BENGALURU: After a trial run in Peenya Industrial Area, a filter designed by two biotechnology engineering students will be used to treat Bellandur Lake’s waters.
Sapthagiri College of Engineering students Abhishek B and Mohammad Athiq’s project aims at tackling two major issues the city faces — waste management and water shortage.
The filters use vegetable and fruit peels to reduce total dissolved solids (TDS) and fluorides in water, making it suitable for agricultural use. Hence, it is called SNaPs, short for sophisticated natural peels.
“After we received positive results in Peenya Industrial Area, we decided to apply this at Bellandur Lake,” says Professor Prashanth Kumar, who guided the project.
According to him, about 50 per cent of the city’s waste comprises vegetable and fruit peels.
“Bellandur Lake is the largest in South East Asia. Yet it is so badly maintained,” says Abhishek. “Through this project, we want to approach the problem of water scarcity and garbage management.”
Pineapple and sweet lemon peels were used for the treatment initially. However, they had a short life. So now the peels are used with acid.
“The acid is inexpensive and very mild. Therefore it does not affect quality of purified water,” says Kumar.
SNaPs has been a great success, reducing TDS and fluorides in the water by 88 per cent. The mechanism does not require electricity, and has been tested by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).
“The treated water is perfectly safe for agricultural purposes,” says Kumar. However, the fluoride level is still too high for the water to be potable just yet.
“With a little improvement in the technology, we can make the water safe for drinking,” he adds.
The project might extend to Ulsoor and Varthur lakes as well. “We also plan on using plant products to filter out biological waste from the water,” says Kumar.