BWSSB to open doors to water tech startups
BENGALURU: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) will invite startup firms to collaborate on wastewater treatment initiatives, BWSSB Chairman Ram Prasat Manohar said on Saturday. Speaking after inaugurating purification machinery installed by Bosan Whitewater, he said, We are thinking of making Bengaluru a water startup capital. The first startup has already been given permission. In the coming days, we are ready to offer free opportunities to water-related startups in management, recycling and new technologies at BWSSB units. The pilot project, launched jointly with Bosan Whitewater, is the first in India where a government water board has allowed a private startup to demonstrate water-recycling technology inside an STP. The pilot plant will receive treated water from the BWSSB STP and purify it through an 11-stage system, producing 70,000 litres of near-drinking-quality water daily. The water will be supplied to industries and commercial establishments along the Outer Ring Road, reducing the citys dependence on freshwater and preventing unnecessary discharge into lakes. Bosan will install the purification equipment at its own cost, while the water board will supply wastewater and help with market linkages.