By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 21 Mar: The ‘Bhagirath’ effort of Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), a sponsored institution of Swami Rama Himalayan University (SRHU), Jollygrant, on water supply and conservation continues. For the past 26 years, it has expanded the water and sanitation campaign to more than 550 remote hill villages and 31 states including Union Territories.
Additionally, in the university campus, 10 recharge pits with a capacity of 2.5 lakh litres and 2 borewell recharges have been constructed for water conservation and groundwater replenishment. The university has set a unique example in water conservation by constructing a rainwater harvesting tank with a capacity of 1.5 lakh litres for toilets in various faculties and an STP with a daily capacity of 10 lakh litres.
Dr Vijay Dhasmana, President of Swami Rama Himalayan University, mentioned that it’s a good sign that many institutions are now understanding the importance of water. However, SRHU had already established a separate Water and Sanitation (Watson) Department in 1998, nearly 26 years ago. Since then, the Watson team has been providing drinking water to hundreds of remote villages in Uttarakhand and conducting capacity building programmes in different states.
Dr Dhasmana mentioned that the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, has named HIHT as the sector partner and the key resource centre (K.R.C.) for the National Jal Jeevan Mission’s ‘Har Ghar Jal Scheme’. This is not the result of a day or month’s effort but years of excellent efforts in the field of drinking water by the HIHT team.
He revealed that, currently, 12 rainwater harvesting recharge pits have been created in the SRHU campus for the conservation of rainwater. These recharge pits have numerous benefits, allowing rainwater to easily seep into the ground, thus maintaining the groundwater level.
Dr Vijay Dhasmana added that an innovative ‘Direct Injection’ technique for the use of rainwater for the recharge of dried handpumps and water source augmentation has been patented. Additionally, a rainwater harvesting tank with a capacity of 1.5 lakh litres for toilets has been constructed in various faculties of the university, designed to supply water throughout the year for 365 days.
Advisor Prof HP Uniyal mentioned that SRHU experts, as the main resource centre (KRC) for the Government of India, have been training public health engineers, state government officials, and panchayats/water committees in their respective states across 31 states (from Jammu & Kashmir to Kerala, Lakshadweep to Andaman & Nicobar, Sikkim to Gujarat). So far, 7787 participants have been trained on various water-related topics through 163 training programmes. This year, the goal is to train approximately 5000 participants.
Prof HP Uniyal added that the capacity of the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) constructed in the SRHU campus has been increased. Through this plant, 10 lakh litres of water are now purified daily. The treated water is reused for irrigation and gardening within the campus.
Deputy Director Nitesh Kaushik mentioned another effective initiative for water conservation. The university’s public toilets are being equipped with waterless urinals made with state-of-the-art technology. So far, more than 100 waterless urinals have been installed in the initial phase. In the future, such waterless urinals will be installed in all public toilets across the campus. From a sanitation perspective, this is also better. Normally, about 1.50 lakh litres of water per year are saved from being wasted per urinal.
Dr Dhasmana said that for all these achievements of the institute, recently the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) honoured the university with the ‘Gold Award’ in the service category of the ‘Green Practices Award’. It has also achieved the distinction of being the first and only institute of North India in this category.
