International Technical Seminar on "Drinking Water and Sanitation

An international technical seminar on “Drinking Water and Sanitation” was organized by JICA Alumni Association of India (JAAI) in association with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on 6th Feb. 2010 at Gulmohor Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. About 90 persons including JAAI members, officials from Japanese embassy as well as JICA and other officials working in this field attended the seminar.

The programme started with a welcome address by JAAI president, Mr. Zakaria Khan Yusufzai, followed by the address of the Chief Guest, Mr. S. Yamanaka, Chief Representative, JICA India Office. The technical session was chaired by Dr. (Mrs.) Malti Goel, Former Adviser, Ministry of Science & Technology and CSIR Emeritus Scientist. She complemented JAAI for taking this very important initiative for organising International Technical Seminar on Drinking Water and Sanitation. In her opening remarks she said that all major cities of the world came up around water sources. In India Yamuna the sacred river is passing through Delhi. It requires a magic wand to resurrect as the river has lost its self-sustenance limit. According to CPCB data the f.coliform is 100 times more than the allowable value and water is no longer good for bathing, not to say about drinking.

The Chairperson invited Dr. Dipankar Chakraborti, Director (Research), School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkota to deliver the keynote address on ‘Arsenic Pollution in Ground Water’. He has been working on arsenic and fluoride problem in Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra (GMB) Plain for last 23 years.  He presented results of his survey in arsenic affected areas and crisis of water scarcity as well as need for managing the available water resources. He elaborated on a little-known, but wide-spread and interesting topic of “Arsenic pollution in ground water”. He enumerated the problems of arsenic poisoning in various states of India and Bangladesh. The issue of groundwater contamination and its adverse health effects in West Bengal, Bihar and in Tarai region of Nepal came into limelight during 1995-2005. Recent surveys have shown many other regions in upper Ganga Plains are affected with arsenic pollution and causing severe effects on health of the population. He emphasized the need for mass awareness campaign and concerted efforts by the states and at individual level to overcome the problem of arsenic poisoning and prevent it from spreading. The highpoints of his talk were his illuminating and thought-provoking pictures and videos. He drew interesting parallels from the Hindu epics-Ramayana and Mahabharata-to drive home his messages.

Some of the interesting points he put across to the audience include- (1) There is arsenic contamination even in sterile water used for injections. (2) More than 200 million people are at risk of arsenic poisoning. (3) Arsenic is found in ground water and not in surface water like rivers. (4) Cow-dung cakes when burnt as fuel, give out fumes which if inhaled, can lead to arsenic poisoning and even lung cancers. (5) There is no arsenic contamination in milk.

On the whole, his talk was delivered with great gusto and involvement, and the audience responded at the end of it with the same enthusiasm by putting up questions.

Mr. Brijesh Sikka, Director, National River Conservation Directorate, Ministry of Environment & Forest, New Delhi shared his expertise and experiences on the “Yamuna Action Plan”. He began by describing the various rivers of India, their importance, levels of pollution and various sources of pollution. He stressed upon the fact that it is very important to restore the health of the polluted rivers. He proceeded to explain the river action plan model that is proposed to be implemented to clean up the Yamuna. He highlighted how NRCD is providing assistance to the various State Governments and their agencies for implementation of pollution abatement works in 167 towns along grossly polluted stretches of 38 rivers in 20 States of India Various activities for control of Industrial pollution in Delhi through enforcement of environmental regulations & laws were explained. The water quality of the rivers is being monitored at selected stations to gauge the impact of these schemes. Major sewage discharge is the main reason for degrading water quality of Indian rivers. Current status and phases of Yamuna action plan, various constraints and way foreword formed part of his presentation. He wound up his talk by enumerating various constraints to the plan and how it is planned to surmount them.

The final speaker for the day was Mr. D.K. Khare, “Business Leader” in Infrastructure and Waste Management Industry as Group CEO of a diversified conglomerate the Ramky Group, Hyderabad, presented his talk on ‘Industrial Effluent Treatment/ Recycling’. Mr. Khare described about various Ramky projects and their scope of work. The firm is mainly a waste management group that takes up projects to manage industrial waste and dispose them of in a safe and secure manner. The group specializes in managing industrial effluents, e- wastes and even biomedical waste. They offer consultation, designing, construction, implementation and management of industrial waste. The company claims to be India’s largest environmental infrastructure organization and has even won the best company of the year award for 2009.

He described the mechanism of purification of effluent waste and the various modern treatment techniques adopted and equipments being offered by their firm to treat various types of wastes. He explained scientific and business side of zero liquid discharge industrial effluent testing and purification to make it reusable. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary methods of water recycling were also explained. Many new technologies using membrane fiber, mixed bed demineralizer, electro-deionization for waste water recycling and seawater desalination are being introduced. He also said that it is corporate social responsibility of industries to address environment concerns.

Thus three eminent speakers shared their knowledge and experiences on various aspects of Drinking Water and Sanitation. The seminar was summed up by the chairperson. She reiterated the importance of clean drinking water and sanitation for public health. A holistic approach needs to be adopted to tackle such problems of immense dimension. This requires identification of root causes and appropriate problem solving methodology. Public awareness and people’s cooperation must form key components of the solution. After that the members of the audience actively participated by asking questions to the speakers to enlighten themselves.

The session ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Sumathi Muralidhar, JAAI member, followed by lunch. The participants freely interacted with the distinguished speakers during the lunch-break.

Downloads:
[ Prof. Chakraborty's Presentation ]   [ Mr. Sikka's Presentation ]   [ Mr. Khare's Presentation ]