Any proposed treatment of LW (liquid waste) must follow "principle of subsidiarity" LW
  must be treated at the household level, community and village at the same
  sequence. It should be noted that treatment at the HH (household)  /
  community level will happen only if there is subsidy or outside funding.

• Type of treatment proposed must be simple and should be able to be built by local contractors /
  mysteries. Any component having energy guzzlers and having
  intensive O&M will not work. I have seen people removing the
  plants of the planted reed bed and using the gravel surface for drying
  their cloths. They found it is maintenance intensive and were scared of
  snakes and other creatures in the reed bed.

• Treatment proposed depends on a number of factors.

1. area available at the HH / community 
2. soil type
3. water table
4. nearness to any underground source of water
5. Socio-economic conditions of the (HH, community or village)
6. Capex as well as O&M requirements
7. Reuse potential of the treated LW
8. Flood frequency

• Model drawings / estimates for different hydro-geological conditions shall be made available at the
  Panchayat Raj department. The drawings shall be self explanatory (like
  twin pit toilets, septic tank+soak pits,etc).
• In case of construction at the HH level, the household itself / mistry will do everything. In case of
  community / village level intervention,  village water committee will
  supervise these activities. PR engineers from block level / district level
  cal lend technical support  during execution.
• Demonstration units at the regional level will make things better.

Thanks,
Ravishankar

Dear members,

In the discussion liquid waste management in the SwachhBharat Mission 2 guidelines, we have received a few responses. Please do respond to this discussion over the next few days. The responses received so far are summarised below.

Sandhya Haribal, Project Manager in Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination (CDD) Society said guidelines with respect to liquid waste management (LWM) propose soak/leach pits as the most effective and simple greywater management solutions. They are not universally usable. In coastal rural areas, there are instances of water from open wells being contaminated as water tables are high and most people use dug-wells. They are impractical in peri-urban areas owing to a lack space. In dry and arid regions with low water tables and high temperatures, greywater dries up or is absorbed in the open drains before reaching  outfall points.

The construction of concrete roads with no or poorly planned drains causes water-logging and stagnation. Often, differences in levels between intersecting drains are the culprit. People dump garbage in drains, making the problem worse. The guidelines leaves the selection of a solution up to local planning officials. They will need support from the Districts  or Block units so that the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) can choose the most suitable technology, management protocol and implement the same on the ground. The people who usually prepare Village Development Plans are local officials or panchayat members with little or no capacity to understand nuances of engineering or planning. They usually depend on external consultants (if there is a budget available to hire one) or on the local PRED (Panchayat Raj Engineering Division) or Public Works Department (PWD) teams, which often propose conventional, urban-centric solutions.

Sandhya posed the following questions to the forum:

1. Who monitors the quality of design and construction of rural infrastructure such as wastewater treatment systems, drains and roads?
2. Are there technically competent team/s at the District or Block levels for this, and how can the capacities of the existing Engineering/Planning  Divisions at these levels be built up?
3. Are there existing capacity building programmes to plug in this particular gap or any other existing Institutional structure that can support such activities?

 In response, Arun kumar, a District WASH Consultant with UNICEF said the guidelines indicate grey water is wastewater from kitchens and bathrooms, that have no faecal content. He described a greywater management plant recently installed in Lodra village of Gujarat. This is a pilot DEWATS system using a 3-stage process: primary filtration, sedimentation, Anaerobic Baffled Reactor and a planted reedbed. The treated water can be reused for irrigation. It uses no external source. There were the following issues with setting up the plant:

1. The panchayat or the taluka, or the District Rural Development Agency refused  to take the ownership of the plant
2. The convergence mentioned through MGNREGA was not applicable as the workers  under MGNREGA were unskilled labourers
3. The DBOT (Design, Build, operate and transfer) contract needs to be revisited
4. The MGNREGA workers need training if the panchayat plans to handle the O&M by itself in future
5. The villagers need to instructed to stop throwing plastic bottles in the open drains along with construction
6. In some villages, septic tank outfalls are let into drains; this needs to stop
7. Frequent water testing to check the treated water meets the standards need to be done
8. The state, district and taluka engineers need to be trained to evaluate a grey water design submitted by the contractor
9. Site selection for any plant is an important as the site selected lies in a low line area and frequent flooding of water occurs during monsoon.
10. Rainwater needs to diverted from the site for LWM

S Vishwanath gave an example from village Minijenahalli, Kolar District, Karnataka. Asha, an NGO worker, got a farmer and some workers together. The village drain was cleaned of silt and other debris. The farmer provided a tractor and a trailer to pick up the silt and take it to his farm to be used as soil conditioner.

