The Hindu               18.02.2014

City to host national meet on safe drinking water

Special Correspondent

A national conference on safe drinking water, ‘Safe Water Kerala 2014’, will be organised here on February 25 by Kerala Water Authority, on behalf of the Water Resources Department of Kerala government.

The programme is being held in association with the Union Ministry of Drinking Water Supply and will coincide with the National Rural Water Awareness Week celebrations being observed from February 25 to March 1. The conference will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, Minister for Water Resources, P.J. Joseph, said the focus of the conference will be on source sustainability and water quality aimed at ensuring access to safe water to households.

Though the State is blessed with rich water resources, it is facing challenges in maintaining desired water levels and protecting the sources from contamination and salt water intrusion, especially during the summer.

The minister said the State has 1,247 drinking water projects under the KWA. Construction activities for 308 projects are in progress. KWA has provided 14.5 lakh water connections in the State, apart from 2.04 lakh public water taps.

Pointing out that many of the drinking projects were started in the 1970-80 period, Mr.Joseph said there was a need to upgrade the purification technology among them.