Dr Uday S. Bhawalkar, Director, *Sarita U. Bhawalkar, Research Assistant
Bhawalkar Ecological Research Institute (BERI), Pune 411009, India
*Author for correspondence, E-mail: ecobhawalkar@gmail.com

Abstract

In India, products of the holy cow (milk, urine, dung) have traditionally been used as resources for ecosanitation. This technique was well developed and used extensively, even if its science may not have been well understood. With increased use of man-made chemicals for agriculture and in animal feed, the quality of these resources deteriorated, and modern science promoted chemical sanitation methods. These are not only costly but also have serious environmental implications downstream.

A novel eco-friendly eco-sanitation product, BIOSANITIZER, has been developed by the Bhawalkar Ecological Research Institute (BERI – formerly Bhawalkar Earthworm Research Institute),Pune(India). BIOSANITIZER is a naturally produced catalyst that continues to produce need-based amount of active oxygen and drives eco-logical reactions that clean polluted water(surface water, groundwater and wastewater). This oxygen-rich water also becomes a resource for ecosanitation. It can be sprayed to sanitize soil, garbage heaps, medical waste, and animal carcasses. The spraying also controls odor, pathogens, and pests such as mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, and rats. This paper describes some successful applications of BIOSANITIZER and the authors’ model about its action.

INTRODUCTION

Ecosanitation can best be developed by studying the emerging branches of ecology and ecological engineering. Man is also an integral part of ecology, and has lived in harmony with nature for about half million years. Hence one can also get hints from traditional ecological management practices. These are relevant to each agro-climatic region of the world. Indian agriculture and Indian culture, in general, is based on the importance of a cow, its utility made it sacred. Why were the products (urine, dung, and milk/milk derivatives such as ghee) generated from the holy cow, traditionally, used for ecosanitation? Why is the water of the Holy Ganga (especially near its origin) still considered a resource for ecosanitation? Ganga water cannot be expected to retain the self-cleansing power when it gets overloaded with urban and industrial wastes. Similarly, the cow, which eats polluted fodder, grown with the use of chemical fertilizers, or grown on polluted water, cannot give bio-products that can be as useful for ecosanitation as they used to be in the past.

To understand how the cow-products and the Ganga water used to achieve ecosanitation and why they got spoiled, an Eco-Logic was developed as a tool to interpret ecological data. When Eco-Logic was used to analyze natural bio-processes, traditions, and several industrial bio-processes, it was observed that nitrates were of critical importance in all these processes, deciding the niche of diverse organisms. Nitrates are a resource; wasting them creates sanitation problems. Cow-products and Ganga-water had mechanisms to lock these wasted nitrates and hence served as means of ecosanitation. The logic behind this methodology resulted in the creation of the BIOSANITIZER technology.

ECO-LOGIC

Eco-Logic is distilled from an intense study of ecology and ecological engineering(Bhawalkar, 1997). It can be summarized as follows:

NITRATE MODEL

Nitrate model evolved as a logical outcome when Nature, together with India’s traditional practices and some industrial processes were analyzed using the Eco-Logic(Bhawalkar, 1997). The model can be summarized as follows:

1. Plants are the sole converters of pollution (nitrates and carbon dioxide) into food, fuel, timber, medicines, and several industrial raw materials. This is crucial in today’s world because man has taken up mining of non-renewable resources in a big way and has now, realized that this cannot be sustained for long.

2. Nitrates (and other inorganic nutrients) and carbon dioxide are resources when they are available to plants in the right form. These resources sound the warning bell (through pollution) only when they are wasted and appear at the wrong place. Every form of pollution, thus, should be seen as an opportunity to generate resources. Putting a catalytic converter after the automobile engine does not generate resources; it just traps the pollutants. The device should come before the engine, to improve the fuel quality so that the improved fuel produces a clean exhaust and higher mileage/power. Nitrates (and related nitrogen compounds such as nitrogen oxides, ammonia, nitrites, etc.) create pollution in air, rain, soil, food, water, and organisms including human beings. When nitrates get wasted, equivalent amount of carbon dioxide appears in the atmosphere, only to become a greenhouse gas that causes global warming. This also creates oxygen-deficient air that attracts pests. No wonder, we use oxygen-producing chemical sanitizers, such as potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide or chlorine/hypochlorite.

