It just took one bad rainy season for Bengaluru to face a massive water shortage crisis. Given that extreme weather conditions will only become more common, this probably won’t be the last time we face this crisis.

I learned recently that wastewater could be part of the solution. Bengaluru’s total freshwater demand is ~2632 (million litres a day) MLD, and it generates ~2000 MLD of wastewater. Of this, centralized sewage treatment plants treat ~1,300 MLD, and this water is used for agricultural purposes.

About 3,500 apartments and commercial establishments have decentralized sewage treatment plants (STPs) and waste ~80% of their excess STP water. This STP water is low quality and mostly unusable beyond flushing and gardening. If this excess STP water can be converted to high-quality water, about 450–500 MLD of water demand could be met by decentralized treatment plans.

Boson Whitewater is one startup we met that is trying to solve the problem of converting STP water to potable water.

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