Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s UNESCO Chair in Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development, the Amrita School for Sustainable Development, and India Water Partnership (IWP) are hosting an International Symposium on Water Sustainability: Challenges, Technologies & Opportunities (IWSS 2021) in light of World Water Day.
This symposium will explore water sustainability global and local challenges, with the intent of unveiling the technologies adopted and realized opportunities in relation to water sustainability.
Organized By: Amrita’s UNESCO Chair in Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development, Amrita School for Sustainable Development, and India Water Partnership (IWP).
Time: Monday, March 22nd to Thursday, March 25th, 2021 from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (IST) / 10.30 am to 5.30 pm (CET) / 9.30 am to 4.30 pm (GMT)
Many countries face the challenge of inadequate freshwater resources to meet domestic, economic, developmental, and environmental needs. According to UN-Water, 1 in 3 people or 2.2 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water, and over half of the global population or 4.2 billion people lack safe sanitation. With increasing populations, estimates show that global water shortage will increase to 40% by 2030. Climate change will exacerbate the situation by altering hydrological cycles, making water more unpredictable, and increasing the frequency and intensity of floods and droughts. Furthermore, around 1 billion people living in monsoonal basins and 500 million people living in deltas are vulnerable to chronic water scarcity, hydrological uncertainty, and extreme weather events. In such regions, the lack of adequate clean water to meet human drinking and sanitation needs is indeed a constraint on human health and productivity and hence on economic development as well as on the maintenance of a clean environment and healthy ecosystems.
The IWSS 2021 symposium provides a platform for researchers, government officials, policymakers, industry experts, NGO personnel, and students to explore existing frameworks, technologies, and opportunities to address growing uncertainty in water security, water scarcity, as well as better water resource management to ensure water sustainability.
The symposium caters to multi-dimensional challenges in water management and sustainability and provides an opportunity for knowledge-sharing between academia, industry, and government sectors to:
Theme 1: Clean Water Access & Availability: Requirements, Solutions & Applications
Theme 2: Water Treatment Technologies & Circular Economy
Theme 3: Sanitation & Public Health
Theme 4: Water Resilience for Climate Adaptation: Water Governance & Participatory Approaches
Theme 5: Smart Water Solutions: AI, IoT, and Citizen Science
Theme 6: Case Studies: Water Sustainability: Technologies Adopted and Realized Opportunities
Theme 7: Educational Platform for Water Sustainability
| TIME (IST) | Keynote/Industry Track/PhD Symposium | Title | Name | Designation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
DAY 1: 22 March 2021 |
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| 3.00 pm – 3.03 pm | Introduction | Ms. Soumya | Program Associate, Amrita School for Sustainable Development, Amrita Center for International Programs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. | |
| 3.03 pm – 3.05 pm | Prayer | Mr. Vineeth Ajith | E4LIfe Ph.D. Student, Amrita School for Sustainable Development, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham | |
| 3.05 pm – 3.10pm | Welcome Address | Dr. Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh | Dean & Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, & UNESCO chair in Experential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development | |
| 3.10 pm – 3.15 pm | Introduction to Amrita Sustainability Initiatives Video | |||
| 3.15 pm – 3.30 pm | Guest of Honor: UNESCOs Initiatives in Water Sustainability | Mr. Eric Falt | Director and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka | |
| 3.30 pm – 3.50 pm | Chief Guest of Honour & Inagural Address | Shri. T K Jose IAS | Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala | |
| 3.50 pm – 3.55 pm | Vote of Thanks | Dr. Krishnashree Achutan | Dean Post Graduate Program, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham | |
| Theme 1: Clean Water Access & Availability: Requirements, Solutions & Applications | ||||
| 4:00 PM – 4:30PM | Keynote Talk 1 | Recovery of Energy and Resources from Wastewaters: Realistic Potentials and Current Challenges | Prof. Dr. Ir. Jules van Lier | Professor Delft University of Technology |
| 4.30PM – 5.00 PM | Keynote Talk 2 | Dynamic Assessment of Water Resources – Need of the hour towards Sustainability | Prof. Ashvani Gosain | Professor Indian Institute of Technology Delhi |
