Waste water aquaculture planned in BHEL township

BHEL Tiruchi will be utilising the expertise of the Directorate of Sustainable Aquaculture (DCeSA), Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu Dr. J. Jayalalithaa Fisheries University, Nagapattinam, for waste water aquaculture.

Following the success of the trials in ponds storing treated water in the BHEL township, the DCeSA will shortly be signing a memorandum of understanding with BHEL-Tiruchi for fish culture. The Director of DCeSA, Thanjavur, J. Stephen Sampath Kumar, said the university had been in a knowledge partnership with BHEL-Tiruchi for a year and that trials indicated that potential for waste water aquaculture was bright.

The treated water was usually utilised for agricultural and horticultural purposes. The treated waste water from the industry and the living quarters had to stagnate at a collection point for oxidation that was required for fish culture, Prof. Stephen said.

The Directorate had already established its fresh freshwater ornamental fish brood bank for sustainable aqua farming at a 50-cent site near Jeeyapuram. The mandate of the facility was to focus on economically important species for the development of culture technology for adoption, establishing and running farms.

The DCeSA, a nodal agency for implementing the Tamil Nadu irrigated Agriculture Modernisation Programme until 2023, had been providing on-campus and off-campus training programmes regularly for the benefit of farmers, entrepreneurs, women self-help group members, fisher women, and rural unemployed youth on freshwater fish farming, carp seed production, ornamental fish farming, and preparation of value-added fishery products.