Coimbatore Corporation, PSG, Siruthuli team up for sustainable water and waste management centre
The Coimbatore Corporation, PSG & Sons’ Charities, and Siruthuli have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for sustainable water and waste management. The centre will focus on developing, demonstrating, and scaling solutions for wastewater treatment, water reuse, solid waste management, and ecological restoration. It will be housed at PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research (PSG iTech) in Neelambur.
The initiative comes at a time when rapid urbanisation in Coimbatore has increased the generation of wastewater, putting pressure on the city’s existing treatment infrastructure. The Centre of Excellence is expected to bring together scientific research, field implementation, and policy advocacy to address these challenges in a practical and scalable manner.
Under the agreement, the centre will undertake research, technology development, pilot projects, field demonstrations, and impact assessment studies. It will also support capacity building through training programmes, student internships, technical publications, seminars, and policy advocacy. The focus areas include decentralised sewage treatment systems, nature-based solutions such as constructed wetlands, phytoremediation, phyco-remediation, bioremediation, and stabilisation ponds. Water reuse, monitoring of water bodies and groundwater, solid waste management, pollution prevention, and policy research will also be key areas of work.
The MoU outlines specific responsibilities for each partner. The Coimbatore Corporation will identify priority environmental and waste management challenges, facilitate pilot interventions, provide space for approved projects, and establish designated collection centres in each zone for bulky household waste. PSG will lead scientific research, laboratory analysis, and technology validation. Siruthuli will coordinate field implementation, stakeholder engagement, documentation, and mobilisation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding.
A Joint Coordination Committee, chaired by the Corporation Commissioner, will oversee the functioning of the centre. The agreement does not create any financial obligation on the Corporation, as operational costs will be borne by PSG & Sons’ Charities and Siruthuli.
Corporation Commissioner Katta Ravi Teja said that rapid urbanisation had increased wastewater generation, making it challenging to expand treatment infrastructure. He expressed confidence that the Centre of Excellence would help develop innovative and scalable solutions for wastewater management. He also mentioned that the Corporation is undertaking a wastewater management study with a Germany-based organisation to guide future projects.
Siruthuli Managing Trustee Vanitha Mohan noted that many of the city’s streams, which once carried clean water, now carry sewage. She said the initiative evolved from the rejuvenation of the Gandhimanagar stream, where about 3.5 kilometres had been desilted with funding from PSG. She expressed hope that similar interventions would be implemented across the city.
Following the signing of the MoU, a symposium on sustainable water and waste management was held, bringing together representatives of government agencies, technology providers, industries, and academic institutions. The symposium aimed to discuss sustainable approaches to wastewater and solid waste management, fostering collaboration among stakeholders.
The establishment of the Centre of Excellence marks a notable step towards addressing Coimbatore’s environmental challenges through a structured, multi-institutional approach. By combining research, field action, and policy engagement, the initiative seeks to create models that can be replicated in other urban areas facing similar pressures.
