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Hotels also generate a lot of wastewater from their kitchens, bathrooms, etc. This wastewater contains chemicals, oils and various types of residues, which are harmful for the environment. Since this water ultimately reaches the sea, it is harmful for marine life and affects the eco-system. Preserving water is very important and can be done through the use of a Sewage Treatment Plant(STP). The Orchid has a STP on site that treats all the wastewater generated in the hotel. The system is setup so that this wastewater can be reused for gardening and air conditioning. Any water that is not reused is sent to the municipal drain.
However, since the water has been treated, it is not harmful to the environment. STPs are now a mandatory requirement for all 5 star hotels. Incidentally, the Orchid installed its STP when the hotel began its operations in 1997, much before the requirement came into effect. The capital expenditure for a STP is high, but in the long run, a hotel saves money since it reuses water thereby drawing less water from the municipal corporation.
Tarunkumar Majumdar, Chief Engineer, Ista Hyderabad says: “At Ista Hyderabad, water conservation is a key philosophy we focus on and the guest is also given the decision in his room for optional change in room/bathroom linen if he/she so desires. Post treatment, the water from the guest rooms is used for horticulture and also for flushing in toilets in the guest rooms and heart of the house areas. Water harvesting is another aspect of the initiatives wherein we have seven water harvesting pits for collection of rainwater. We have installed water meter for almost every area and STP. We monitor this on regular basis and from the reading it is evident that we are getting substantial amount of water saving after incorporating the water conservation measures. Also this year our bore wells have not dried up and giving a very good yield. That means the soil below is getting well recharged through our water harvesting pits,”
Rainwater harvesting then seems an obvious means to use water.
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”In Our Native Village, we harvest all the rainwater from our roof tops and store it in a 84,000 litre underground tank. All the rainwater on the ground is channelled to a set of rainwater recharge wells that we have all over the resort. All grey water in the resort is sent through reed beds and used to again recharge the ground water. All the kitchen wash water is used to water plants. We are able to do this because, in the kitchen we do not use detergents but only shikakai and ash, so the water is fit for watering of plants. All the water that comes out when we vacuum our swimming pool is stored in a huge tank and this is used for irrigation of our farm. This is possible, because our pool is cleaned using aquatic plants and not any chemicals at all,” explains Ramkumar.
At the ITC Windsor, water restrictors for showers and taps, Gebreit water tanks for W.C.’s help save 40 percent of water and flushing. Sub metering happens to control consumption. Rain water harvesting and an auto urinal flushing system also help save water. A reverse osmosis plant is planned for using more recycled water for laundry.
“Our hotel’s effluent treatment plant is maintained and operated by competent trained people from supplier. Excess treated sewage water is supplied to Mount Carmel College for gardening purpose and is used for cooling Towers and horticulture and for washing of roads,” says Anil Chadha, General Manager, ITC Hotel, The Windsor.
Technology on top
While recycling and reusing may sound great especially for the environmentally conscious, there is a need for sound technology to support this. Thermax India’s STP- FAB Reactor is a new generation sewage treatment plant that uses less electricity and generates high yields of regenerated water. An aerator is used in guest room and in heart of the house taps and showerheads.
Aerators mix air with water before use that increases the water volume and makes the water lighter reducing usage. Hydro-pneumatic systems ensure that constant pressure is maintained at all times in the all water outlets, irrespective of number of outlets being used at a time.
“Laundry is one of the highest consumers of water in a hotel, our laundry uses the latest imported Milnor Washing Machines, designed to wash with minimum water usage,” says Majumdar. Since a lot of wastage happens in the staff washrooms with water dripping, quarter turn taps can be installed as they need only a quarter turn to close the tap completely and the tap becomes drip less. Imported HACCP Sinks in the food production area ensures a limited water usage with timer taps. Auto Flushing guest and staff urinals’ are ones where the flushing is sensor operated. Contrary to the conventional cistern system this flushes only when the urinal is used. This ensures good hygiene and optimisation of water usage.
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