By Vibhuti Vasudev,
Youth for Sustainability Dialogues is a platform for Youth leaders across the world to exchange their thoughts, examine challenges in their local environment with the Sustainable Development Goals ‘SDGs’ as a common thread. The youth are given an opportunity to showcase their projects and initiatives and come together as a youth movement that is true ‘Global’ towards the achievement of SDGs as defined by the UN. The last session’s focal point was social justice and equality of economic opportunities.
Concentrating on SDG-6, Y4SD organized a thoughtful session on Tackling the Global Water Crisis on 26th March 2021. The various measures adopted by the panelists to combat the water crisis were deliberated upon throughout the session.
The expert for the session was Dr. Anand Kumar, School of Management Studies, Nalanda University, Rajgir. The session was moderated by Mark Fonseca Rendeiro, Global Core Team, Masterpeace. The team of panelists included Mohit Relan, Environmentalist, ‘Say Earth’ NGO; Ramveer Tanwar, Pondman of India, ‘Say Earth’ NGO; and Vishal B. Patil, Record Holder, IBR, R&D Incharge PC Poly, Pune.
To begin with, Mohit Relan described the work “Say Earth NGO” does, i.e, working extensively in multiple aspects of water conservation. He elucidated the process flow for waterbody rejuvenation which included steps like pond identification, proposal to sponsor, clean up, etc. Next, Mohit talked about various initiatives taken by the NGO, while also sharing some examples of the work done, such as windmill development in Mohikalan Pond, constructed wetland, cleaning of Chauganpur Pond. One of the major initiatives was in Nainikheri village. Mohit discussed how their team has worked to make it an Eco-village.
Continuing with the same, Ramveer briefly chronicled about the NGO and how the youth can contribute to water conservation by joining them. The expert catechized both the members regarding water purification too.
This was followed by Vishal Patil, who started by sharing some interesting facts regarding water, causes of the water crisis and the remedies. He then elucidated on his work on understanding the causes and results of water pollution. Vishal then explained about a free-floating native plant named Water Hyacinth and how it acts as an invasive polluter of water, while also teaching some methods to remove the same. His project, solar-operated Water Hyacinth Remover Boat, its current status, specifications, and advantages on how it uses solar and electric power to work was undeniably a highlight. Following this were the questions posed by the expert regarding Vishal’s project’s cost and other specifications.
Lastly, the expert, Mr. Anand Kumar discussed the information-driven approach to mitigate water quality challenges. He focused on explaining the groundwater status in Indo-Gangetic Basin, which hasn’t been quite good. Mr. Anand shared the various mechanisms and approaches to counter this problem and how to reduce exposure in contaminated regions, along with sharing minutely the statistics of the study he conducted on rivers and on the concentration of waste.
The session, which was definitely a thoughtful one, concluded with a vote of thanks by the moderator.