| 5.00 PM – 5.20 PM | Keynote Talk 3 | Pathways to Achieve Water Wise Communities: Experiences from Pan India Implementations | Dr. Maneesha Ramesh, Mr. Renjith Mohan | 1) Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, & UNESCO chair in Experential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development 2) Program Coordinator, Live-in-Labs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham |
| 5:20 PM – 5:30 PM | Break | |||
| 5:30PM – 6.00PM | Keynote Talk 4 | Water Stewardship : Reviving the Hydrological Connect | Mr. Romit Sen | Associate Director, Water & Agriculture, Institute of Sustainable Communities |
| 6:00 PM – 6:30PM | Keynote Talk 5 | Integrated Water Resource Management for Building System Resilience in Drylands | Dr. Kaushal Garg | Senior Scientist- Natural Resource Management ICRISAT |
| 6:30 PM- 7:00PM | Keynote Talk 6 | Water Loss Detection and Control in Water Distribution Networks | Dr. Manoj Kumar Tiwari |
Assistant Professor IIT Kharagpur, India |
| 7:00 PM – 7:30PM | Keynote Talk 7 | Insights to the Hydrological, Ecological, Environmental and Social Dimensions of Aquatic Ecosystems for Water Sustainability |
Dr. TV Ramachandra | Professor, Indian Institute of science |
| 7:30 PM – 7:45 PM | PhD Colloquium 1 | Groundwater Resilience to Seasonal Variations and Climate Changes- Experience from Kerala | Ms. Geena Prasad | Assistant Professor, Amrita School of Engineering, Amritapuri Campus |
| 7:45 PM – 8:00 PM | Break | |||
| 8:00PM – 8.30PM | Keynote Talk 8 | Genetic Algorithms for Optimal Reservoir Operation | Dr. Nagesh Kumar | Professor, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Indian Institute of Science |
| 8:30 PM – 9:00 PM | Keynote Talk 9 | Strategies for Sustainable River Rejuvenation | Dr. Suja R | Associate Professor, Govt. Engineering college, Barton Hill, Trivandrum |
| 9.00PM – 9.20PM | PhD Colloquium 2 | Empowering Community in Addressing Drinking Water Challenges Using Participatory Sustainable Technological Systems & Business Models | Mr. Vineeth Ajith | E4LIFE Ph.D. Student Amrita School for Sustainable Development Program Manager – Jivamritam |
| 9.20PM – 9.30PM | Ph.D. Colloquium 3 | Mr. Reshma A S | E4LIFE, Ph.D. Student,
Amrita School for Sustainable Development |
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| 9.30PM – 9.50PM | Ph.D. Colloquium 4 | Participatory Design Approach to Address Water Crisis in the village of Karkatta, Jharkhand, India | Mr. Krishna Nandanan | E4LIFE, Ph.D. Student Amrita School for Sustainable Development Academic Coordinator – Live-in-Labs |
| 9.50 PM – 10.00 PM | Ph.D. Colloquium 5 | TBA | Ms. Bhavana | Ph.D. Student, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Applications |
DAY 2: 23 March 2021 |
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| Theme 2: Water Treatment Technologies & Circular Economy Theme 3: Sanitation & Public Health |
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| 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Keynote Talk 10 | Resource Recovery from Waste Water. | Mr. Biju B | District Environmental Engineer, Alappuzha. |
| 3.30 PM – 4.00 PM | Keynote Talk 11 | Improving Water Governance of Fast-Growing Urban Cities through Networking of Local Government and People Participation | Dr. Harikumar | Senior Principal Scientist & Registrar Center for water Resource Development and management |
| 4:00 PM – 4:30PM | Keynote Talk 12 | Enabling Wastewater Reuse Using Circular Economy: Hybrid Treatment Systems Approach | Dr. Pradip Kalbar | Assistant Professor, IIT Bombay |
| 4.30 PM – 4.50 PM | Keynote Talk 13 | Biotechnology in wastewater treatment & reuse | Dr. Sanjay Pal | Associate Professor Amrita School of Biotechnology |
| 4.50 PM – 5.15PM | Keynote Talk 14 | Versatile Technologies for Water Quality Monitoring and Treatment in Developing Countries | Dr. Murali Rangarajan | Head, Center of Excellence in Advanced Materials and Green Technologies Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science |
| 5.15 PM – 5.30 PM | Break | |||
| 5:30 PM – 6.00 PM | Keynote Talk 15 | National Scale Implementation of Community Level Sanitation through Womens Empowerment: A Pan India Case Study | Dr. Bhavani Rao | Director, Ammachi labs, Amritapuri UNESCO Chair in Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, Amritapuri Chairperson, Department of Social Work, Amritapuri Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus |
| 6:00 PM – 6:30 PM | Keynote Talk 16 | Earth observation for sustainable water resources management | Dr. Emma Tebbs | Lecturer in Physical Geography and Earth Observation, King’s College London |
| 6:30 PM- 7:00 PM | Keynote Talk 17 | Considerations for adaptation of disinfection technologies | Dr. Hadas Mamane | Head of Environmental Engineering Program, Water Research Center, Tel Aviv University |
