This pandemic will catalyse the biological wastewater treatment companies to create sustainable and effective products instead of a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Solutions which will offer better efficacy and shelf life apart from being cost effective says Priyanka Khaire, Bioremediation Engineer, Organica Biotech Pvt Ltd.

How do you see Atmanirbhar Bharat to impact your sector?
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the supply chain of water sector has been completely disrupted and businesses and lives are adversely getting affected worldwide. But biological wastewater treatment is gaining popularity among industries in this scenario because of being more economical and effective over several other processes such as mechanical, chemical and others. The main reason of increasing demand for biological wastewater treatment is the necessity to provide an effective approach for proper disposal of industrial and municipal wastewater. 

The global Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented economic and operational impacts for our industry, not to mention the high degree of uncertainty that now exists. Even more serious than business impacts, are the human costs of the pandemic, which have resulted in many lives lost and profound changes to our daily lives. Although the effect on the water and wastewater industry is significant, the impact is likely slightly less than across general industry. Our sector is primarily classified as essential, thus allowing work to continue in most cases.  

India’s efforts to contain Covid-19 have garnered praise across the world, although many grievances are also noted within the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the concept of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ that serves as a massive stimulus package as well as a move towards making India more self-reliant in the postCovid world.

The stimulus is argued to strengthen India’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other industries. This will help us by boosting the technological advancement in India. As mentioned earlier, now it’s all the more important to look after the proper treatment of the wastewater coming out as municipal waste and industry waste. 

Atmanirbhar Bharat will encourage MSMEs in the biological wastewater treatment sector to safeguard their supply chain and protect their human and non-human assets. More so, considering recent situation where nothing is more important than the safety of people in the country.

Do you feel the pandemic will catalyse the R&D for development of newer products for the water and wastewater segment? What properties do you feel will be desired in the newer products?
The pandemic has definitely ushered in an era of environmental consciousness as mankind has seen the repercussions of being callous towards nature and our natural resources in general. We envision that governments and regulatory bodies around the world will hasten the movement towards environmental conservation on a national scale.  

This new demand will catalyse the R&D sector to create sustainable and effective products to cater to every industry need. The key attributes that will be required are: tailor made solutions to suit different wastewater types instead of a ‘one size fits all’ solution, better efficacy and shelf life and cost effectiveness in order to deal with the rising cost of wastewater management.

In the backdrop of this pandemic, what kind of initiatives should the government focus on to ensure water remains potable and uncontaminated for residential and industrial use?
It is important to note that facility of medical sanitisers may not be available to all the citizens, especially in rural areas. Thus, it is important to ensure the availability of safe potable water to every citizen. Government needs to take necessary actions on priority in order to augment supply in areas where water supply may be deficient as of now and special care may be given to vulnerable sections of the society like people residing in relief camps, places of quarantine, hospitals, old age homes, poor strata of society, slums, etc. Water provided to industries is contaminated through multiple routes, e.g., due to leakages in the water supply or due to unhygienic treatment and storage facilities of privately available water. It is important to have an eye on such issues to avoid the contamination and wastage of water.

Personal safety measures like masks, sanitizers etc. may be provided to the people who are managing the operation and maintenance of the water supply systems in the field. Alternate arrangement should be in place to replace the staff managing water supply, in case they get infected. During pandemic the demand may go high and if people have to fetch the water from common stand post then social distancing may not be maintained. Hence there can be a need to increase the supply hours. 

What are some of the products driving growth for your business in the current economic cycle? OrganicaBiotech helped its clients in strategic planning by using its specialised wastewater treatment products Cleanmaxx and Microbster. CleanMaxx is a research-backed revolution in wastewater treatment. A proven consortium of 76-90 different strains of microbes, CleanMaxx is tailor-made for optimum impact in wastewater treatment plants. With a completely natural formula, the microbes in CleanMaxx are safe for all applications – with the ability to break down complex organic molecules through diverse catabolic pathways.

Microbsteris a powerful and rich blend of biostimulants& special compounds, is a nutrient enriched bacterial additive that provides all the vital elements required to initiate and boost the growth of microflora in the wastewater treatment plant – something that conventional additives lack. Microsbter being a nutrient source for biomass development blends well with Cleanmaxx to ensure faster MLSS development and enhanced efficiency of the ETP.