Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), with the support from GIZ Urban Nexus and ICLEI South Asia, organised a two-day technical workshop on Vacuum Sewer on the 23rd and 24th of January, 2018 in Rajkot, Gujarat.

The first day of the workshop was inaugurated by the Mayor Dr. Jaiman Upadhayay in the presence of the Deputy Mayor Dr. Darshita Shah, Deputy Commissioner Mr. Arun Mahesh Babu, IAS, and delegates from the Regional GIZ Nexus team in Bangkok – Ms. Ruth Erlbeck and Mr. Ralph Trosse. Mr. Babu welcomed all the delegates and participants to the workshop, and motivated them to adopt modern sustainable and environmental friendly technologies which are needed for city’s development.

He motivated everybody to learn about the new technology ‘Vacuum Sewer’ and look into the feasibility of adopting it in the city. Ms. Erlbeck, Project Director, GIZ Urban Nexus provided an overview of the project and emphasized on the need of the hour to adopt ‘out of the box’ thinking approach and move towards innovative technologies to build the ‘smart city’.

RMC is one of the two cities under the project ‘Integrated Resource Management in Selected Asian cities: the Urban Nexus’, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The project aims to introduce and promote the adoption of Nexus approaches in urban development planning processes in Indian cities, specifically focusing on the Nexus sectors water, energy and food security. The project started in 2016 and will be continued till 2019.

The technical expert, Mr. Trosse provided a brief insight into the circular economy through number of examples like perforated bricks, reuse and recycle of tertiary treated wastewater and so on.

The training was provided by the experts – Mr. Ireneusz Kubek and Ms. Natalia Paczkowska from AQSEPTENCE, Germany. Vacuum sewers are a cost-effective, environment-friendly alternative to traditional gravity and pressure sewer systems providing low maintenance, efficient and reliable sewage collection.

The workshop offered an opportunity for building the capacities of the technical staff working on wastewater and drainage, and are involved on the ground for implementation.

The two-day training focused on technical, financial, monitoring and evaluation aspects of the technology. Previously two engineers from RMC had made an exposure visit to Hanau, Germany to learn more about the technology in 2016.

The workshop was attended by over 50 participants including representatives from Jamnagar Municipal Corporation and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.