The public will soon be able to check the quality of drinking water through the ‘Water and Sanitation Centres’ to be set up in various educational institutions.
A pilot project will be implemented at select vocational higher secondary schools and polytechnics in the district next month. These centres, to function under the Water Resources Department, will be equipped with facilities for the public to conduct water-quality testing.
“They will be the main data dissemination centres of the government to create public awareness of judicial usage of water resources.
After analysing the functioning of these centres, the project will be extended to other districts,” said Centre for Communication and Capacity Development Unit (CCDU) Director V. Subhash Chandra Bose.
The project is being implemented as part of the Nalla Nadu Nalla Vellam scheme by the Water Resources Department.
The centres will provide information and display models of rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharging, conservation of water resources, water quality analysis units, units of waste recycling at source, and many other techniques.
Students being trained
Three hundred civil engineering students from various colleges in the State have already been trained on the methods of water-quality testing and environment-friendly construction methods as part of the project.
Mr. Bose said these civil engineers would become the resource persons for the public and would be responsible for creating basic awareness of the need for efficient and judicial usage of water and for encouraging the public to take up activities for conservation of water resources.