3. Plants fall prey to pest attack when they are fed with nitrates in excess of their metabolic requirements(Bhawalkar, 1997). Pests are thus an indication that plants have been fed with excessive amounts of nitrates, which is a waste of resources. If, instead of taking appropriate steps to reduce this, pesticides are used, they produce plant products that are polluted not only with nitrates but also pesticides. These harm us further, to give us more serious warning signals.

4. Food gets spoiled during storage mainly because of nitrates(Bhawalkar, 1997). Loss due to pest infestation, too, is an indication of nitrate pollution of food. Nature uses these mechanisms to destroy food that is harmful to man. Nature has evolved from high pollution to low pollution that is suitable to man. When fruits grow on trees, other creatures are attracted to them first, if the food belongs to their niche. Whatever is left is good for man. If we interfere in this design of nature, human behavior gets spoiled. Bad habits such as littering, spitting, etc. can be attributed to nitrates. The six main vices of man – kaama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), mada (arrogance) moha (delusion), and matsara (jealousy) – which in turn lead to himsa (violence) are due to the consumption of food, water, and air polluted with nitrates. Physical health problems are a means to arrest such polluted persons and keep them in at home or hospital while the disease-causing organisms clean the nitrates from the person’s body. Suppressing the problems of the physical body with medicines only leads to increased lust, greed, and violence that we see in society today.

5. Garbage and sewage quality depends on the food quality and when food is polluted with nitrates, garbage and sewage also get polluted. It is this nitrate pollution that causes all the problems of garbage, sewage, and other organic wastes. Products (milk, urine, dung) coming from the Holy cow fed on natural grass diet are free of nitrates. These are used as medicine in our culture because they, in fact, have natural enzymes to trap nitrates. These properties are lost when the cow is fed with more nitrates and proteins to accelerate growth and increase milk production. This has eventually led to the Mad Cow Disease in the western world.

6. Garbage and sewage treatment should focus on nitrates. Since this is difficult, most of the current technologies achieve what is easier. They burn organics (producing carbon dioxide and waste heat) and in fact, reduce the food/nitrate ratio. The aim should be to increase this ratio because low ratio is ideal for the growth of pests such as flies and mosquitoes. Pathogens come at very low ratio (less than 30). Treated sewage and rainwater is an ideal medium for the growth of malaria/dengue mosquitoes whereas raw sewage can breed ordinary mosquitoes. Fish need sewage with a food/nitrate ratio more than 200. Cow-dung has this ratio and hence is used in aquaculture to help fish production. All the attempts to clean the Holy Ganga have failed because they spoiled the river by reducing the food/nitrate ratio.

7. The invisible automobile pollution due to nitrogen oxides in the exhaust is far more harmful than the visible smoke (carbon) pollution. CNG and LPG, thus, are not clean fuels; they are more dangerous because they produce invisible pollution. Fossil fuels should first be cleaned (their nitrates removed) before they are used. Fossil fuels are produced in polluted (oxygen-deficient) environment, and cause pollution of air, rain, soil, food, water, and organisms.

8. Rain is clean and regular if the air is clean. This rain seeps readily into the soil – preventing runoff, soil erosion, and floods – and helps replenish the groundwater reserve with clean water. Rainfall becomes erratic(this is bad for agriculture) when air is excessively polluted with nitrogen oxides. Such rain is polluted with nitrates and does not seep readily into the soil. This leads to soil erosion and floods during rainy season and droughts during summer. Soil is a place to produce nitrates in a need-based manner, through the work of soil-burrowing earthworms and beneficial soil bacteria associated with them(Bhawalkar,1997). Soil needs a feed of organic matter. Rain, garbage, and sewage polluted with nitrates cannot be used by healthy living soil. When nitrates are fed to the soil, soil biodiversity gets severely reduced, soil loses its ability to produce nitrates and becomes dependent on external supply. Use of urea has, thus, become necessary after soil has been spoiled by rain that was polluted by the burning of fossil fuels in the West. Warmer regions of the world suffer more because nitrates create more problems at higher temperatures than they do in cold regions. This is why hazards of nitrates are not fully acknowledged in the western world. Technologies from cold region cannot be used to solve the pollution problems of warm region.

