Developing Capacity for Sewage Treatment: An Important Step Towards Achieving Energy and Water Security for India Sugam Rudresh Kumar, Koti Poonam Nagar, Neog Kangkanika Council on Energy, Environment and Water, New Delhi Online published on 12 July, 2017. Abstract India's power generation hinges on water intensive thermal power plants (TPPs). Given the increasing inter-sectoral water competition, TPPs will have to source water from non-conventional water sources, such as wastewater. Currently, around 70% sewage goes untreated which has severe health and environmental implications. The 28 January 2016 notification by Ministry of Power has targeted both the problems of decreasing water availability for TPPs and increasing untreated wastewater. This article reviews literature for analysing the success of similar interventions outside India. It estimates total freshwater demand by TPPs and compares these with treated wastewater available at state level. Three scenarios have been developed– WW availability from (I) current operational capacity of STPs (II) current installed capacity of STPs; and (III) all the WW generated. In scenario I, II and III, five, six and ten states could meet TPP water demand and support an additional 53 GW, 64 GW an 194 GW, respectively. The in-depth assessment of situation in Maharashtra, using GIS application, shows that the TPPs water demand could be met by STPs but the concentration of TPPs and STPs is spatially different. The article also looks into the implications of diverting WW towards industries from activities like peri-urban agriculture. Top Keywords Water-Energy Nexus, Sewage Treatment, Thermal Power Plants, Water Security, Energy Security. Top |