Santha Sheela Nair, former Vice-Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission, on Friday called for metering of water.
At a Stakeholders Consultation for Sustainable Solution organised in Chennai, she said, water being an important civic commodity, needs to be metered and priced like electricity, with incentives for those who save it. She also suggested safeguarding the poor by giving them free water.
The city needs water augmenting techniques like rainwater harvesting to prevent water scarcity, she added.
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Disapproving of the plan of the State government to construct a stormwater drain for a length of 5,400 km to keep the from flooding, Ms. Nair suggested that it construct recharge structures instead.
Having already completed 1,400 km, the Chennai Corporation could construct 38,000 recharge structures at an interval of 50 metres, which would go a long way in saving water as well as preventing floods.
The consultation meeting was organised by the Sweden Alumni Network India under the title ‘Towards Ensuring Water Security in Chennai City’ at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
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Eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan in his inaugural address stressed on the need for following-up on the proposals put forth at the consultation meeting and translate it into action.
Ashok Natarajan, CEO, Tamil Nadu Water Investment Company, cited a number of Asian countries, including Singapore, which were dependent on water from Malaysia, but successfully installed recycling plants to become water sufficient.
S. Janakarajan, president, SaciWATERs, Hyderabad, and B.V. Mudgal, Director, Centre for Water Resources, Anna University, spoke at the meeting.