BIOSANITIZER MECHANISM

Eco-Logic and the authors’ nitrate model have been used to develop BIOSANITIZER that converts pollution into resources. This has been field-tested for the past 9 years.

BIOSANITIZER granules convert polluted water into clean water, which also becomes a resource for ecosanitation. This action can be summarized as follows:

• Sanitation problems arise due to nitrates, hence nitrate management is crucial.
• Conventional nitrate management techniques consume organic food and oxygen, to produce CO2 and waste heat. Nature prefers another reaction, i.e., combining nitrates, CO2 and waste heat to produce organics and oxygen. This is a resource-generating mechanism, while conventional denitrification is a wasteful reaction.
• BIOSANITIZER is a natural catalyst; 1 gram of this product has the capacity of 1 acre of rich forest, in terms of its nitrate control, CO2 trapping and oxygen production.
• By adding BIOSANITIZER in a stream of polluted water, we get not only clean water, but the treated water also becomes a resource for ecosanitation.

CASE STUDIES

BIOSANITIZER has been used successfully in several field-scale projects to demonstrate its efficacy. Some examples are listed in this section.

Virus Control in Aquaculture: BIOSANITIZER was applied, in 1997, in a commercial prawn farm where the production was reduced due to viral attack. It is well understood in the aquaculture industry that management of nitrates (and other nitrogen species such as ammonia, nitrites, etc.) is a key to healthy prawn/fish growth. Increase in the nitrogen load reduces the dissolved oxygen (DO) level, particularly during the night when algal oxygen production stops. At low DO concentrations, prawns are under stress, which reduces their resistance to viruses. Virus is a wasteful mechanism of nature that uses nitrates but does not produce any resources. It is an alarm indicating that the nitrate level is high. The nitrate overload, and hence the viral problem was solved by use of BIOSANITIZER, at the rate of 1 gram per acre of pond (2-3 meters deep). Because of the oxygen production by the BIOSANITIZER, the food chain that converts prawn waste into prawn food also got triggered. Expenses on prawn feed thus got reduced. This resulted in higher food conversion ratio and higher profit for the prawn farmer. The need to change the polluted water from the pond was also reduced, because prawn waste was feeding the algal food chain that produced the prawn food. Thus, waste of one process was utilized to feed another useful process. In conventional waste treatment, both organics and nitrates are destroyed to clean the water, which amounts to spending more resources to destroy wasted resources.

Sewage Treatment: Taj Hotel at Madurai(in India) had set up a conventional sewage treatment plant wherein a compressor was to be used to inject air into diffuser pipes submerged in the aeration tank. This plant was retrofitted with BIOSANITIZER, in 1997, and aeration system was turned off. BIOSANITIZER was able to produce tertiary treated sewage without any recurring charges, also without producing any sludge and greenhouse gases. The aeration tank developed a floating scum that supported a floating garden. The project has been working satisfactorily for 7 years now, and has been monitored by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. The treated water is used for gardening. It has reduced inputs on fertilizers because the treated oxygen-rich water acts as a bio-stimulant to the plant life. It also helps reduce pest problems, thus achieving ecosanitation.

