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.
