While the entire nation is struggling with water shortage, there are many who are doing their best to conserve water. To raise community awareness about water conservation among villagers, KIIT College of Engineering, Gurugram organised Jal Chaupals in KIIT campus on April 28, 2016, and mahapanchayats in coordination with Navjyoti India Foundation. The event saw the participation of villagers from over 40 surrounding villages of the Sohna Block, Naya Gaon near KIIT. They were introduced to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) quality parameters for drinking water, as well as the health issues that could crop up owing to the consumption of poor quality water.
Enthusiastic volunteers from the villages, including women and youth were identified and christened the ‘Paani Police’ to carry forth the water conservation efforts on their own, in their respective villages. They were also exposed to a few water conservation techniques such as rain water harvesting and those for recharging wells as the water table in the region is receding at an alarming rate. More than 100 students participated in the Jal Chaupal organised at different locations including one at Bundi in Rajasthan.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Kiran Bedi, the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, emphasised that it is women who do most of the household chores which require water and it is they who arrange the needs of the household. Hence, the students of KIIT offered to keep a check on the quality of the drinking water. “The student volunteers followed protocol and submitted water samples to the KIIT Water Health Clinic for analysis,” says Dr S S Agarwal, Director General, KIIT. The water samples were found to be mostly hard, with a higher-than-permitted fluoride level.
Neelima Kamrah, Registrar, KIIT believes that water conservation in rural India is a challenge and ignorance is the root cause of their miseries, stating, “Water is the most important commodity, hence its shortage demands serious attention. The rural inhabitants have to be motivated to dig recharge wells in their area so that the groundwater level can be increased.” KIIT was awarded the Distinguished Innovation And Research in Water Management award by ASSOCHAM at the National Education Summit held in New Delhi.