‘TREATED WATER’ A NATIONAL CHALLENGE
The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), is geared to meet the challenge with focus on its ‘Water’ technological interventions on the ninth day of CSIR Platinum Jubilee Technofest at 36th India International Trade Fair (IITF), at Pragati Maidan in the National Capital. Theme-day seminar highlighted important aspects of water conservation and water management system in India. Scientists and researchers from the concerned laboratories of CSIR unfolded the means to generate pure and treated water for a large chunk of India’s population.
Amitava Das, Director, Csircentral Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), said, “CSIR is focused to find out the solutions to minimize the adverse effect of water crisis in India. We are 4% of global water resource. 88% of India’s population has access to different water bodies, out of which only 32% gets treated or pure water. It has become a national challenge to provide access to treated water to a large chunk of India’s population. There is a huge gap that needs to be bridged and CSIR is dedicated in this cause.” Quoting a data he added, “The per capita usable water availability has drastically gone down from 1820 cubic meter in 2001 to 1550 cubic meter in 2011. As expected, till 2025, it will be struggling at 1340 cubic meter.”
The ‘Water’ theme pavilion showcased advancements in water processing technology. ‘Indigenously developed Membranes’ namely Reverse Osmosis Membranes, Ultra Filtration Membrane and Hollow Fiber Membrane, have revolutionized the efforts targets towards water purification. This technology is commercialized now. The lab has provided resins to overcome the lethal effect in the Arsenic and Fluoride prone water states like West Bengal. 65 water sources have been installed in some parts of West Bengal. Nirmal Kumar Saha, Scientist, CSIR-CSMCRI, marked, “People say water is life, but we say clean water is life. CSIR has been working hard to pro- vide safe, hygienic and affordable water to the masses.”
Dr. Alok Dhawan, Director, Csir-indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), said, “We have developed water filters using membrane. ‘O neer’ is a solar-operated purifier eliminating any hassle of changing filters. This is a breakthrough in providing safe and affordable water in the rural areas. CSIR is working on several pilot projects to manage water crisis in the future.” Dignitaries from other major CSIR labs also attended the seminar and discussed on waste water treatment. Working in the theme area, Mr. Rahul Kesharwani, PMPL (Vadodara) and Mr. Soumendu Porel, MD, Poral Dass Water and Effluent Control Pvt Ltd were amongst the industrial partners of CSIR who attended the seminar.
The event day embraced several scientific activities for school students, science quiz and public science talk by Csir-center for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.