Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)
Mangalore, Apr 6: "It is important to resolve water problems in the scenario of present climate change caused by huge carbon emissions. The important manifestations of climate change is global warming which causes global temperature to change," said professor A Vittal Hegde from department of applied mechanics and Hydraulics, NITK.
He addressed the gathering after inaugurating the seminar of ‘water proofing and water harvesting’ organized by Kodagu Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Engineers Association (KDKUEA) at Hotel Ocean Pearl on Saturday April 6.
Addressing further, he said since the year 1700 after industrial revolution, climate change has been the cause of various issues. Due to regular changes in the level of carbon dioxide, there is a change in the atmosphere. The release of greenhouse gases leads to extreme events such as floods occur said the speaker giving an example of a recent flood that occured in Australia.
Considering the above problems, he said methodical support to local RWH should be provided to get a substantial amount of water. Briefing about rain water harvesting (RWH), he said it is accumulation and deposition of rain water for use before it reaches the aquifer.
In ancient India, people believed that forests were mother the of rivers; in fact a study from US indicated that 60% of fresh water comes from forest. The water bodies used to be maintained by the community around but after Independence, the government took full control over the water bodies and water supply.
Speaking about the benefits of RWH, Hegde said it improves water availability, improves quality of ground water, prevents soil erosion, flooding and more important is is that it saves water an dmoney for the future.
Concluding his talk, he said that every city/village should implement RWH for the benefit of the future generation. Unless it is been made mandatory, no one will implement it, thus government should support and take initiative, he added.
A Vishnu Bhat welcomed the gathering, Dr RG D’Souza compered while M Divakar Shetty delivered the vote of thanks.
HV Harish, president of KDKUEA, Hemanth K Jain, director, Kerakol India limited, DR S Srihari from the department of civil engineering in NITK Surathkal, Dr Lakshman Nandagiri, Dr Girish Kumar, U Nagendra Rao, Gajanana S Hegde among others were present.