The grey water plus cow wash water was drained into a farm pond which the farmer had built with government assistance. It had a debris trap at the entrance. The greywater aerates in the sun for a few days and is then pumped to the field for irrigation using drip irrigation. The farmer maintains the drain since he stands to gain. In the semi-arid landscape of Kolar, water is gold.  Residents have agreed to cooperate by not throwing garbage into the drain. Their benefit will be a reduction in vector borne diseases. The whole activity cost Asha ₹ 2,000.

Other villages have taken up this model. It is a striking partnership among villagers and shows how low cost solutions can be found. The trick is to expand the solution space with innovative local solutions as much as possible and not to imagine difficulties in general all around. Specific context based difficulties will need specific solutions. If the whole village and farmers are involved in finding solutions and many problems will appear. Instead, if a solution like DEWATS is imposed on villagers, one will struggle to keep finding ways to run the system and keep on blaming somebody or the other.

Ajit Seshadri said village officers and elected representatives would monitor the quality and design of construction. Decentralisation was the solution to liquid waste management. Community Business Mechanisms could cover expenses and generate a surplus for maintenance. Grey water treated in a decentralised manner would be usable in irrigation. As part of the community outreach and education, people could be discouraged from using chemical cleaners to simplify designs of DEWATS plants. Regarding technical competencies at different levels, he said even if NGOs and SHGs existed, there was a lack of political will and desire on the part of local bodies.

Dear SusanA Members,
Will try to answer the questions as best as possible: 
1.     Who monitors the quality of design and construction of rural infrastructure such as wastewater treatment
systems, drains and roads?
WWT Plants, ssm, drains and roads- leading to all infras, these are dealt with By :
Village ROs, Elected Heads, or Village Panch, persons, There is always a cash crunch, plans, and bodies are there but if finances cannot be met, then it cannot  be done.
Therefore, totally decentralised, or localised versions will work, ie each individual HHs are dealing with SLWM, and gainfully used.
CBM- Community Business Mechanisms are evolved, in which the expenses,both Cap-Ex and Op Ex are covered and a certain extra 50% is generated so that each of the initiatives are sustained, certain 10- 20% will be expended to make certain adjustments, O&m and others.
SWM = generates manure on co- composting mode, if  CTCs or others are present,
then WWT can be made anerobic in form of bio-digester
ie BGP= Bio GasPlant, However, the SLWM, bio wastes can be done on vermi or pit- composting  receiving communitybio-wastes and cattle cow-dung and agri-wastes Etc. Worms, when cultured by communities from vermi -pits are used by communities on fish catches  in ponds Etc (where available)
WWT Plnts= Toilet sewage water is dealt with into septic tank, soak-pit .
Wash water from HHs, are planned taken in the decentralised mode, and remedied water is led to agri-farm irrigation,
Efforts can be made so as not to use chemical cleaners, use bio-soaps, “besan”, shikkakai powder Etc.
If soaps are used then use sparingly, WWT Plants Dewats type are made simpler and remedied water can be easily used for agri-farms, 

2.     Are there technically competent team/s at the District or Block levels for this, and how can the capacities of the existing Engineering/Planning Divisions at these levels be built up?
Difficult to  answer , however Even if NGOs and SHGs exist in certain regions. both Political will and desire on the part of LBs, Local Bodies at village level is always lacking, hence the initiatives are difficult to be achieved. 

3.     Are there existing capacity building programmes to plug in this particular gap or any other
existing Institutional structure that can support such activities?;    Difficult to answer .. 

It is seen that at most regions, nothing is done, leading to unhygienic, dirty condition, leading to Public health issues Etc.
Minimal effort if afforded, goes a long way in solving many direct and consequential problems, 

well wishes,
Ajit Seshadri, 
Head- Environment, The Vigyan Vijay Foundation NGO , New Delhi. 


 

The simpler greywater management designs are , the more likely that they will get implemented and maintained.
Here is an example from village Minijenahalli , Kolar District , Karnataka . Asha , an NGO worker , got together a farmer and some workers. The village drain was cleaned and removed of silt and other debris . The farmer provided assistance of a tractor and a trailer to pick up the silt and take it to his farm to be used as soil conditioner.

The grey water plus cow wash water is now led into a farm pond which the farmer has got built with government assistance. The farm pond has a debris trap before entrance. The greywater stocked is allowed to aerate in the sun for a few days and is then pumped to the farmers field for irrigation purpose using drip irrigation. The farmer now maintains the drain since it benefits him with usable water. In a semi arid landscape water is gold.  Residents have agreed to cooperate by not throwing garbage into the drain. They will benefit since no vector borne disease will affect them if they allow no stagnant water. A pandemic has also taught lessons of cleanliness.
  
This model is now being replicated in the other surrounding villages . It cost the NGO that ASHA runs Rs 2000/- to get the whole thing done.
In striking partnerships between village , sludge from the twin leach pits, greywater  , drains and villagers sustainable , low cost solutions can be found. The trick is to expand the solution space with innovative local solutions as much as possible and not to imagine difficulties in general all around. Specific context based difficulties will need specific solutions. 

