The Ashram has invested in making several green sewage treatment plants (made operational in 2016) through a technology called SBT (Soil BioTechnology). This is a patented process of India’s premiere and renowned engineering institute, IIT Mumbai, and helps clean sewage water which can then be used for maintaining the landscape of the Ashram.
The basic premise of SBT is to mimic the natural cycle of using soil to purify water using a technology that consumes very little energy. For SBT to be successful, the correct selection of soil is necessary – the soil needs the right mineral composition and should be able to absorb sewage water without choking. The purification is achieved through microbes in the soil that process waste organics, and the microbe population in the soil is maintained through geophagus worms that feed on soil bacteria.
In Soil Biotechnology 10 plants of total 1127 KLD kilo litres per day), with a cumulative capacity of saving up to 375 million litres of fresh water annually.
