Sunday, December 15, 2013

Solar-Powered Toilet Caters to Needs of West Bengal Village

It consists of a solar panel that will generate power during the
day; this powers a set of micro pumps that draws water from the
nearby pond and stores it in a 5,000 litre overhead tank.
In Baikunthapur, a backwater village in the West Bengal Sunderbans, the German government in collaboration with a local technical institution has built a solar-powered water storage system that provides clean water and power to the toilets of the local hospital.

A bunch of students led by a former bureaucrat have devised a solar-powered toilet that caters to a village in West Bengal Sunderbans, with a little help from the Germans.

Up until now attendees had to line up near the only pond in the area to collect water for their ward in the hospital.

SP Gon Chaudhury, a renewable expert behind the project, says he was moved by the plight of patients including expecting mothers.

"The German government agreed to chip in and with the help of equipment suppliers, we devised a solar-based water supply system that will also provide light in the hospital toilets during the night," says Gon Chaudhury, former secretary of West Bengal renewable energy department and former chairman of Green Energy Corporation.

It consists of a solar panel that will generate power during the day; this powers a set of micro pumps that draws water from the nearby pond and stores it in a 5,000 litre overhead tank.

Once the tank is full, the rest of the power generated from panel is stored in a battery to power bulbs in toilets at night. Gon Chaudhury and a team of young engineers from his Arka Renewable Energy College designed the system.

"The system is not an invention by itself because solar panels and micro pumps are easily available. But the concept of assembly of equipment at a toilet is new," says Chaudhury.

The cost of assembling the entire unit is around Rs 4 lakh. Advantage: Water is available 24*7 at the hospital toilet.

"This set can be used at all government installed toilets that are forced to be shut after they are built due to lack of water," says Chaudhury.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/solar-powered-toilet-caters-to-needs-of-west-bengal-village/articleshow/25764063.cms?adcode=101

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