Sustainable Campus Initiatives
Sustainable Campus Initiatives
Tezpur University

PART A: Rain Water Harvesting

Water is essential to all forms of life and 70 % of the world is covered with water while only 3 % is fresh and the rest is saline. Only about 0.4 % of the freshwater is easily accessible, while the rest 2.6 % is inaccessible. As water is becoming scarce, there is need to attain self-sufficiency as well as replenish the depleted and polluted ground water sources and water harvesting is one of the innovative and low cost technologies to achieve the same. ‘Rain Water Harvesting’ involves the direct collection of rainwater which can be stored for direct use or can be used to replenish the ground water sources. Rain water harvesting is an ideal method to supply fresh water for augmenting the existing infrastructure and is capable of meeting future needs in a sustainable way. The water collected from rain water harvesting system shall be used as a secondary source of water and will be used for all other purposes like gardening, cleaning, car washing which does not require drinking water quality.

PART B: Low Cost Drinking Water Treatment

The groundwater of the University does not contain any other pollutants of concern like fluoride or arsenic. The major concern in the groundwater of the University is the presence of iron in the range of 5-8 mg/L. However, no special treatment unit is required in the water treatment plant and water from the treatment plant can be directly used to meet the domestic needs. However, groundwater in few places in Assam has a problem of dissolved fluoride and arsenic. University has developed efficient & economic solution towards the removal of arsenic & fluoride from water.

PART C: Waste Water Recycling

The cleaning process of the waste water and making it fit for direct or indirect usage is known as waste water recycling. Grey water contributes to 90% of the waste water from a house and is easier to treat while it is harder to recycle black water as it contains more pathogens. The present infrastructure in the University to treat waste water consist of separate standalone R.C.C septic tanks at each of the establishment like, hostel, academic building, administrative building etc. to treat the black water coming out of the toilets while the greywater is recycled partially before discharged into drains.

Way forward

  • To promote the installation and periodic maintenance/monitoring of Rain Water Harvesting system in all possible locations/buildings of the University.
  • To install sewage treatment plant in the campus to treat the wastewater generated from hostels, residential units etc.
  • To promote and install low cost drinking water treatment plants in places where dissolved fluoride and arsenic are present in Assam as an outreach activity.