Urban News

Deccan Chronicle 17.08.2009

IIT team can desalinate groundwater

Chennai, Aug. 16: The saline groundwater in the city suburbs could be desalinated through a hi-tech but inexpensive technology developed by scientists of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. The technology has been developed following reports that the groundwater table in Adyar, Greenways Road, Gandhi Nagar and Kotturpuram has turned saline because of percolation of seawater.

It was the removal of natural sandbars in the Adyar river mouth that turned the groundwater saline in these areas. Though the sandbars were removed to facilitate the movement of sewage into the sea, this led to the intrusion of seawater into the river.

Prof Sundara Ramaprabhu, head, Alternative Energy and Nanotechnology Laboratory, told this newspaper that a new and revolutionary technology was available to remove the salt content from the groundwater. “We have developed a nano material with which the salt content could be brought down to the minimum permissible levels prescribed by the competent authority,” said Prof Ramaprabhu.

“Metallic contents, too, could be removed by this technology. We found that the material developed in our laboratory could bring down the salt content from 4,000 microgram per ml to 200 microgram per ml with a single filtration. A couple of additional steps will ensure the total removal of salt from the groundwater,” he said.

Prof Ramaprabhu refused to divulge the name of the material. “We have filed an application for patenting the product. So, it is not advisable to reveal more than this,” he said.

The technology can be scaled up to a major plant to remove the salt content. “Because of the groundwater turning saline, people have started using Metro water even for chores like gardening and washing clothes. The water filtered by the new technology could be used for all domestic purposes except drinking,” he said.

The professor and his team had recently developed a technology for de-polluting Cooum river. The state government authorities have evinced interest in the material and discussions are under way for setting up the first plant in Chennai.

Deccan Chronicle 14.08.2009

Bridge over troubled Cauvery waters

Chennai
Aug. 13: Several rounds of heated haggling by top political leaders and seasoned bureaucrats of the two states, at times under the captaincy of the prime minister of the day, could not achieve it. But now with some simple statue diplomacy, chief ministers M. Karunanidhi and B. S. Yeddyurappa hope to soften the long-raging belligerence between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the sharing of Cauvery waters and the construction of the Hogenakkal water project.

While Mr Karunanidhi expressed confidence that the water disputes would be resolved in a spirit of brotherhood, Mr Yeddyurappa stretched his optimism even further saying that Karnataka’s disputes with other neighbours, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, too could be sorted out in a similar way. The octogenarian lovingly referred to his Kannada counterpart as thambi during the Bengaluru ceremony unveiling the statue of Tamil savant Thiruvalluvar on August 9 and the latter responded with equal warmth calling the DMK stalwart as his elder brother, perianna.

“I do not have a brother but today the Karnataka chief minister has filled that place,” declared Mr Karunanidhi. “We have not merely erected the statues of Thiruvalluvar in Bengaluru and Sarvajna in Chennai. The real historical event is our creating this statue of unity and friendship between the people of the two states.” Thambi Yeddyurappa said much the same, both at Bengaluru and Chennai.

Newsmen were persistent in quizzing the two CMs whether the statues would heal the water disputes. They were justifiably guarded in responding. Yes, they hope that good neighbourly relations would now blossom but no, they did not discuss the disputes during these statue ceremonies. But then, the spirited declaration in the concluding part of Mr Karunanidhi’s Chennai speech could lift the optimist’s spirit — ‘This annan and thambi will strive to create conditions to enable the people of the two states to live united and enjoy their rights.’

Only on August 6, Yeddy rushed to Delhi to pressure the Centre to get Tamil Nadu halt its Hogenakkal project which is a Rs 1,400 crore scheme for feeding the parched Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts of Tamil Nadu with Cauvery water from Hogenakkal but the Karnataka government has been insisting that the water source lies within that state.