Lake Clean-up: Powai Lake of Mumbai and Pashan Lake of Pune were successfully treated with a one-time dose of BIOSANITIZER. Both the lakes were getting sewage streams into them, rainwater coming only for about 60 days of the year. Powai Lake water quality was monitored by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and that of Pashan Lake was monitored by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Water hyacinth and mosquito breeding were controlled in both the lakes. Instead, useful vegetation such as lotus plants and fodder grass have started growing. They are being regularly harvested as a resource. The bottom mud also became clean; it supported silky lawn grass (and not thorny/poisonous plants) when the lake bottom was exposed to sunlight in the summer. Lake mud also became soft and suitable for Ganesh idols. These observations indicate that after surface water gets cleaned, Nature starts cleaning the bottom of the water bodies. Silky grass can grow, without weeds, only on the clean soils. Earthworms also appear in such soils; they grind soil particles down to one micron, making the soil suitable for Ganesh idols.

Ecosanitation of Sewers: After the death of four municipal workers, in 1997, in the sewer system near a public toilet in Pune, BIOSANITIZER was used by the PMC. The death was due to the generation of toxic gases such as hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans, etc. due to high nitrate-loading from the public toilet. BIOSANITIZER solved the problem by locking the nitrates and producing oxygen in the process. BIOSANITIZER action was immediate, and one could note the reduction in the toxic gases and oxygen production within a few minutes.

It was observed that by adding the BIOSANITIZER catalyst granules at the higher level of the sewer system, one can start sewage treatment by using the sewers as bioreactors. The sewers were observed to remain relatively free of sewer corrosion, foul gases and scavenging creatures such as cockroaches, rats, redworms - were not readily observed.

Ecosanitation of Sewage Streams(Nallas): When a city has unplanned fast growth, sewage is seen to flow to the river or lake via natural streams which also carry stormwater during rainy season. Rain is seasonal (for about 60 days) in most of India; during the rest of the year these streams carry sewage. Being deprived of oxygen, the water turns black (due to formation of metal sulfides). No vegetation can survive within about 10 m of these anaerobic sewage streams. One-time input of BIOSANITIZER near the starting points of eight such natural drains in Pune, resulted in oxygen-rich streams within a few hours. The redox potential was found to improve from minus 300 to plus 100 within a few days. This shows oxygen production. The streams developed a pale green tinge, instead of black color. Bird life started returning. Healthy air also changed the vegetation along the streams, and PMC constructed Nalla Parks along their banks. The construction cost of these Nalla Parks was insignificant because the healthy atmosphere created by the oxygen-rich streams had a tonic effect on vegetation, in particular on the lawn grass. Pune’s Mula-Mutha river which carries about 800 MLD of sewage also showed oxygen-rich environment, from which water hyacinth disappeared and healthy organisms (including bird life) appeared. Floating oily layer disappeared and the water surface had mirror-like smooth appearance. The water quality was found to be that of tertiary treated sewage, though there was hardly any formal sewage treatment through conventional means. This BIOSANITIZER effect has sustained for the past 8 years, in spite of annual floods. The river bed hosts a circus now each year. It has become the most popular spot in the city, because of the fresh oxy-rich atmosphere. One can see the crowd on the food joints there, till the midnight. The dry river-bed grows green grass throughout the year, without any irrigation. This suggests that irrigation need of plants increases with the pollution level of air , soil or water. By using the ecosanitation techniques, we can conserve water in agriculture and have more output from a given amount of water. This is easy to appreciate because it is well known fact that organic agriculture is water-conserving, whereas chemical agriculture needs higher amount of irrigation.

Decentralized Sewage Treatment: Ten decentralized sewage treatment projects were set up in and near Pune, to treat the sewage generated by urban buildings and industries. The projects were simple, amounting to applying a one-time dose of BIOSANITIZER in the septic tank. There is no need to de-sludge these units and the oxy-rich water coming out of these units also becomes an asset for gardening and ecosanitation. Its spray helps control odor, pathogens, and pests in the environment. Architects and builders are now coming forward to incorporate sewage recycling by each building, thus reducing the expenditure on sewers and sewage pumping. In fact, sewage recycling has become mandatory in Pune, at least for big buildings(that is, with more than 150 families).