Involve the village and farmers in finding solutions and many will appear. Find a solution like DEWATS and impose it on villagers and one will struggle to keep finding ways to run the system and keep on blaming somebody or the other.

My two paisa of ground based solutions. 

I am Arunkumar, currently working as a District WASH Consultant with UNICEF. The topic of discussion is relevant in today's context and more consultations are needed for knowledge management and improve the current situation of unhygienic discharge of liquid wastewater. 

First of all, I want to make clear that the guideline states that Grey water is wastewater from kitchen, bathroom that has no faecal content. Further, I would like to describe a greywater management plant recently installed in Lodra village of Gujarat. This greywater management system is a pilot model that follows the principle of DEWATS system. This system uses three stage process, where primary filtration tank is the first stage, sedimentation & Anaerobic Baffled Reactor is the second stage and the third & final stage is the planted reedbed system. The wastewater gets filtered through the three stage and finally reaches the storage tank that could be reused for irrigation and agricultural purpose. 

The government wanted to keep the O&M expenditure as much as minimal. Hence, the plant was designed to operate with no external energy used the gravity technique. 

Based on the experience in installing the plant, I would like to quote points that were difficult to tackle or not till achieved.

1. The panchayat or the taluka, or the District Rural Development Agency refuse to take the ownership of the plant
2. The convergence mentioned through MGNREGA was not applicable as the workers under MGNREGA were unskilled labours who were not able to do work as expected by the contractor
3. The DBOT(Design, Build, operate and transfer) contract need to revisited as the contract design need to show evidence to the panchayat that the treated water could be reused and the panchayat could earn sufficient income from it.
4. The MGNREGA workers skill training is required if the panchayat is planning to handle the O&M by itself in future. (These include understanding on how to plant plantation in the reedbed system, Cleaning of reedbed, placement of course aggregate in appropriate manner (larger ones in the entry, and smaller in the middle), cleaning of ABR tanks, how to add gobar to the ABR tank and when to add and between what time needed to add. So, skill building is an important criteria for panchayat.
5. The villagers also need to sensitised to stop throwing plastic bottles in case of open drains in the villages. In lodra plant, even today large quantities of plastic bottles are flowing through the wastewater channel. 
6. The greywater plant installation should simultaneously go with sensitising the HHs of the villagers, commercial establishment to stop them throwing solid waste into the drain pipes.
7. In some villages, the black water is connected to the grey water which incase need to be separated.
8. Frequent water testing to check the treated water meets the standards need to be done. (For instance every 6 months or earlier if needed)
9. The state, district & taluka level engineers need to be trained to evaluate a grey water design submitted by the contractor. None of the engineers are aware how to calculate a retention time for treatment of wastewater. 
10. Site selection for any plant is an important as the site selected lies in a low line area and frequent flooding of water occurs during monsoon.
11. Rain water needs to diverted from the site for LWM

The above points are summary of issues and concerns that arrived during the implementation of the plant.

I am Sandhya Haribal,  Project Manager in Consortium for DEWATS^TM Dissemination (CDD) Society, with over 17 years’ experience in infrastructure consulting & advisory services particularly in the public-private partnership (PPP) domain & techno-commercial role in the real estate and sanitation sectors. CDD Society is a not-for-profit organization, registered in 2005, that innovates, demonstrates and disseminates decentralized nature-based solutions for the conservation, collection, treatment and reuse of water resources and management of sanitation facilities.
 
On reviewing the SBM 2 guidelines with respect to liquid waste management (LWM), I have made the following observations:
 
The guidelines propose soak/leach pits as the most effective and simple greywater management solutions today. However, in coastal rural areas, it has been observed that given high water tables and reliance of the public on individual household open wells, there are instances of water from open wells getting contaminated. In case of peri-urban areas, there are more acute problems with lack of sufficient space adding to the challenge in planning for such systems. In dry and arid regions on the other hand, it has been observed that low water tables coupled with high temperatures lead to soaking of the greywater in the open drains itself before reaching the outfall points. In many such areas, the developments have been found very dense making it impossible to plan for individual household soak pits. Also, construction of concrete roads (under funded schemes) with poorly planned open drains has led to water logging and stagnation. Improper levels between intersecting drains have been found the culprits in many cases which usually happen on road intersections making them convenient spots to dump solid waste, in the process aggravating the stagnation issues.
 
