'Centre working on drinking water for all plan'

At a Trainers Training Programme for participants from Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) nations on Monday, Prasad said the S&T department was serving as a nodal agency for it. “Commercial institutions, NGOs, educational institutions and the governments have all been invited to provide a solution to provide safe water,” he said.

The programme theme was ‘Sustainable rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge in developing countries - HRD and technology transfer,’ On the rainfall scenario in the country, Prasad said rain was available for 60 to 70 days in a year out of 365 days.

This worked out to a mere 80 hours of rain annually. The challenge facing us is to find a way to ensure that the rainwater is stored appropriately and used efficiently throughout the year, the Advisor added.

Prof B N Raghunandan, Divisional Chairman of Earth and Environmental Sciences department of Indian Institute of Science, said there was “a need for a wake-up call among all citizens to conserve water.”