The Centre for Science and Environment, the winner of the Stockholm Water Prize 2005, has produced “A Wastewater Recycling Manual for Urban Areas, with Case Studies” (CSE,2005). It gives a comparative evaluation of conventional and emerging natural treatment technologies. BIOSANITIZER technology stands out as the most cost-effective, practical, resource-generating technology.

With two running wastewater treatment projects in the USA, and two more under construction, the BIOSANITIZER technology is being launched in the US. The US Environmental Protection Agency and UNICEF have shown interest in the technology.

Decentralized Garbage Composting Units: More than 10,000 decentralized garbage composting projects have been set up in Pune and other cities, in India. The technology is also exported to other regions such as EU(Ireland) and USA. The method is to apply BIOSANITIZER to clean the groundwater/surface-water(including sewage) and spray the treated oxygen-rich water on the garbage heap each day to ensure eco-friendly bioconversion into compost. It is found that there is absence of odor, pathogens, and pests. There is no heat generation and production of greenhouse gases is minimal. The yield of the compost is about 70%, which is much higher than about 30% when garbage is composted without the use of BIOSANITIZER. The loss is primarily due to higher production of CO2 in the conventional processes. BIOSANTIZER technology, can thus, avail the carbon credits, making it more cost-effective to the user.

The Petroleum Conservation and Research Association(PCRA), a wing of Ministry of Petroleum, Government of India, has taken up active promotion of decentralized garbage composting, using the BIOSANITIZER technology. It has become important now, to avoid unnecessary transport of garbage and compost and also reduce the consumption of the petroleum feedstock for the production of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Both these objectives can be met just by recycling garbage into compost, in a decentralized manner, using the BIOSANITIZER technology.

Bio-medical or hospital waste is considered a hazardous waste. Incineration is seen as the safest way to get rid of pathogens and toxic chemicals in it. But one should note that this can only result in the production of higher amount of nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and dioxins(if plastics, such as PVC, also get incinerated along with it). This can produce more health problems to the society by production of toxic rain. Six hospital waste recycling units were installed and operated in and near the Pune city. The Department of Microbiology in Pune’s B. J. Medical College evaluated the system for four years and concluded that BIOSANITIZER produced safe compost. Air and soil near the units was also safe. Even viruses such as the hepatitis virus were controlled without any recurring inputs and without producing any air pollution. Avoiding unnecessary handling and transport of the hazardous waste - is the main advantage of this method.

Rainwater Harvesting and Flood Control: Soil has a built-in mechanism to restrict the entry of polluted water into groundwater. Soil, thus, can soak in just 10 mm/d of polluted water. After applying BIOSANITIZER in the surface water pool, one can find that water starts penetrating much faster, upto 1000 mm/d. This was the rain of July 26, 2005 deluge in the Powai-Vihar lake area of Mumbai. One can thus use the BIOSANITIZER not only for treatment of water, but also for effective rainwater harvesting and flood control. One can subsequently use the stored groundwater that is also a resource for ecosanitation.

Treatment of Saline and Brackish Groundwater: About 2,000 farmers and industries have used BIOSANITIZER(refined grade) to treat saline/brackish groundwater. A one-time dose was applied into a well/borewell. BIOSANITIZER granules operate from the bottom and keep on producing oxygen. This drives the natural reactions that convert the salty/brackish water sweet, both for the tongue as well as for the plants. This water also resists scaling, corrosion and growth of pathogens/pests. It becomes a resource for organic agriculture and ecosanitation. The mechanism is similar to that used by the coconut tree in converting saline/brackish water into sweet coconut water.

Treatment of Fossil Fuels: BIOSANITIZER catalyst granules were added in the fuel tanks of stationary/mobile I.C. engines. Several improvements occurred, such as extra mileage, extra engine power, cooler/quieter engine, and lower repair/maintenance expenses. The benefits depend upon the fuel quality. The exhaust from these vehicles is cleaner and cooler and also has ecosanitation effect. BIOSANITIZER thus carries out reactions similar to the Vedic yajnya, thus producing healing gases, instead of polluting gases.

