E-Paper
Bengaluru startup gets 300 calls in a day after Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath's suggestion on water crisis: Report
Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath's suggestion on Bengaluru water crisis receives “overwhelming response”, 300 calls in a day.
Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath recently highlighted the impact of Bengaluru's water crisis, saying that there is potential for more frequent extreme weather events to recur in the future.
Kamath took to social media site X earlier this month and said, “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.”
ALSO READ | Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath on Bengaluru: ‘It has paper wealth, not real money’
“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,” He wrote.
“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,” He added.
ALSO READ | Bengaluru water crisis: Shapoorji Parkwest residents protest after taps went dry
He further shared a video on a Bengaluru-based firm called Boson White Water, posting that it is one start-up that is trying to solve the problem of converting STP water to potable water. Kamath's post garnered around 3,08,700 views.
Shortly after this endorsement, Boson White Water's co-founder, Vikas Brahmavar, said they received more than 300 calls in a single day, whereas their usual number of calls would be a dozen daily, according to The Economic Times.
ALSO READ | Bengaluru water crisis: Has it impacted real estate sales?
While Kamath's proposal garnered support from many, there were also opposing views, with some expressing concerns about the idea of drinking water that was once sewage. One user suggested that decentralized solutions upgrading residential STP discharge could be the next frontier in addressing the crisis, emphasizing the importance of transforming wastewater from a liability into a resource for sustainable urban water security.
Furthermore, comparisons were drawn to Singapore's successful conversion of wastewater into drinking water, although some users cautioned about potential contaminants like heavy metals even in treated water.
