International Symposium on Water Sustainability: Challenges, Technologies & Opportunities (IWSS 2021)

HOME ABOUT THEMES AGENDA

HOME

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 22^nd to Thursday, March 25^th, 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)

ABOUT

Background

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.

Symposium Objectives

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:

Examine and understand existing water sustainability challenges
Study the impact and gaps of complex water issues
Explore innovative technological solutions to complex water issues from new knowledge generated through recent research
Develop a framework that will cater to multi-dimensional challenges in water management and sustainability
Analyze how water governance policies and procedures need to be enhanced for effective participatory approaches to develop water-wise communities
Understand innovative strategies and research approaches related to water resource management, water sustainability, and water resilience across the world
Identify approaches to equip populations to propose, co-develop, and engage in initiatives to build water-wise communities
Build capacity, adaptability, and resilience for future planning and management of water resources in communities across the world

THEMES

Monday, March 22, 2021

Theme 1: Clean Water Access & Availability: Requirements, Solutions & Applications

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Theme 2: Water Treatment Technologies & Circular Economy

Theme 3: Sanitation & Public Health

Wedesday, March 24, 2021

Theme 4: Water Resilience for Climate Adaptation: Water Governance & Participatory Approaches

Theme 5: Smart Water Solutions: AI, IoT, and Citizen Science

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Theme 6: Case Studies: Water Sustainability: Technologies Adopted and Realized Opportunities

Theme 7: Educational Platform for Water Sustainability

AGENDA

Agenda

TIME (IST)	Keynote/Industry Track/PhD Symposium	Title	Name	Designation
DAY 1: 22 March 2021
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 Amrita School for Sustainable Development
9.20PM – 9.30PM	Ph.D. Colloquium 3		Mr. Reshma A S	E4LIFE, Ph.D. Student, Amrita School for Sustainable Development
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 Amrita School for Sustainable Development
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
Theme 2: Water Treatment Technologies & Circular Economy Theme 3: Sanitation & Public Health
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
Theme 4: Water Resilience for Climate Adaptation: Water Governance & Participatory Approaches Theme 5: Smart Water Solutions: AI, IoT, and Citizen Science
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
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
			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
			Dr. Michael Chadwick	Senior Lecturer King’s College London
			Dr. Emma Tebbs	Lecturer in Physical Geography and Earth Observation, King’s College London
			Dr. Bhavna Arora	Research Scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
			Dr. Guido Zolezzi	Professor University of Trento, UNESCO Chair in Engineering for Human and Sustainable Development
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 Chairperson
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
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
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

About Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Amritapuri Campus

Amaravati Campus

Bengaluru Campus

Chennai Campus

Coimbatore Campus

Faridabad Campus

Kochi Campus

Mysuru Campus

Nagercoil Campus

Haridwar

Research

Programs

From the news

Others