E-Newsletter from ZED EARTH - July 2014
EARTH WATCH Campus moves closer to completion... The major highlights With this third edition of Earth Watch and given the frequency of a month it's hard to o er any major updates beyond what has already been provided to you in the last edition in particular.
The entire engineering sta has moved to the Eco Fest space as was planned for this month. This o ce will now continue for about a year and more - until Phase 2 work is complete.
The project o ce building that existed with those wonderful hand prints of the workers who had created them had to be removed. Life moves on and we could not continue to have something that did not t into the ambience of the campus. That area aligns with the open air theatre and the green of the putting ground for amateur golfers that lie on the other end of the open air theatre. The thought is to see that a dense Arboretum is created there. It will make for a quite nook for reading or for relaxing on an afternoon.
Homes in Phase I are nearing completion. We are about two weeks behind schedule, thanks to challenges with installation of windows, doors and French windows. We have been talking to you about the challenges that we had with wood. We are in that transition to the new mode. Once we are done with it now, we will have only six more homes to be completed between August and early September for us to be exiting this campus of Phase I.
More families as ZedEarthers We have happily had four more new members who have joined the ZED Earth family - all of them are ne professionals drawn from backgrounds that are similar to the other ZED Earth members. We have taken pains always to ensure that there is a sharing of sensibilities and values among people. My meetings with people with members in the past have shown that they are deeply committed in their own quite ways while seeking a mature shift to creative leisure of the kind that ZED Earth and its values o er.
Phase II chugs along briskly In Phase II work has been briskly going on. We have 24 homes that are under construction. They are all slated for completion before this calendar year. The pace of work at the campus has been good. There are 19 villas that are heading for completion in the next two weeks 14 of them in Phase I and 5 in Phase II. We have 24 more villas getting to be completed in Phase II by
turn of the year. We will then be left with only about 30-plus villas that have to be taken up and completed. Our current schedule clearly shows we will complete the last balance of 30-odd villas before December 2015. This depends on some brisk buying by new customers this year. The speed we have gained in the last 3 months augurs well for securing new home buyers.
Club Zed moves apace The Club Zed amenities will be ready and will be launched by end August. The internal schedule is a little tight leaving us with barely a week from what we are currently seeing as the last milestone on multiple schedules for Club Zed. Well, we hope to inaugurate sooner - on August 15. We would request you - wherever you live - with an invite sent well ahead to plan to be there that evening. We are hoping to get a performer of either Jazz or Hindustani classical for an evening of music and performance.
It might bear recounting that we have a badminton court, a large swimming pool, a very large water body, a restaurant space which can double as a community centre, a large tness centre, a foyer and receiving area that combines as a library. There are other features that we can craft in as members begin to utilize the spaces. A leading architect with a reputation and standing of 30 years is driving some of the elements of aesthetics and geometry.
Cleaner Greener Look
Any visitor to the campus after the last 2 months will be happily surprised to see the Phase II area wearing a cleaner, greener look. We have turfed many areas. We have begun to lay garden beds for many of the plots in this part of the campus. We are doing up the parks and now, with the moistening of the soil with rains, we have decided to plant about 5000 tree saplings, a few hundred temple trees which are characteristic to the Doddaballapur road area. You will see them in an elegant line in front of Angsana as you are coming towards Zed Earth. You will nd them elsewhere too in this area. Temple trees have religious signi cance and their ability to absorb CO2 is higher. They are elegant trees, don't grow too tall, and sport a beautiful striking white ower in season.
Birds that make home here We have started an exercise informally with bird watchers and professional ornithologists in the city to see if we can get avian species mapping of the micro region. We will share with you
pictures and the biodiversity data once we have secured them from these professionals.
Drop by the new ofďŹ ce? At ZED Earth you must drop by the Eco Fest o ce that hosts our colleagues at work. At the City you must visit the new premises that we have moved into. It's prominent. It's convenient for our sta . And for the few of you who visit us on odd occasions.