The guidelines appear to be a prescriptive document which need further contextualization on ground. If the question is whether guidelines provide a sufficient menu of technologies, it does, however, the selection of the ideal solution still rests on the judgement of the local planning officials. Hence, there will be some support required either at the Districts or Block levels so that the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) can choose the most suitable technology, management protocol and implement the same on the ground.
For many years now, PRIs have been preparing individual Village Development Plans for drawing funds towards investment on infrastructure, unless it is created under any Central/State funded Government Schemes. The people who usually prepare these plans are local officials with little or no capacity to understand nuances of engineering or planning. In such cases they usually depend on external consultants (if there is a budget available to hire one) or on the local PRED (Panchayat Raj Engineering Division) or Public Works Department (PWD) teams, which often propose conventional, urban-centric solutions.
 
I would like to request the forum members to consider the following questions –

1. Who monitors the quality of design and construction of rural infrastructure such as wastewater treatment systems, drains and roads?
2. Are there technically competent team/s at the District or Block levels for this, and how can the capacities of the existing Engineering/Planning Divisions at these levels be built up?
3. Are there existing capacity building programmes to plug in this particular gap or any other existing Institutional structure that can support such activities?

Regards
Sandhya

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India recently brought out the strategy and guidelines for SBM Phase 2, 2020-21 to 2024-25 to consolidate gains made in SBM Phase 1, where the goal was eliminating open defecation. The outlay for the period is estimated at ₹ 140,881 crores. In addition to consolidating gains from SBM 1, the second phase focuses on solid and liquid waste management (SLWM).
Like the first phase, the second one also aims to leverage the capacity of individuals and communities in rural India. While ensuring villages remain ODF, SBM 2 aims at providing remaining households with toilets and improving the overall standard of living by better environmental sanitation. Thus, its objectives are

1. Sustaining the gains of SBM-1 and ensuring sustained access to safely managed sanitation for all rural Indians
2. Achieve a clean living environment through SLWM

The elements of the strategy to achieve ODF Plus are stated as under:

1. Sustained usage of Individual Household Latrines(IHHL)
2. Continuous behaviour change communication
3. Ensuring no one is left behind and providing sanitation access to new households (HHs)
4. Sanitation coverage of public spaces (through public and community toilets)
5. Implementation of Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) in rural areas

As before, 5 per cent of the project’s funds are available for information education communication (IEC) activities. New and those households omitted from SBM 1 are to get the same subsidy of ₹ 12,000. SLWM includes management of solid – biodegradable and plastic – and liquid waste, as well as faecal sludge management. In this discussion and webinar, we will focus on liquid waste management (LWM), that is grey water.

SBM 2 guidelines state 80 per cent of grey water generated by households and all public places needs to be treated and reused. This includes grey water generated from kitchens, bathrooms and storm water that flows through channels and/or individual and community soak pits. It also includes black water from septic tanks, a common occurrence in rural and semi-urban areas, where these overflow into roadside drains, ditches and eventually local ponds or wells.

Grey water from bathrooms and kitchens are a major problem in rural India as it is not treated. It will only become a bigger problem with increase in numbers of household water connections. Current per capita water use in most of rural India is low and less than 18 per cent have a household water connection. In the absence of proper management, i.e., treatment and reuse, grey water contaminates surface and ground water, besides providing breeding grounds for disease vectors.

Treatment options are given in detail in the annexure to the guidelines. They provide a decision tree and treatments for different geographical regions and populations suitable for individual households and communities. The emphasis is on methods that can be set up and maintained without external help.

These are leach pits (individual and community), waste stabilisation ponds, constructed wetlands, decentralised water treatment systems and phytorid systems. There are others such as vermi-filtration and floating island that can be used to remediate stagnant or slow-flowing water. Each has its own space and cost implications. If made properly designed and constructed to accommodate anticipate population growth, they require little maintenance that semi-skilled labourers can provide.

DDWS recommends that in villages with populations up to 5,000, grey water can be collected in community soak pits or treated by artificial wetlands, waste stabilisation ponds and decentralised water treatment systems using shallow small bore sewers. For larger villages, DDWS recommends covered similar sewage systems connected to one of the treatment methods above. The capital expenditure can come from the 15^thFinance Commission and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme MGNREGS).

The population density of villages varies a great deal from district to district, necessitating a localised approach to LWM. In densely populated areas, community soak pits and treatment may be feasible if land is available. Else, shallow narrow-bore sewers or covered drains are a viable option. Against this backdrop, for effective grey water management, we seek information on the following issues:

• In addition to what is suggested above, what cost-effective, technically simple LWM options exist for different population densities?
• What technical skills are needed to make and maintain these structures?
• Please describe a model LWM plan for village that have populations less than 5,000; more than 5,000

The information you provide will help prepare operational suggestions for SBM 2 and will be shared with DDWS.

Sandhya and Rohini from the Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society will lead this discussion and provide their comments shortly.

The discussion will be open for comments till 30 August, 2020. We will conduct a webinar on "How to Empower Panchayats to Effectively Manage Grey Water" on 21 August. We will send out the details shortly.

Regards,
Nitya