| 7:00 PM – 7:30 PM | Keynote Talk 18 | Phosphorus mobility and water quality in a changing climate | Dr. Pierre Andre Jacinthe | Professor Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis |
| 7:30 PM – 8:00 PM | Keynote Talk 19 | Edible-Dye Enhanced Solar Disinfection | Dr. Jaehong Kim | Henry P. Becton Sr. Professor of Engineering and Department Chair of Chemical and Environmental Engineering in School of Engineering and Applied Science, Yale University |
| 8:00PM – 8.15PM | Break | |||
| 8:15 PM – 8:30 PM | Industry Track – 1 | Case study | Mr. Anjan Mukherjee | Founder/CEO Taraltec Solutions Pvt Ltd Mumbai INDIA |
| 8:30 PM – 9:00 PM | Industry Track -2 | Case study | Mr. Abinash Patro | Suez Water and Technology Solutions, Asia Marketing Head |
| 9:00 PM – 9.20 PM | Keynote Talk 20 | Spatial Evaluation of Household Water Sources with Water Quality Index (WQI) and GIS: A Case Study of Fast Growing City in India | Dr. Sreeda P. | Research Associate Ecology and Environment Research Group Centre for Water Resources Development and Management |
| 9:20 PM – 9.40 PM | Keynote Talk 21 | TBA | Dr. Amita Bhide | Dean, School of Habitat Studies Centre for Environmental Health, School of Habitat Studies,Tata Institute for Social Sciences |
| 9.40 PM – 9.50 PM | Ph.D. Colloquium 6 | Case study | Mr. Balmukund Singh | Ph.D. Student Amrita School for Sustainable Development |
| 9.50 PM – 10.00 PM | Ph.D. Colloquium 7 | Case study | Ms. Nibi | Ph.D. Student, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications |
DAY 3: 24 March 2021 |
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| Theme 4: Water Resilience for Climate Adaptation: Water Governance & Participatory Approaches Theme 5: Smart Water Solutions: AI, IoT, and Citizen Science |
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| 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Keynote Talk 22 | Changing human behaviour for water sustainability: adoption of innovations in three case studies | Dr Saket Pande | Assistant Professor Delft University of Technology |
| 3.30 PM – 4.00 PM | Keynote Talk 23 | Household water treatment adoption in the Global South (case study in Indonesia and Nepal) | Dr. D. Daniel | Lecture Delft University of Technology and Gadjah Mada University |
| 4:00 PM – 4:30 PM | Keynote Talk 24 | Technologies for Building Community Level Resilience for Water Related Hazards | Dr. Maneesha Ramesh, Ms. Divya P, Ms. Hemalatha | 1)Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, & UNESCO chair in Experential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development 2) Research Associate, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications 3) Research Associate, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications |
| 4.30 PM – 4.50 PM | Keynote Talk 25 | Adaptive Capacities of Water Supply Reservoir for Climate Change through Hedging Policy | Dr. Soundharajan | Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Coimbatore |
| 4:50 PM – 5:15 PM | Keynote Talk 26 | TBA | Dr. Ram Fishman | Assistant Professor, Public Policy, Tel Aviv University, Israel |
| 5.15PM – 5.30PM | Break | |||
| 5:30PM – 6.00PM | Keynote Talk 27 | Open-source Machine Learning Framework for Long-term Monitoring of Environmental Contamination | Dr. Haruko Murakami Wainwright | Research scientist University of California, Berkeley. |
| 6:00 PM – 6:30PM | Keynote Talk 28 | A Hybrid Modeling Framework Combining Machine Learning and Third-wave AI with Process-resolving Simulations to Predict River Water Quality | Dr. Dipankar Dwivedi | Research Scientis Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| 6:30 PM- 7:00PM | Keynote Talk 29 | Addressing wicked water problems associated with a changing climate | Dr. Sharon Megdal | Director, WRRC (Wordmark Line Logo White) The University of Arizona |
| 7:00 PM – 7:30PM | Keynote Talk 30 | A Middleware Approach for Smart Resilient Water Infrastructures | Dr. Nalini Venkatasubramanian | Professor University of California, Irvine |
| 7:30pm – 7:45 pm | Keynote Talk 31 | TBA | Er. Avinash Tyagi | Vice President, India Water Partnership |
| 7:45 PM – 8:00PM | Break | |||
| 8:00PM – 8.30PM | Keynote Talk 32 | New Approaches to identify, interrogate and model “hot” zones of water contamination | Dr. Bhavna Arora | Research Scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| 8:30 PM – 8.45 PM | Industry Track -3 | Case study | Mr. Bikram Pattanayak | Managing Director, Amebi Technologies |
| 8.45 PM – 9.00 PM | Industry Track -4 | Case study | Mr. Akshat Shah | Shubham Transformative Ideas |
| Theme 6: Case Studies: Water Sustainability: Technologies Adopted and Realized Opportunities Theme 7: Advisory Brainstorming and Proposed Models for Educational Platform for Water Sustainability |
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| 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Keynote Talk 35 | Improving Access to Energy and Water through Frugal Innovation | Dr. Ralph Lindeboom | Assistant Professor TU Delft” |
