Government approves India's First Bio Remediation project for Buddha Nala, Ludhiana

• This project, one of the first of its kind, will employ the use of microbes to eat away the waste component of effluents that are discharged into the Buddha Nala, Ludhiana. In effect, the microbial consortia applied in the technology will 'chew away' the organic load and industrial pollutants leaving behind the clean water. The visible impact of this technology is expected to become manifest in a period of 3 months.
• This 'In Situ Bio-Remediation' project will tackle the effluent load of industrial and domestic waste being emptied out into the Buddha Nala. By erecting 'Green bridges', i.e. temporary barricades fortified with microbial consortia, the MoEF will attempt to build filters through which the untreated waters may pass. With every successive Green Bridge that the water passes through there will be an expected reduction in what is known as 'Bio-chemical oxygen demand'  (BoD)  and  'Chemical oxidation demand' (CoD) levels. These Green bridges will be at set up intervals of 1 Km each or as mandated by the flow and quantum of water found in the Nala.
• The microbial consortia deployed  in the use of this technology  are harmless and indigenously found in nature. No  genetically modified organisms would be used in the execution of this project. This is an environmentally benign process that has no harmful impact on the surrounding ecosystem including on human or animal health.
• It may also be noted that  Buddha Nala represents the largest project of this magnitude undertaken in the country. The cost of the entire project will be borne by the National River Conservation Directorate, Ministry of Environment and Forests