Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) organised a panel discussion at Sasthra Bhavan on Saturday, 19th March 2011, in connection with the celebration of World Water Day which falls on March 22.

Speaking on the occasion, executive director of Suchitwa Mission Ajayakumar Varma said that the present generation is living under a false sense of water security. ‘’Those days are not far when our posterity will witness the shortage of water supply at its peak. Unfortunately, we seldom realise the gravity of the matter,’’ he said.

 He said that many people were ignorant about the rules pertaining to pollution of water. ‘’Ignorance about such legal aspects often aggravate the problem of pollution which has to be seriously addressed’’. Susan Jacob, a technical member of the Kerala Water Authority, pointed out the need for waste water management.  ‘’The problems of urban water supply is at variance at different points, management of the water system being the most predominant. As Kerala being the state too particular about hygiene, we spend almost 55 litres of water per day for bathing and other purposes and about 30 litres for flushing the latrines.

This waste water is directly discharged into drains and other open space, from where it finally gets into the water bodies like rivers, ponds, sea etc. Hence, initiatives to promote waste water treatment have become a prerequisite, to curb water shortage as well as to prevent diseases that erupt due to contaminated water supply. Waste water treatment in developing countries is rather tardy whereas in developed countries facilities to recycle the waste water are in prevalence,’’ she said.

Chief Secretary P Prabhakaran inaugurated the function while executive vice-president of Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) C T S Nair presided over the function.