Disaster Management: The utility of the BIOSANITIZER technology was well demonstrated after the July 26, 2005 deluge in Mumbai, when it rained about 1000 mm in a day. Accumulated garbage heaps and dead carcasses of animals created sanitation hazards in Mumbai. Special bio-spray was created by combining BIOSANITIZER with a 100 ppm solution of calcium nitrate. This was sprayed on stinking garbage heaps and animal carcasses. The results of ecosanitation achieved were dramatic, as seen by control of odor, pathogens and pests. This was a joint project of Green Cross Society of Mumbai, Bombay Municipal Corporation(BMC) and Indian Express Initiative. The operation was also extended in the jurisdiction of Vasai Municipal Council where dead buffaloes were dumped and their neglect could have created conditions suitable for plague. It was also found that polluted water ponds started generating ripples of oxygen production, within a few minutes of application of BIOSANITIZER granules into the pond. The healthy gases produced healthy growth of food crops in the region, mosquitoes were reduced and the pond water started going down. Nature allows higher percolation rate as soon as the water quality improves. The neighboring well that was heavily polluted, soon started producing drinkable water.

Best way to manage disasters, however is to go to their root cause and prevent their occurrence in the first place. One may say that natural disasters are inevitable. But Eco-Logic tells us that all unpleasant events serve as warning bells, some also serve to punish us if we refuse to listen to the mild warning bells. They, thus, are all man-made nowadays, and are the indicators of our wasteful habits of neglecting natural resources. If the events are natural, they should occur at the same frequency over the years, like the eclipses. But the hurricanes, earthquakes, forest fires, floods, droughts and epidemics are coming with increasing frequency during this century. Hence, they are more due to human interference, than due to natural causes.

Sir Alfred Nobel found the destructive power of nitrates and created explosives by formulating the nitrates and a triggering carbon compound.

The reaction is almost like a nuclear reaction, the science of it is not well discussed. When we allow the leakage of nitrates in our oceans, groundwater, etc. they work by the same mechanism and produce destructive energy that is visible in hurricanes and earthquakes. One can, now, replace this mechanism with the resource-generating mechanism of the BIOSANITIZER. This way, we not only can prevent these destructive events, but also generate ten times higher value of resources, than the losses that can be inflicted by these events. Forest fires are due to the build-up of nitrates in a forest leaf-litter. Just as the nitrate-rich compost heaps are known to exhibit auto-ignition, the nitrate-rich heaps of leaf litter encourage auto-ignition and start the forest fires. Even a heavy downpour can fail to stop the forest fires. But one can now use the BIOSANITIZER in the forest as pretreatment, few months advance of the summer, or resort to spraying of BIOSANITIZER spray when the forest is already on fire.

Floods are due to increased air pollution, they also are followed by long dry period. Floods and droughts, thus, go hand in hand. One can reduce the air pollution and have a well-distributed rain pattern, that too of low nitrates. This gets readily soaked into the ground, thus avoiding floods. The stored ground-water, becomes available as a water-source in the summer and thus avoid the drought.

Emerging epidemics, such as the bird flue are due to overloading our food with nitrates. Each virus needs a bandwidth of nitrates. Only when our body goes into this high bandwidth, we get affected. By using the BIOSANITIZER to treat the animal feed, their drinking water and also by using the BIOSANITIZED water for our drinking, cooking, cleaning, etc… it will be quite easy to stay healthy and not worry about the emerging modern epidemics.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Ecosanitation using BIOSANITIZER is more than just cleaning pollution; it turns pollution into resources. It conserves the good components of waste streams, converts harmful ones into useful ones, and produced a resource using the Nature’s principles that have evolved on this earth over millennia. The author strongly recommends discontinuing the use of resource-guzzling treatment technologies of the past and use ecosanitation techniques that convert all negatives into positives. BIOSANITIZER is one such solution.

REFERENCES