An Indian entrepreneur has developed a zero-energy, zero-chemical system of wastewater treatment, and true to the traditions of the sub-continent, he used nature as an inspiration—specifically Hinduism's most sacred animal.

In Bengaluru, a 54-year-old IT security specialist was living pretty in a luxury gated community earned after a long successful career, but he decided to put all he had achieved on the line over a simple clogged drain.

Tharun Kumar began to imagine ways to build a better sewage treatment method that could produce good quality water without chemicals. The nearby Varthur Lake was the perfect example of the need for innovation in this area, as the lake has for years been famous for pollution.

In 2017, Kumar started ECOSTP with the chambered stomach of the cow as his "bovine inspiration."

Like all ruminants, cows have a 4-chamber stomach, in which the plants they eat are broken down by anaerobic bacteria. If we remember high school biology or PA classes, anaerobic means metabolism without oxygen.

Typical wastewater plants use aerobic bacteria, or metabolism with oxygen, to break down sewage, but this requires the ventilation system that continually runs on energy. Regular sewage treatment also tends to use chemicals, and has the presence of a full-time employee. Kumar has eliminated almost all of these drawbacks.

At the base of the ECOSTP septic tank is a layer of cow dung that provides the bacterial workers. With the water moving via gravity, it enters the second bacterial chamber before passing into the third space which is a filter of sand and gravel. The fourth chamber lies under a garden of select vascular plants which removes suspended solids, pathogens, nitrogen, and phosphorus, the latter two going to feed the plants.

The resulting water is graded by health inspectors as good quality for toilet water and gardening applications. With the aid of a grant from the US-based Biomimicry Solutions, ECOSTP now has 325 clients across 22 states in India, and their septic tanks are unmanned and unpowered, saving thousands in running costs.

"My team and I measure ourselves by three metrics," Kumar told India Today's Ajay Sukumaran. "How much bad water did we convert to good water? How much power did we save compared to a normal STP? And how much coal we saved, because 70 percent of India's electricity comes from coal."

"We are proud to have reclaimed 2 billion liters of sewage so far without power or chemicals."

ECOSTP is now seeing if it's possible to identify anaerobic bacteria that can remove the harmful compounds of industrial effluent.

WATCH a five-minute mini-doc about Kumar and ECOSTP below… 

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