Kerala must utilise tech to save water: Experts

KOCHI: Kerala blessed with copious rains needs to devise efficient water management system using modern technology to counter drastic fallout due to climate change. Experts speaking on Thursday at a summit on Economic Growth and Human Development in the Context of Water held by Confederation of Indian Industry cautioned the state about wasting and mismanagement of water in the state. Inaugurating the summit German Consul General Ms Margit Hellwig-Boette provided a detailed account of the use of technology for cleaning the River Rhine in Germany. People were advised not to take a bath in Rhine due to high-levels of pollution and contamination. Nowadays the situation has changed as the river was fully cleansed using modern technology over 20 years. The people in Germany have the habit of treating River Rhine as a father figure just as people in India associate Ganges with a mother figure.

The reverence shown by the people to the rivers should be used as an opportunity to detoxify rivers, she said. A number of speakers stressed on the development of technology in areas such as water treatment, recycling, desalination and conservation as effective means for the development of an efficient water management system. Even major industrial unit such as an oil refinery promoted by Indian Oil Corporation at Panipat in Haryana is using treated water from sewage for its water requirement, a speaker pointed out. Describing the vulnerability of Kerala due to climate change speakers called upon the policy makers in the state make suitable initiatives to counter the vagaries of caused by changes in the rainfall, drought and depletion of ground water sources.