1. Information about Sustainable and Appropriate
Sanitation Practices for Indian Conditions Developed by
(Late) Dr . S. V. Mapuskar.
We the office bearers of Appa Patwardhan Safaii Paryavaran Tantra Niketan (APSPTN), Dehugaon
founded by (Late) Dr. S. V. Mapuskar. We take this opportunity on behalf of Dr. S. V. Mapuskar who was a
recipient of President Award for his extensive work in the field of rural sanitation has developed most
sustainable technologies which are appropriate for Indian environmental conditions. The system as
developed by APSPTN which is named as Decentralised Onsite Integrated Waste Management (DOSIWAM)
comprises of two components as follows.
1. Malaprabha Digester : The toilets from the houses / buildings / community are connected to this
specially designed digester. Here, the organic matter gets converted into biogas which is a source
of energy for cooking. Typically, from the waste produced from 6 to 7 people, one person’s gas
requirement for cooking is satisfied. Thus, statistically if we consider in Indian context, it is
possible to satisfy @ 15 to 20 % of energy for cooking at national level from the waste which any
way we have to treat and for which huge cost required to be invested. Further, due to the
particular design, it helps to reduce pollution parameters such as Biochemical Oxygen Demand
(BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). The slurry coming out of this digester is further
conveyed to the other tank called Stabilisation tank for further treatment.
2. Stabilisation Tank : it is used to treat the grey water along with the slurry of Malaprabha Digester.
It comprises of specially connected compartment’s, where the waste water to be treated is made
to move in a specific manner (horizontal and vertical zig zag). The compartments have vent pipes
through which suction takes place, helping to add oxygen, in the system due to such addition of
the oxygen pollution indicators such as BOD and Cod get satisfied and get reduced. All this gets
done without adding or requirement of a single unit of energy and chemicals.
Further the treated waste water coming out as effluent can very well be used for non-consumptive use
such as gardening, floor cleaning, vehicle washing, ground water recharge etc.
Our organisation APSPTN is approved as Knowledge Resource Centre (KRC) at State as well as National
level. We have been involved in providing consultancy services for implementing such DOSIWAM systems at
many places in Dehugaon, in and around Pune, in other places in Maharashtra as well as other states such as
Gujrat, Tamil Nadu etc. We are also engaged in R&D activities for optimising these systems and making them
suitable for implementing them in Urban areas. Recently we have filed patents as well in this regard, along
with Sinhgad College of Engineering (SCOE) Pune.

2. We are glad to inform you that we have developed 2-3 such systems as follows.
1. Development of Circular pipes based stabilisation tanks. The main advantages of these types of pipes
are that they can be manufactured in factories under controlled conditions and thus will help reduce
the construction time.
2. Development of stabilisation tank system for rural areas. These can be constructed by simple
excavations (ponds) with lining of impermeable liner. Again, these are found to give encouraging
results. Further it is possible to carry out pisiculture in these ponds which will give additional income
sources to the villagers.
3. Use of online system for onsite treatment of polluted river water. We have carried out preliminary
experimental studies for this system developed.
We are glad to inform you that, we have carried out R&D on these systems in association with Sinhgad
College of Engineering Pune and are confident enough that these systems will prove out to be quite for the
beneficial of Indian conditions.
As regards to implementing Malaprabha Digester we would like to bring you attention to following
things:
1. We have implemented these systems mainly in peri-urban and rural areas. The systems have not
been implemented in urban areas except in one or two cases in Pune city, wherein these systems
have been implemented in heart of the city area.
2. If we take into consideration that there are approx. 125 Cr/5 = 25 Cr. families in India. So if we
assume that to begin with we reach to approx. 10 to 20 % population or let’s say 20 crore people. The
gas will be sufficient for 20 crore/7 per family i.e. nearly 3 crore families, so 3 crore* Rs 500 (per
cylinder) makes 1500 crores saving per month. The beauty of these system is that once they are
constructed properly, they don’t require the maintenance of even few hundred rupees throughout
the entire life. There is no requirement of electrical, mechanical energy to run these plants. The
waste water gets treated at the point of its origin itself, which can be used for flushing, floor cleaning,
ground water recharge, firefighting or even for ground water recharging, which is the need of the
hour.
Further, we have also developed Solid Waste Management (SWM) system for individual house hold or
community level based SWM system which can be implemented very effectively.
Thus, DOSIWAM is such a system where not a single drop of waste water or a single grain of MSW is
required to be dumped into the municipal drains or central SWM systems.
We have also carried out R&D on various aspects of DOSIWAM such as its comparison with conventional
mechanised treatment plants using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach through our R&D MoU with
Sinhgad College of Engineering, Pune. The DOSIWAM system has been found out to be more than > 90 %
reliable for waste water treatment whereas conventional STP’s have shown at 60 to 70 % systems reliability.

3. (Late) Dr. S V Mapuskar has done extensive work in the area of rural sanitation. However, we are
confident that systems developed by him will also be very apt for urban areas and eventually they will result
into reduced burden of waste water and SWM on all local bodies. Subsequently, the polluted rivers also will
get cleaned as the percent of untreated sewage directly going to river bodies or other bodies such as
streams, lakes, ponds and even oceans will reduce.
Another interesting fact that we would like to bring to your notice is that, we have also carried out the
feasibility study of using these non-mechanised stabilisation tanks for treating even the industrial waste such
as dairy waste and pharmaceutical waste and the system is found to be quite reliable for treating the highly
concentrated industrial waste either fully or as a pre-treatment.
Thus, to sum up, we would like to bring to your kind notice the following salient points of comparison
between DOSIWAM and the conventional waste water treatment systems.
1. DOSIWAM System is more sustainable than the conventional waste water system such as drainage
and STP system as well as the septic tank systems. Both these systems require regular maintenance
as well as skilled manpower, whereas DOSIWAM System does not require about any kind of
maintenance.
2. In case, these systems are found suitable by your technical committee, we can make it mandatory for
all new structures to implement these systems within their premises. Such implementers may be
given property tax rebate as well as subsidy for constructing such type of human excreta based
digesters. The tax rebate as well as subsidy for constructing such type of human excreta based
digesters. The tax rebate is also justifiable in view of the fact that such implementers are going to put
reduced burden on the infrastructure such as existing drainage system and existing sewage
treatment plants (STP). The system shall be incorporated in planning stage itself.
3. As mentioned above, the DOSIWAM System does not require connection to conventional drainage or
sewage system as well as STP. It can be constructed at @ 30 to 35 Rs per litre whereas conventional
sewerage system and STP requires @ 60 Rs / Lt, apart from huge operation and maintenance cost.
4. In Malaprabha digester, organic matter gets converted into methane gas which is used as source of
energy. If this methane is not trapped (as in case of septic tank or in case of improperly maintained
STP’s), it gets escaped into atmosphere and is almost 22 times detrimental as Green House Gases as
compared to CO2.
5. Hypothetically, if we consider, say 1000 buildings of 5 storey each, within each building, almost
cooking requirement of 01 storey / building will get satisfied by these systems.
Little contribution to Swach Bharat Abhiyan
Dr. Shilpa Narayanan Dr Sameer Shashtri
Secretary, (APSPTN) Dehugaon. Director Technical
Mob No : 09881390402 Mob No : 09766764693
Ulhas Mapuskar
Director Finance
Mob No: 09822670783