More good hands on deck We have added on a couple of engineer professionals to bring traction on schedules and to govern quality. We have had an intern from Japan's Tokyo University who is studying the sustainability values of ZED Earth and of other Zed projects. He is working currently out of the ZED Earth project
base. Johan, a French engineer interning with us over the last three months has been documenting simulation models of some of the Zed Earth villas in order to validate the parameters and data points that are emerging on performance of these buildings in the campus. He is also doing such simulation models for ZED RIA, Zed Woods and other Campuses of ZED.
Clearing up the sore sights The labour shed was an ugly site to the far end. It was alright to have it there in the early stages when we had put them up. But as homes began to be occupied we told ourselves that we need to be shifting them. That exercise of shifting the labour sheds, as scheduled in the last month, is now going to be complete.
that we have created in another acre's expanse on the northern side of Zed Earth but outside the campus. Similarly the store room has been shifted for today it has no place in the residential enclave. That shift is complete at the time of writing. Phase I has begun to wear an air of peace and quiet.
The entire labour force will be moving to a residential quarter
We say Sorry again As I said in the last edition, our apologies to the small bunch of residents, families at Phase I for the inordinate amount of dust and annoying noise levels that you have had to su er in the last two months in particular. You will understand that the sooner we nish this kind of work the better it would be for all of you into the future. Please bear with us for just this one more month of July when homes in front
of M r. Badami's residence and in front of M r. R aja Chidambaram's will have workers closing in on things. We are doing our best to keep the atmosphere as quiet as possible but we know that it is not easy upon these two families who have had to su er the brunt of all the construction work going on in their immediate vicinity. The Natarajan's have also silently borne things for long. We salute you for your forbearance and your being deep lovers of Nature.
Something amazing about him I walked one recent morning across the campus. I was amazed at how just a small shift in the way we manage our directions and our sequencing, can make such a big di erence to the way the campus shapes. Though he doesn't like it to be expressly stated, I must record my sincere appreciation on my personal behalf as well as that of my entire bunch of colleagues of BCIL to Dr. Hariharan for the very pragmatic, scaled-down, vertical thinking approaches that he brings to driving a project and bringing it to fruition.
environmental factors. We know the formula and design structures of thinking that he has codi ed for easy understanding, over many years. But we have not been able to emulate and think through processes the way he does. Our hope between the rst few of us is that we will be able to begin to think in those ways and bring such strategic and pragmatic approaches to design implementation and the way a project shapes and formulates itself as we go along in the months and years ahead.
We have been wondering, many of us long-timers at Group ZED, as to what is that di erence he makes in the way he approaches these priorities that he sets.
Dr. Hariharan often says, It is centrally about stewarding land gently and sensitively to its own form and character. I have not personally understood what he means and have not certainly understood how his DNA functions when it comes to relating this central essence of his design philosophy to the forms that ZED o ers in creating the aesthetic balance that you and I appreciate.
One learning is: he constantly is thinking, as Mr. Sabari Thampi once said, from the point of view of the resident. He constantly combines the aesthetic and function, with time and
Treating Water Moves to Next Phase We compared six options before choosing one for ZED Earth. Both the promoters of this Ahmedabad based company are IIT-ins and professionals with a passion for technology that works. Their work has been recognized by the World Bank. One of the promoters is an advisor on water treatment for the World Bank apart from being a mentor for students at IIM-A. As it is a subject by itself, we shall reproduce the Q&A that we did with the suppliers at the time of selection of the water treatment system in separate update.
