Altair India contributes to a real “Swachh Bengaluru” initiative with Peer Water Exchange

Bangalore
7 March 2015

While toilets are needed, we need a strong foundation of sewage management infrastructure on which to build them. Without proper sewage treatment, toilets create a 'river of sewage' which flows unchecked into our environment, polluting our lakes, water bodies, and even streets. Sewage creates a massive health hazard, both increasing diseases and even stunting children who have to fight the germs on a daily basis.

It is impossible to deliver centralized sewage and treatment solutions following the extremely rapid growth in Indian cities. We need to urgently migrate to a decentralized network of small-scale sewage treatment plants (STPs) – most of which will be privately owned. Government agencies are already overloaded with a proliferation of diverse STPs to ensure compliance. What is needed is that the installation of private small-scale STPs and that their operations are documented and verified in a publicly transparent manner.

Peer Water Exchange (PWX) approached Altair to fund a project that envisages to create a database of Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) by residential societies, institutions, and commercial establishments. The goal is to showcase successful solutions, help fix the non-performing STPs, and build new STPs where needed (including for the poor). The live database will, in the future, also include the supplier ecosystem and water testing labs.

Altair India saw a very strong connection of PWX work with Altair’s Global philosophy of supporting social initiatives under their Corporate Social Responsibility program and the need to give-back to the community in Bengaluru where we have our India operations. Pavan Kumar – Managing Director, Altair India said "We have to face the issues of sewage in our city. Its a topic we don't like to smell or talk about, but Bangalore cannot be a world-class anything if so much sewage is let loose every day. Our commitment to PWX is long-term, and we are actively participating in PWX efforts by not only funding their projects, but also providing Altair volunteers interacting with housing societies in Bangalore collecting the inputs for the database in the current phase of this initiative. Until we fix the sewage issue, our lakes will never be clean.”

Rajesh Shah – Executive Director, PWX said, “We have polluted and depleted our lakes and water sources. We are then re-using the same water for drinking, trying to purify it by using water purifiers that use considerable energy and waste a lot of water. We visit doctors because our children are falling sick often on account of this pollution. Is this the world we to leave for our children? If all of us can just pay a little bit attention on this issue now we might be able to save our future before its too late. PWX appreciates Altair's support for our plan to awaken urban citizens to own their sewage issue instead of waiting decades for the government. We look for more organisations to join Altair and help create a truly “Swachh (sewage-free) Bengaluru”.

About Altair

Altair Engineering India Pvt. Ltd. is a subsidary of Altair, a global software company whose vision is to radically change the way organizations design products and make decisions.

About Peer Water Exchange

PWX is a Bangalore based non-profit, pioneering a new way to track and fix urban sewage issues by engaging urban citizens to own the problem.