Please find here below the link to join the NIAS Wednesday Discussion (via Microsoft Teams Meeting)

Click here to join the meeting

Title: Ensuring India’s Water Security – The Five R’s

Speaker: Ambassador V. Ashok

Adjunct Professor, NIAS

Chair: Harini Santhanam, NIAS

Date & Time: 16 December, 2020 at 4.00 PM

Abstract: India is severely water stressed.  If we seek to ensure our water security, we need to revive and strengthen traditional technologies, many of which have been used for centuries, to retain our surface and ground water, as well as harvest rainwater.  We must introduce technologies to reduce both water use for agriculture and losses on account of wastage, leaks and theft.  We need to monitor surface and groundwater quality and enforce the “polluter pays” principle to restore water contaminated by natural or anthropogenic activities. We generate 62 billion litres per day of wastewater which we need to reuse by significantly increasing the number of conventional sewage treatment plants as well as by using wetlands and natural biological techniques for restoring water quality.  Faced with a demand for even more water from our burgeoning population, we need desalination technologies, including sustainable solar thermal systems, to recycle our abundant seawater.  For small communities and for emergency assistance, Atmospheric Water Generators coupled to solar PV systems could offer the highest quality of drinking water at cost-competitive prices.  We need to make water a Central subject in our Constitution and enforce regulations and educate our population on sustainable and eco-friendly water use. 

About the Speaker: A graduate in Civil Engineering from IIT, Delhi, Ambassador V. Ashok held diplomatic assignments in Hongkong, Malaysia, China, Austria, Sri Lanka and USA.  He was India’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic and Zimbabwe and retired in the rank of Secretary, Govt. of India.  He is Guest Professor, IIT Gandhinagar, Adjunct Professor IIT Bombay and NIAS, Bengaluru.