Amit Kapur, Nico Nanobubble’s founder, says that in-situ drain treatment using oxygen nanobubbles could address key gaps in India’s sewage strategy

India’s sewage management strategy, heavily focused on decentralised treatment plants, may be missing a critical piece of the puzzle: polluted water already flowing through urban drains. Nico Nanobubble founder Amit Kapur told BW Sustainabilityworld that in-situ treatment using oxygen nanobubbles can rapidly improve water quality in existing drains, plugging a key gap in current policy.

“DSTP is basically for the incoming water into the drain… But what happens about the leakages and the water which is already there in the drain?” said Amit Kapur, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Nico Nanobubble India, during a recent interaction with BW Businessworld.

He discussed a pilot project the company conducted in Haryana. The pilot, conducted in association with the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, focused on in-situ drain water treatment using nanobubble technology, a chemical-free method the company says can significantly improve water quality within minutes.

“We did a pilot of roughly 0.5 MLD in association with Haryana State Commission Control Board… Treatment time was 15 minutes for a batch of water,” Kapur said, adding that the treated water met CPCB Class C norms for irrigation use, with dissolved oxygen levels rising from “negligible values to about 5 CPM.”

The pilot focused on the Mangeshpur drain, which eventually joins the Najafgarh drain before entering the Yamuna. Kapur said his team is now in early-stage conversations with Delhi authorities to explore revival work for the Najafgarh drain itself. “We are trying to work with authorities in Delhi for revival of the Najafgarh drain as well,” he noted.

According to Kapur, the technology, which the company has patented globally, has already been deployed in various locations, including ponds in the Delhi Zoo and temple tanks in Karnataka.

“We have revived their ponds… like we have done one in South India, Karnataka, which is Krishnamath Temple. They have a huge water body, crore of litres of water. We have revived that,” he said, noting that their system introduces oxygen nanobubbles into water to improve quality rapidly.

He also drew comparisons to conventional pond rejuvenation efforts, saying, “Like you said, [Ranveer Tanwar] takes about two to four years to revive a pond. We do the same thing with our technology in just one or two months.”

Farmer-Focused Application And Cost Challenges
Kapur emphasised that the same nanobubble systems are being used in agriculture to improve irrigation and crop yields. “It is one of the tools to double a farmer’s income,” he said, referencing the government’s stated goal of income doubling.

However, he acknowledged that affordability remains a challenge for small-scale farmers. “A smaller system starts from about two and a half lakhs… For him, spending something like two and a half, three lakh rupees is also a big thing.”

The company is in discussion with the Ministry of Agriculture to explore whether subsidies could make the system accessible to smaller farmers. “We are talking to the Agricultural Ministry if we can, you know, somehow subsidise it for the farmer,” he said.

Kapur described a change in how government departments respond to innovation. “It was actually hard to believe for me also. But the government departments have been very supportive… They have paid us for the POCs also.”

He mentioned positive responses from departments like Haryana’s Irrigation and PHED (Public Health Engineering Department), and said the company has started engaging with the Delhi Jal Board. “They have also requested us to review some of their lake bodies in the Najafgarh area and Kanjawala area and around North Delhi also.”

While he acknowledged that public procurement takes time, he expressed optimism. “All the departments are very openly discussing this technology adoption with us… Government is a little slow because… the system is designed in a way. But anyway, we are patient.”

Kapur concluded by saying the company hopes its technology will not only aid government departments but also help common citizens. “We wanted nanobubble to be a word so common that a common Indian citizen should know the word nanobubble… Not just something on paper just to show that yes, okay, this is done, but something which genuinely works on the ground.”