CCRBF: Expansion of the Indo-German Centre of Excellence for Riparian Filtration; Subproject 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 in 2011 as part of a BMBF project. The project aims to strengthen educational and research cooperation between Germany and India in the field of water management.

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

The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is involved in the project along with 6 other German (of which 3 universities) and 8 Indian (of which 4 universities) cooperation partners. The funding share for the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam amounts to 108,000 euros, which is about 10 % of the total project costs on the German side. The Department of Civil Engineering is developing and setting up a pilot soil filter plant in Varanasi and is accompanying the investigations into cleaning efficiency under variable conditions with regard to highly 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, the installation of measurement technology for remote monitoring was carried out at the pilot plant.