Expansion of the Indo-German Competence Centre for Bank Filtration; Sub-Project D: Concept for the Construction and Operation of Planted Soil Filters in India

The basis for the expansion is the "Riverbank Filtration Network", which has existed since 2008, and the "Indo-German Competence Centre for Riverbank Filtration", which was founded as part of a BMBF project in 2011. The aim of the project is to strengthen educational and research cooperation between Germany and India in the field of water management.

The focus areas are near-natural riverbank filtration (UF), groundwater recharge (GWA) and planted soil filters (BF). Work packages include the transfer of knowledge and technology on sustainable water resource management, the issue of future cities in India, the UN Sustainable Development Goal "Clean Water and Sanitation" and the Indian government's "Clean Ganga Mission". The main result will be the establishment of a competence centre for bank filtration with headquarters in Dresden. The plan is to develop a science-based masterplan for riverbank filtration in India based on networking and research marketing activities, training and further education measures and the development of 5 UF demonstration sites.

The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is involved in the project alongside 6 German (including 3 universities) and 8 Indian (including 4 universities) cooperation partners; the funding share for the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam amounts to 108,000 euros, approximately 10 % of the total project costs on the German side. The Department of Civil Engineering is developing and constructing a pilot soil filter plant in Varanasi and is accompanying the investigations into the cleaning efficiency under changing conditions with regard to strongly fluctuating loads and extreme climatic/hydrological conditions (floods, drought). At the first working meeting in Varanasi (September 2022), in addition to a workshop at Banaras Hindu University and a field study on the Assi River, measurement technology for remote monitoring was installed at the pilot plant.