TRAPA India – Transition pathways for solving urban wastewater problems in Indian cities
The BMBF research project TRAPA India looks into approaches to address urban wastewater problems in Indian cities. Implementation strategies for integrated wastewater management will be developed based on sound business models.
Research approach
The project aims to identify possible transition pathways to improve the wastewater management in Indian cities. The districts of Thiruvananthapuram and Nagpur were pre-selected as research regions. The objectives include the development of management approaches and implementation strategies to produce mineral fertiliser from faecal and sewage sludge. A further objective is to supply and save energy from biogas utilization at local level. The research design supports local participation in the development process of an integrated management concept that includes different wastewater streams. In this case, suitable business models for financing the new management concepts will be formulated. During the development process, user needs are taken into account as well.
In the first step, data on local and regional material flows will be gathered as well as on the legislation and policies on wastewater and sewage sludge. In addition, a stakeholder analysis will be conducted. Afterwards, attention will turn to developing technical solutions and management approaches for resource-efficient wastewater systems that suit the circumstances in India. Workshops with local stakeholders aim to exchange expectations in a mutual learning process to support implementation of novel concepts. The main objectives are to identify transition pathways for improving wastewater management at the project sites and to reveal the potential of transferability to other Indian cities. Within the project, ISOE is responsible for the analysis of institutions and stakeholders, the sustainability evaluation from a social-ecological perspective, and the final analysis of transfer potentials.
Background
India is the country with the second largest population on earth and exhibits a steadily increasing rate of urbanisation. The interaction between climate change and resource depletion causes challenges in wastewater disposal and public access to clean drinking water. To date, only a small proportion of the wastewater produced is treated in sewage plants. In relation to rapid population growth in the cities, septic tanks are often too small to cope with the volume of sewage, which leads to overflowing and, consequently, pollution of the surrounding water bodies. Innovative wastewater systems and concepts are crucial to avert risks to public health.
Research and project partners
- Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (BUW), b.is
- Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST)
- Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI)
Partner in practice
- Aone Deutschland AG
Funding
The project ‘TRAPA-India – Transition paths for solving the problem of urban wastewater in Indian cities, including sludge from septic tanks and faecal sludge, based on resource-oriented systems and business models’ is funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).
Duration
Contact person
Project team
Research unit
Water Infrastructure and Risk AnalysesRelated projects
- AQUA-Hub India – Water Innovation Hubs and Smart Water Monitoring
- AquaticPollutantsTransNet – Knowledge transfer for the reduction of pollutants and pathogens in the water cycle
- Assessment of the potential for the use of service water in Frankfurt am Main
- BioFAVOR II – Low-tech recycling of faeces from decentralised sources
- CapTain Rain – Capture and retain heavy rainfalls in Jordan
- Classification of consumption points in the supply area of HAMBURG WASSER
- Communication Strategies for the Handling of Pharmaceuticals
- Competence Atlas Water – Water Technologies and Water Management in Hesse
- Conflicts of objectives between the application of medications and environmental protection
- CuveWaters – Sustainable Water Management in Namibia
- Daily drinking water demand – forecast model for Hamburg
- Drugs for man and the environment?
- Efficient Use of the Hessian Groundwater Fee
- Eliminating micropollutants in sewage plants
- Environmental Risks and Pharmaceuticals: The Key Role of Pharmacies
- EPoNa – Water Reuse in Northern Namibia
- Evaluation of the International Water Stewardship Program (IWaSP)
- Guiding principle IWRM – Water resources management for the metropolitan region of Rhine-Main
- HypoWave – New Pathways Towards Wastewater Re-Use in Agriculture
- HypoWave+ – Implementation of a hydroponic system for sustainable water reuse in agriculture
- INTAFERE – Integrated Analysis of Organic Impurities in Rivers
- IntenKS – Improving sewage sludge treatment in China for energetic and material utilisation
- INTERESS-I – Integrated strategies to strengthen urban blue-green infrastructures
- IWRM in Isfahan – Sustainable Water Management in Iran
- KomKlAn – Status and Progress of Municipal Climate Adaptation in Germany
- Master Plan “Future-proof Drinking Water Supply in Saarland 2040”
- Material flows of environmentally relevant chemical substances: product line controlling
- MULTI-ReUse – Modular treatment system for water reuse
- NaCoSi – Sustainability controlling of the domestic water management
- netWORKS – Transformations in Network Related Infrastructure Sectors
- netWORKS 2 – Transformation Management for a Sustainable Water Infrastructure
- netWORKS 3 – Sustainable concepts for the municipal water sector
- netWORKS 4 – Resilient networks: Contributions of urban supply systems to climate justice (follow-up project)
- netWORKS 4 – Resilient networks: how urban supply systems contribute to climate justice
- New perspectives for the ecological restoration of streams and rivers
- NiddaMan – Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Nidda Catchment Area
- P-Net – Regional network for resource-efficient phosphorus recycling and management
- Pharmas – Ecological and human health risk assessment of antibiotics and anticancer drugs found in the environment
- PLASTRAT – Reduction of plastic discharges in lakes and running waters
- PlastX – Microplastics in bodies of running water
- PlastX – Plastic waste in seas and oceans
- Privatisation and Competition in Drinking Water Supply in Germany
- Privatisation in the Water Sector
- Proxies and Scenarios for the Development of Water Demand
- Quali-Set-Praxis - Practical Quality Assurance & Management in Health Promoting Settings
- Regional Sustainability in Water and Land Use
- regulate – Sustainable Groundwater Management in Europe
- RobustNature – Robustness of Nature-Society Systems in the Anthropocene
- SASSCAL – Research Infrastructure in Africa
- SASSCAL – Water-related vulnerabilities and risk in Southern Africa
- SAUBER+ Innovative concepts for wastewater from public health sector facilities
- Scientific accompanying of the 2021 survey on water consumption in Hamburg
- SCIP Plastics – Strengthening Waste Prevention in Khulna and Reducing Marine Plastic Pollution
- Semizentral – Infrastructure systems for cities of the future experiencing rapid growth
- Smart Water Future India: Intelligent Water Management for India’s Cities
- SoCuLa – Socio-cultural Drivers of Biodiversity Change in Germany
- start – Management Strategies for Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water
- start2 – Management Strategies for Hormonally Active Agrochemicals
- Stormwater Infiltration in Wiesbaden
- Structural concept for Trinkwasserversorgung Magdeburg
- Substitution of Environmental Relevant Flame Retardants
- Sustainability Performance in the Water Supply
- Tracking down micropollutants
- TransRisk – Pollutants as a risk to the water cycle
- Water 2050 – Sustainable Innovations for Water Management
- Water Cycle an Urban-Ecological Development
- Water demand forecast 2030 (base year 2005) for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2045 (base year 2011) for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 (base year 2017) for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 (base year 2019) for the WBV Harburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 (base year 2020) for Hamburg
- Weschnitz Dialog: Communication and participation in the management of restoration measures along the river Weschnitz