Urine converted into safe water at Hyderabad Metro as to avoid water wastage

Hyderabad: Urine is being converted into safe water at the Miyapur, KPHB, Kukatpally and Rasoolpura Metro Rail stations using indigenous technology.

To avoid water wastage, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) has tied up with Naturesani to make urinals odourless, waterless and chemical free. These toilets are built at cost of Rs 3 lakh in the public private partnership mode and is being used only for men.

Each unit can accommodate three men at a time without compromise on their privacy. It has been made available at bus stops on either side of the Metro Rail stations.

“These toilets have not been set up for women yet as they would need to sit on the pan and people might misuse it. We’ve asked Naturesani to research in that direction,” said HMRL managing director N.V.S Reddy.

“We have asked them to increase the size of the unit to cater to at least eight to 10 persons. These units will be installed at all Metro Rail stations”, Mr Reddy said.

The compact street level toilets become odourless, waterless and colourless using an anaerobic digester, activated carbon filter and bio-filter and do not need electricity.

Ammonia and nitrogen from urine are separated by microbes. Nitrogen is used by plants while ammonia is used by microbes to maintain pH balance.

“HMRL currently allows the water to seep into the ground to help increase ground water levels, even though the water can be used for gardening. This water can also be used for plants as it does not give off an odour and works as good as normal water,” Mr Reddy said.

One such filter of 300 kilo litres a day capacity was used for nala water treatment in Maharas-htra, which is developed by Pune-based scientist Suhaas Godhade Patil.