For private circulation only
Harikrishna President ZED Communities
Our New OfďŹ ce Address : Biodiversity Conservation India Pvt. Ltd. # 31, Vyalikaval Main Road, Near Bashyam circle (Above Nilgiris) Bangalore - 560003 T +91 80 4018 4018
E-Newsletter from ZED EARTH - July 2014
EARTH WATCH-STP Continuation... Treating Water Moves to Next Phase Here we bring in the insights into the waste water treatment plant that we have chosen for Zed Earth. We have been leaders for 20 years in such water treatment systems. T-Zed Homes has a unique system never found anywhere in the world which treats waste water to drinking levels of purity. Please check the below link to an article that appeared in The Hindu on June 2nd 2014. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/these-residents-are-serious-about-reduce-reuse-recycle/article6072520.ece We thought it better to reproduce here a Q&A that we did with the suppliers at the time of selection of the water treatment system. We compared six options before choosing this one. Both the promoters of this Ahmedabad based company are IIT-ins and professionals with a passion for technology that works. Their work has been recognized by the World Bank. One of the promoters is an advisor on water treatment for the World Bank apart from being a mentor for students at IIM-A. Here are some excerpts from the conversation
How many systems have you set up so far? Which is the oldest? Which is the smallest? Which is the largest?
What are recommended applications of this treated water apart from gardens? Can we use for car wash, for example?
We are using electro coagulation process. We have set up a total of 21 systems using this technology so far. All of them have been ETP installations. The rst installation was in July 2012. The smallest capacity of the systems is 5 KLD and the largest 100 KLD. We have also built STP & ETP installations using an older electro coagulation technology. Since this was ~50% more expensive, we have phased it out.
Yes, indeed. One of our installations is for treating car wash water which allows 100% recycling of water.
Which installed system of yours is handling the worst TDS Coli BOD and other major six parameters for water? The highest TDS in ETP was 7000, COD 1200, BOD at 300. We ran a pilot STP using the new technology. The Coliform was 600. How many of your systems have been for industrial - and size of system? How many are residential - size? All 21 under new electro coagulation process are ETPs. We built a pilot 10 KLD STP system which ran for a month until we were fully satis ed. How many of the total installations have you installed in just the last 12 months? We have installed nineteen systems post March-2013. Is there anyone else doing the same process in India? Yes. Electrocoagulation for sewage treatment is gaining acceptance in India. Currently, there are roughly 10-15 companies in India working on Electro coagulation systems.
What other use can be treated water be put to? A major scope of reuse is toilet ushing for which an Ultra ltration system would be required. It is possible to retro t a UF system into ours if you desire. However, such a retro t is not needed, if you are using this water only for gardens and car wash. In a villa enclave we will not advise this. If there's excess in a day after all use -- as is usually with STPs - can we recharge the shallow aquifers with such treated water? Yes. Indeed. The excess treated water could be drained in shallow aquifers, rainwater collection chambers, natural surface water bodies like ponds, lakes, rivers etc. What is the electrodes replacement protocol every month? Is there rocket science involved in the training? No. This is very basic. This involves replacing the ~38 worn out iron plates with new ones. It is just hanging them on two rods in the E ux reactor. Do you have a manual for it with visuals supporting the process of replacing monthly? Yes. We will provide the operating manual.
How many pumps are to be deployed here for Zed Earth?
What is the cost of these electrodes after the warranty time is done and over?
There will be a total of four pumps.
These are o -the-shelf items.
Have you planned for redundancy pumps? What pumps are these as brand goes? What is the EE rating?
Are there other suppliers of these things? Or are we at your mercy for their supply in later years?
Kirloskar. We have not included redundant pump in the order. The four pumps are the same size, so we would advise one spare pump as standby.
No. These are iron plates, and can be locally procured. We will provide you with the exact measurements and speci cations for you to source them from a vendor of your choice.
What is the throughput time from raw water to treated water?
Why do the electrodes 'wear out' within a month?
The system is designed to treat 40 KL in 15-16 hours, i.e., throughput of 2.5 KL per hour. What will be the promised parameters of the treated water? The system will deliver treated water according to the pollution control board norms for gardening. (COD 100, BOD, 30, TDS 2100, pH 7-8, and there are 3-4 other norms which are less important) The nal treatment step is sodium hypochlorite addition which removes all coliforms. Will you undertake giving us a monthly Water Quality Report for rst year of installation? We have not included this in our original order, but we can include this as part of an AMC. We'll be sharing this with the residents? Certainly. What are salient of the warranty period of maintenance? Tenure? The warranty is 12 months from commissioning or 16 months from delivery of equipment. There is also 5% retention money for performance guarantee. What is the AMC provided ?
