Tertiary treated water may fill up Sukhna Lake

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 15

Tertiary treated water may be used to raise the water level of Sukhna Lake.

The Microbiology Department of Panjab University, along with the Department of Environment, UT, carried out a research project and developed a technology to make the tertiary treated water free from eutrophication so that it could be added to the lake waters.

Dr Naveen Gupta, principal investigator of the research project, devised the technology under the guidance of Santosh Kumar, Director, Department of Environment, UT.

Dr Gupta said the department had conducted a comparative study in which tertiary treated water was found to be as good as Sukhna water with respect to chemicals, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and density. He said the issue that surfaced during the study was that the quantity of phosphate was very high in the tertiary treated water. Dr Gupta said the department had developed the technology to decrease its quantity to minimal so that tertiary treated water could be used in the lake.

Sources said the UT Administration was planning to apply the findings of the project work on a trial basis.