| 3.30 PM – 4.00 PM | Keynote Talk 36 | Aquifer Storage and Recovery as Climate-Adaptation Technology in the Netherlands and Bangladesh: Applications & Research | Dr. Boris van Breukelen | Associate professor, TU Delft |
| 4:00 PM – 4:30 PM | Keynote Talk 37 | Local Treatment of Urban Sewage for Healthy Reuse: lessons from the Indian Dutch LOTUS-HR programme | Dr. Merle. de. Kreuk | Professor of Environmental Technology, TU Delft |
| 4.30 PM – 4:50 PM | Keynote Talk 38 | A case study of water quality The wicked problem of urban streams in London. |
Dr. Michael Chadwick | Senior Lecturer
King’s College London |
| 4:50 PM – 5:15 PM | Industry Track -5 | Case study | Mr. Rohan Parikh | CEO, Founder, Terrasol Sustainibility Solutions |
| 5.15 PM – 5.30 PM | Break | |||
| 5:30 PM – 6:00 PM | Keynote Talk 39 | Involving children and families in positive education for sustainable water | Dr. Tamar Ronen Rosenbaum | Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and head of the Developing countries Program, Tel Aviv University |
| 6:00 PM – 6:30 PM | Keynote Talk 40 | The paradigm of eco-hydraulics for sustainable water resources management | Dr. Guido Zolezzi | Professor University of Trento, UNESCO Chair in Engineering for Human and Sustainable Development |
| 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM | Advisory Brainstorming and Proposed Models for Educational Platform for Water Sustainability | Dr. Ram Fishman | Assistant Professor, Public Policy, Tel Aviv University, Israel |
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| Dr. Maneesha V Ramesh | ||||
| Mr. Gopal Krishna | Director, Syntegral Systems and Adjunct Faculty, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham | |||
| Mr. Gopinathan Achamkulangara | Inspector, Joint Inspection Unit, UN System | |||
| Dr. Avinash Tyagi | Vice President, India Water Partnership | |||
| Dr. Jaehong Kim | Henry P. Becton Sr. Professor of Engineering and Department Chair of Chemical and Environmental Engineering in School of Engineering and Applied Science, Yale University |
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| Dr. Michael Chadwick | Senior Lecturer
King’s College London |
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| Dr. Emma Tebbs | Lecturer in Physical Geography and Earth Observation, King’s College London | |||
| Dr. Bhavna Arora | Research Scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
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| Dr. Guido Zolezzi | Professor University of Trento, UNESCO Chair in Engineering for Human and Sustainable Development |
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| 7:45 PM – 8:00PM | Break | |||
| 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM | International Collaborative Projects: Case Studies / PhD Colloquium | |||
| 9:00PM – 9:05 PM | Introduction to Valedictory Function | Ms. Pooja | ||
| 9:05 PM – 9:10 PM | Valedictory Function – Welcome Address | Dr. Bhavani Rao | Director, Ammachi labs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
UNESCO Chair in Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, Amritapuri |
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| 9:10 PM – 9:20 PM | Introduction to Amrita University & Amrita Sustainability Initiatives | Dr. Venkat Rangan | Vice Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham | |
| 9:20 PM – 9:25 PM | Summary of Educational Platform for Water Sustainability | Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh | ||
| 9:25 PM – 9:40 PM | Validictory Address | Shri. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat | Honorable Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India |
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| 9:40 PM – 9:55 PM | Presidential Address | Sampoojya Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri | President, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham | |
| 9:55 PM – 10:00 PM | Vote of Thanks | Dr. Bipin Nair | Dean, Amrita School of Biotechnology | |
DAY 4 |
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| THEMES 6 & 7 | ||||
| 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM | Advisory Brainstorming and Proposed Models for Educational Platform for Water Sustainability | Dr. Tarek Rashed | Senior Research Professor and Director of Geoinformatics at the Polis Center, IUPUI, Adjunct Faculty, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham | |
Dean, International Programs Director & Professor, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications, UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation & Development Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Coimbatore Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Head, Center of Excellence in Advanced Materials and Green Technologies, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