What are other maintenance protocol procedures that we should know? We recommend a fortnightly CIP procedure and cleaning of lter press apart from monthly electrode replacements. Can you do a candid list of the unexpected bad news you had in other installations in the last year? We faced following issues : 1) Pump bearing making noise. 2) Transformer getting over heated. 3) Changing the settings in the control panel when e uent changes. 4) Filter Press Cleaning. 5) Intermediate collection tank of too small a capacity. Being candid, I can say that with every system, we are learning and improving and the 40 KLD system has been designed with taking into consideration all the problems/shortcomings of previous 20 systems. What are other surprises that are likely to pop up in the year after installation?
We can provide 2 options for AMC. 1) All inclusive with consumables like electrodes, pumps lter cloth replacement, carbon and micro replacement, monthly visits and quality report. 2) Monthly visits and quality report. consumables would be in client's scope.
The process of electrocoagulation for removal of contaminants of water is to have a controlled erosion of the metal plates. The eroded micro particles of the metal plates are the molecules which trap the contaminants of water and hold onto them which on ltration get captured in the lter press and hence by solid-liquid separation get removed from water, hence treating the water. We design systems where the "wear out' is a minimum of 30 days but can extend up to 45 days depending on the e uent.
Above mentioned
You've no representation in south India. How do you manage glitches in the rst six months? We are installing a system in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu. For the service and maintenance of Tiruppur and ZED systems, we have already hired a technical person based in Tiruppur who will be available for any service/ maintenance/ breakdown issue on 24 hours' notice. We will be focusing on South India for more installations in TN, Karnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh and will soon have a local team for service/maintenance. As of now, we have hired one service engineer based in Tiruppur who will handle the service/maintenance for this particular system. We can work out a service/maintenance contract as per your convenience.
We really have no way of predicting the future. But during our conversation you mentioned that to the extent possible, you would like to operate the system during low-peak electrical rate period. We would look into providing that exibility. What is the oldest such installation in the world? Is this a collaboration in India or a tech your rm integrated? Is there an IP you own yourself? Electrocoagulation is a concept known for over 100 years. For waste water treatment including sewage treatment, EC has been used for over 3 decades worldwide and about 5-7 years in India. The EC system developed by us is purely indigenous considering that foreign systems are easily 5 times more capital intensive than our systems, hence rendering them unsuitable for Indian markets. Yes, we have certain IP regarding the design and automation for E ux system which is patent pending. What is the energy use comparison with a regular EM process STP? Or with a MBR process? At such low volume, the energy consumption is approximately the same. Biological processes have the bene t of economy of scale beyond 300 KLD over EC systems but there performance among other things does not match up to EC systems. Also, the space requirement is quite large for What is peak load energy demand? Have you got an energy load analysis of the last 5-6 months of any installation of yours at a customer base -- not at your own plant? We have not done any such analysis. We will be happy to take your expertise at ZED as leaders in energy management. There is a lot for us to learn from you. What pumps do you buy? How much of your equipment is fabricated in-house? How much bought and how much of the shelf? We prefer local manufactured pumps like Kirloskar and Crompton Greaves, due to good service support and low cost. The heart of our system which is the E ux Reactor and the programming of the control panel is fabricated in-house, rest is outsourced. What are other questions that I should be asking and I don't know of? I think we've covered almost all aspects but there might be a few hiccups during commissioning. We'll work out any problems we come across to make sure that this installation is successful. Thank you for these searching questions we'll stand by through years ahead to ensure we achieve leadership in waste water treatment at ZED Earth.
For private circulation only
Harikrishna President ZED Communities
Our New OfďŹ ce Address : Biodiversity Conservation India Pvt. Ltd. # 31, Vyalikaval Main Road, Near Bashyam circle (Above Nilgiris) Bangalore - 560003 T +91 80 4018 4018