Date | 22nd March 2022:

On the occasion of World Water Day 2022, IIT(ISM) ENVIS Centre (RP) in association with Centre for Water Resource Management, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad organized a webinar on "Groundwater Resource -A Hidden Treasure Need Attention".

World Water Day is held annually on 22nd March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of fresh water and advocating for the sustainable management of fresh water resources. This Day is an opportunity to learn more about water related issues, be inspired to tell others and take action to make a difference.

World Water Day, 2022 focuses on the theme: “Groundwater, making the invisible, visible”. This target will extend beyond concerns of cost to include the environmental and socio-cultural value placed on water resources. World Water Day 2022, is about what water means to people, it's value and how we can protect this essential life resource.

At the outset of the Programme Prof. P.K. Singh, Convener and Coordinator/CWRM, invited all the dignitaries, guest speakers, faculty members, staffs, students, research scholars and participants and briefed about the Webinar on the topic “Groundwater Resource -A Hidden Treasure Need Attention”. Prof. P.K. Singh emphasized on the groundwater harvesting while talking about one of his ongoing R&D project on “Identification of suitable sites and designing of environmental friendly rainwater harvesting structures for catching the rain where it falls when it falls in the IIT(ISM) campus area” (IIT(ISM)/2021-22/803/INSTITUTE) and the effectiveness of this project in making groundwater invisible to visible.

Prof. Anshumali, HOD/ESE and Head/CWRM and Coordinator/ENVIS Centre, in his inaugural address briefed about the ESE Department, Centre for Water Resource Management, ENVIS Centre and the various R&D Projects and activities that are being carried out towards Sustainable Development in the field of water resource management. Prof. Anshumali talked about Water Security, a critical challenge that is being faced by all in this 21st century and to address such type of local, regional and global issue, the WWD 2022 reminds us about lacunas in our thinking, theory and practices. Prof. Anshumali concluded his welcome address by saying that linking of rivers with the aquifers while delineating the administrative boundaries of rivers is very much necessary so that the Ministry of Jal Shakti and other government agencies can regulate and forecast the sustainable conservation of water resources in the Ganga River Basin.

Prof. Rajiv Shekhar, Director, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad was invited as the Chief Guest of the Programme. The Director in his address to the audience talked about the ways the IIT(ISM) Campus is administering towards conservation of water through its chain of recharge pits which collects water from all the buildings, nos. of STPs meeting the horticulture need, integration of double plumbing systems in the hostels and recently built faculty flats, where water is re-used in the toilets. The Director said that our pledge is that we shall not Let One Drop of Water Leave the Campus and it can be achieved by looking into various ways and possibilities of capturing the water. The Director emphasized on the effort of Prof. Anshumali, HOD/ESE on studying the ways to recharge the Banki River and for his work towards conservation of water bodies. At the end of his address the Director requested all to look into the aspects of recovering and making the mining water portable and come up with technologies and device simple ways to both clean and conserve water.

Prof. Shalivahan, Dy. Director, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad was invited as the Guest of Honour of the Programme. The Dy. Director in his address shared his experience of visiting one of the place in Dhanbad district called Topchanchi, for conducting geophysical survey to identify the zone and find out groundwater potential over that region. He described the excitedness on the faces of the local people after knowing about the availability of ground water in that region and how important it was for them and for us to understand the value of groundwater. Prof. Shalivahan concluded his address by saying that there here should be thrust on the groundwater surveys and aquifer mapping so that WWD Theme “Groundwater, making the invisible, visible” can be justified.

Invited Guest Speaker: Dr. Alok Sikka, Country Representative, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), India delivered a keynote talk on “Scaling up Water Management for making Groundwater More visible”. Dr. Alok Sikka in his talk said that the Central Govt. Schemes, NGOs and CSR Schemes alone cannot move forward towards attainting Water Security and Water Conservation rather a convergence of all stakeholders is required to push this kind of scaling up the Smart Water Management Practices for making the groundwater more visible and more resilient for the future and for this we need to crate water stewardship at the grass-root level involving people and make the social equitable environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial. At the end Dr. Alok Sikka asked all the participants to take pledge to value and conserve water and also motivate our family, friends, and neighbors to use water more and more wisely and at the same time asked us not to do this just for one day but 365 days.

Invited Guest Speaker: Dr. Dipankar Saha, Ex-Member, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), delivered a keynote talk on “Artificial Recharge to Groundwater – Issues and Challenges”. Dr. Dipankar Saha talked about, how artificial recharging is making groundwater invisible to visible and how can we achieve artificial recharge in different types of terrain and multilayer aquifer framework and to what extend artificial recharges are effective considering the acute and ragging groundwater over exploitation.

Welcome Address & Vote of thanks by Prof. P.K. Singh, Convener & Coordinator/CWRM, Department of ESE, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad

Welcome Address by Prof. Anshumali, HOD/ESE and Head/CWRM, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad

Inaugural Address by Chief Guest Prof. Rajiv Shekhar, Director, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad

Inaugural Address by Guest of Honour Prof. Shalivahan, Deputy Director and Dean (R&D), IIT(ISM) Dhanbad

Invited Keynote Speaker: Dr. Alok Sikka, Country Representative, (IWMI), India

Dr. Alok Sikka delivering keynote talk on “Scaling up Water Management for making Groundwater More visible”

Invited Keynote Speaker: Dr. Dipankar Saha, Ex-Member, CGWB, Govt. of India

Dr. Dipankar Saha delivering keynote talk on “Artificial Recharge to Groundwater – Issues and Challenges”

Participants

Q&A Session