Regional Workshop on 'Energy and Resource Efficiency in Urban Water Management' in New Delhi on December 20, 2013
| Picture of the Inaugural session: R.K. Srivastava (Secretary [UD] & Director of Local Bodies, Govt. of NCT of Delhi) addressing the participants, Dr. Suresh Kumar Rohilla (Programme Director, CSE) and Ms. Debashree Mukherjee (CEO, Delhi Jal Board) | ||
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Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) organized a one day regional workshop on ‘Energy and Resource Efficiency in Urban Water Management’ on December 20, 2013 at Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre (IHC), New Delhi. This workshop is part series of workshops being organised in different parts of India by CSE to assist the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. For further details of the earlier state / regional workshops at Jaipur, Guwahati, Lucknow, Kolkata, Puducherry and Goa (click on the name of city). The workshop was supported by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and Urban Development Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi – as the local partner state. The workshop is part of various activities supported by Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission - Comprehensive Capacity Building Programme (JnNURM – CCBP), Ministry of Urban Development and Government of India. The workshop was attended by various stakeholders involved in advocacy for sustainable water management in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. At the inaugural session, Dr. Suresh Kumar Rohilla, Programme Director, CSE welcomed the participants - key functionaries from the Delhi Jal Board, Municipal Corporations, Urban Development Department, Ground Water Board, Pollution Control Board, Urban Shelter Improvement Board, Universities and Civil Society organizations. He provided a brief background about CSE and the objectives of the workshop and the importance of resources and energy efficiency in urban water management that is envisaged in NURM Phase II. He said that there is a need that all urban local bodies including the NURM mission cities need to expand the accessibility and availability of water supply and sanitation facilities to make the cities vibrant. The Chief Guest of the programme, Mr. R.K. Srivastava, Secretary (UD) & Director of Local Bodies, Govt. of NCT of Delhi addressed the workshop participants. He congratulated CSE for getting all the relevant stakeholders on a common platform to discuss the very important issue of water and waste water. He noted that the three major problems faced in New Delhi are (i) the way the city has grown and will grow; (ii) huge gap between the demand and capacity and (iii) huge leakage losses. Mr Srivastava emphasized the need to undertake policy measures like control of leakage losses, use of recycle wastewater within the system and implementation of rainwater harvesting to reduce water augmentation and increase ground water recharge. He noted that the government is very serious about water/ and energy conservation and 100% waste treatment and is taking measures towards it. He concluded by saying that we need to share our experiences and adopt new techniques for a better planned city. The Special Guest at the Workshop, Ms. Debashree Mukherjee, CEO, DJB gave an overview about the energy and resource footprint of water services in Delhi. She pointed out that energy is a second largest component in water and wastewater management after staff wages. She said that we know there is a long way to go in the water and waste water sector in NCT Delhi the need of the hour is to have a more awareness among both at DJB as well as among the citizens for energy efficiency. Other key speakers at the workshop included - H.S. Shankar (IIT-Mumbai), R.B. Biniwale (NEERI, Nagpur), Ravinder Kaur (IARI, New Delhi), Uday Kelkar (NJS Engineers India Pvt Ltd.), Renu Khosla, (Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence [CURE], India), Manu Bhatnagar (INTACH, Delhi), Pradeep Kumar (ASE, Bangalore), Somnath Sen (IIT- Kharagpur), Virendra Kumar Paul (SPA, New Delhi) and Dirk Walther (GIZ, India). Following the technical sessions was a panel session on ‘Best management practices for energy and resource efficiency: Potential and challenges in target states’ which was chaired by Debashree Mukherjee, DJB and speakers of the session were Diwan Singh (NHF); Paritosh C. Tyagi (former CPCB); S.D. Singh (DPGS); S.K. Gupta, (CGWB). The concluding session was interactive and the participants highlighted the need to go beyond the discussion table and to mainstream the various alternate technologies. The session headed towards a series of question raised by Dr Suresh Kumar Rohilla, CSE to DJB if (i) they think they had adequate in house capacity to deal and implement the innovative practices /and technologies; (ii) would they like to partner with the central mandate to pursue these measures. DJB, welcomed all the ideas for water augmentation and capacity development in implementing the innovative policies. Ms Debashree Mukherjee - CEO, DJB mentioned that the Government of India should encourage – • Capacity building and financial support for validation and implementation of upcoming technologies on energy and resources efficiency in the sector of water and waste water treatment – in particular mainstreaming decentralized water management and water efficient fixtures. • Setting up a forum of water and sewerage utilities across India for knowledge sharing on BMPs and learning on successes and challenges (if any) in mainstreaming the BMPs. Ms Mukherjee also mentioned that DJB is planning to set up a water innovation and information centre for promoting innovative practices as well as to connect with all stake holders, agencies, universities and engineering institutes. It was suggested that DJB can take lead in developing a time bound plan while CSE can be invited to provide technical hand-holding support and capacity building for government officials as well as all other stakeholders. The key participants of workshop included faculty and researchers from IIT- Mumbai, IIT- Kharagpur, SPA- Delhi; IARI- Delhi. NGOs and boards which include NJS Engineers India Pvt Ltd; NEERI- Nagpur; INTACH- Delhi; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale (GIZ)- India; Alliance To Save Energy- Bangalore; Delhi Parks & Garden Society; Environmental Design Solutions; Natural Heritage First; Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE India); Central Ground Water Board, Centre Pollution Control Board, involved in the advocacy of sustainable urban water and wastewater management in target states. For further details please contact: Dr Mahreen Matto, Senior Research Associate- Water Management
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