Groundwater is heavily withdrawn for irrigation, industrial and municipal purpose thorough out the world. Researchers have found that it is getting polluted due to cctive barrier (PRB) can be effective in cleaning the polluted aquifers. A PRB is an in situ permeable treatment zone designed to intercept and remediate a groundwater contaminant plume.

Geotechnical engineering patronises the philosophy that geomaterials are influenced by mechanical effects and basically deals with physical attributes of the material. Further, geomaterials are considered to be biologically inert, though geo-environment has been the host of microorganisms for more than 3 billion years, longer than the known human habitation which is 2 billion years.

The disposal and management of municipal solid wastes (MSW) generated due to population explosion, affluence, haphazard planning, rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, in the present day scenario, are a major concern. Often, landfilling has been the most opted and popular option for disposing the large volumes of MSW, mainly due to the convenience associated with it. Incidentally, in the recent times, enhancement of the microbial activity is being used as a panacea to degrade the municipal solid waste. In this context, a Bioreactor Landfill (BLF) proves to be a promising solution.

Rapid industrialisation and growth in population has resulted in establishing industrial units all over the country and consume most of the natural resource, to meet the demand of the present generation. The after effect of these processes, which are the secondary products coming out of the industrial units are considered as waste materials, and are given least consideration by human beings to be used for beneficial application. Most often, these materials are dumped in the backyards of industrial units.

Planning developmental activities in locations having clayey (fine-grained) soil has always been a challenge to geotechnical engineers. Rheological approach, capable of small strain measurements, to understand the micro- mechanical process enables in revealing the response of such soils to external stresses. Correlations between soil specific and rheological parameters are being developed which would aid in obtaining quick first-hand information about site conditions.

Pump sump has its applications in many fields like thermal power plants, lift irrigation, water supply, etc. and the need for proper design and analysis of pump sump is increasing. For the efficient performance of the pumps, proper design of pump sump is necessary as the flow entering the pump is a key factor. Though there are many guidelines for such a design, an appropriate model study is required since each system is situation specific.

Extraordinary rainfall intensities during the last few years in India and other countries resulted in urban flooding incidents with both increased frequency and magnitude. In flood affected cities, this could lead to immense loss of life, property and livelihoods of its inhabitants. Coastal urban cities are vulnerable to flooding under combined influence of heavy rainfall and high tides. Hence, there is a need for development of urban flood inundation models which would enable an effective management of floods.

Indian Monsoon provides 80% of the annual rainfall in India and is associated with the northward shift of Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ); governed by large scale circulation. It is believed to be dominated and controlled by distant moisture sources from oceans. However, the contributions from large evapo-transpiration flux, being generated from the land surface processes, specifically from the agriculture intensified Ganga basin, is largely overlooked.

This is an integrated and interoperable service platform or system for remote monitoring and decision support in precision horticulture. The project is a multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary collaborative initiative, lead by IITB, supported by the Information Technology Research Academy (ITRA) of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The project has unique approach with research, curriculum, outreach and social impact matrices.

Research and engineering interventions include:

In the vicinity of IIT Bombay campus lies Powai lake, known for its varied flora and fauna. But over the years in recent past, the lake has undergone enormous eutrophication (algal bloom) due to reckless discharge of untreated domestic effluents into the lake. This pathetic sight of a dirty lake is an eye sore for the public besides the slow decay of the lake. Hence, in order to find an effective remediation, our group along in collaboration with Prof. Yen Wah Tong from National University of Singapore is working to check water pollution in urban localities using green algae.

Public transport systems are regarded as efficient and environmental friendly as compared to personal transport. Nevertheless, the perceived advantage of public transport should not be taken for granted as it is sensitive to several factors viz. type of fuel and electricity used for running vehicles, material intensity of supporting transport infrastructure, service life of vehicles and infrastructure, etc. Therefore, our lab in collaboration with Dr. Rajesh Kumar Singh from thinkstep sustainability solutions Pvt Ltd.

Do you know that for every liter of alcohol consumed, about 8-15 litres of wastewater is generated? Are you aware that a mind boggling 40 billion liters of waste waters are generated from distilleries in India alone? Please understand that distilleries in a way are transforming ~100 million litres of drinking water in rural areas into wastewater every day. The water, which should have been used by farmers to grow crops! There is one more dark side of these dark, dirty looking and odorous waste waters, severe contamination of receiving surface or ground waters.

A large amount of food waste is being generated from hotels, restaurants, canteens, companies, vegetable markets, super markets and residential blocks. These waste ultimately ends up rotting in landfills. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the route that can transform this food waste into a renewable energy source by producing ‘biogas’, a renewable energy source as electricity, heat and vehicle fuel.

Are you fed up of seeing waste being dumped on lands and causing all sorts of pollution? We too! However, for our researchers, this is not just ‘waste’ but ‘wealth of resource’. Yes, you read it right. Our researchers in collaboration with industry have taken up the challenge to covert wastes into soil. Soon you may start seeing these wastes turning waste barren lands into green lands – which are safe and sustainable.

Our group specialises in water and wastewater treatment. We have developed cheap and effective pollutant removal technologies which includes community scale hand-pump attachable arsenic removal filter using indigenous materials to achieve international drinking water standard. This filter is the most economical amongst the available technologies for arsenic removal and more than fifty units are installed and functioning across India.

water is no longer a safe and free commodity because most perennial Indian rivers are polluted with persistent organic pollutants. Thus provision of clean and safe potable water to all sections of society is the key challenge faced by our nation today. Clean water is also the key to enable Indian industries to produce goods of environmentally acceptable quality.

We all want our painted walls to have uniform colour and be free of surface cracks or warps. This is achieved by formulating paints that dry homogeneously and do not crack or de-bond from the surface during drying.

Due to wide spread industrialisation, the environment is always challenged with the discharge of large number of chemical species, some of which are dangerous and toxic to human health. Among these, mercury and cyanide are two important ions having deleterious effect on human health. For example, cyanide compounds (like HCN, CNCl, NaCN, and KCN) are discharged into the environment due to the increased utility of these in many chemical processes (such as electroplating, plastics manufacturing, tanning, and metallurgy) to an extent of 900-1000 tons/year.

Increasing level of CO 2 in the environment owing to anthropogenic activities is one of the pressing global issues that needs immediate resolution. Ever increasing development of industries and human population will produce more and more CO 2 emission by continuous consumption of fossil fuels. The immediate challenge is to improve the current technologies which can capture CO 2 efficiently and convert it into useful sustainable fuels (i.e. methane and methanol) in presence of natural resources such as water and sun light.

Each year during the winter season (December-January), dense fog engulfs the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) in South Asia, extending over a stretch of 1500 km, for more than a month disrupting day-to-day life of millions of people living in the IGP. Increasing air pollution combined with sufficient moisture available due to the passage of frequent north-westerlies favor fog formation in this region. Trends in poor visibility suggest a significant increase in worsening air quality and foggy days over the IGP.