S. Vishnu Sharma
ICCW of IIT Madras was the centre of attraction when it celebrated its second anniversary on 22 April.
ICCW (International Centre for Clean Water) of IIT Madras is a centre of excellence dedicated to research and development of clean water technologies and incubating startups.
ICCW of IIT Madras launched a music video titled ‘Rivers of India’ to promote awareness about river conservation.
Video was created by Dr. Kanniks Kannikeswaran who is a IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus Awardee.
The video by ICCW of IIT Madras featured prominent singers including Bombay Jayashri, Amrit Ramnath, Sai Shravanam, Kaushiki Chakraborthy and Master Rishith Desikan.
Those interested in watching the video on ICCW of IIT Madras can visit the url ‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wmCGm8k2eU’
ICCW of IIT Madras to map great groundwater quality
ICCW of IIT Madras is working with startups to develop technologies, which, when implemented, have the potential to save millions of litres of groundwater every year.
Further, ICCW of IIT Madras is also working with the Tamil Nadu State Government’s Data Centre and postgraduate students of Stella Maris College, Chennai, to map the groundwater quality of the city as a pilot project.
CSIR Director General Dr. Shekhar C. Mande addressed the second anniversary celebration of ICCW of IIT Madras.
The total water available on earth is 1,360,000,000 km3, of which 97.2 per cent is ocean water, he said.
‘Freshwater availability is only 0.02 per cent of total water available.’
The total amount of freshwater usable for humans is really tiny. This actually highlights the importance of conservation of water. It is our collective duty, he said.
Speaking further at the anniversary celebrations of ICCW of IIT Madras he said water is extraordinarily important.
It is good to see IITs efforts in all fronts, not only in generating the next level of human resources and extraordinary translational work, he said.
One in three people globally lack access to safe drinking water.
According to a recent report by the United Nations, nearly 2.1 billion, lack access to safe, readily available water at home.
In its mission to ensure clean drinking water for people, ICCW of IIT Madras has been developing sustainable technologies and taking them to affected communities with commensurate behaviour change activities.
IIT Madras director Professor Bhaskar Ramamurthi speaking during the celebration said IIT Madras Research Park has many things.
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It is a place where several companies have set up their research centres and collaborate with IIT Madras, he said.
It is a place where we incubate all our startups and also a place where some of these translational research centres have been set up, including the ICCW.
Such efforts to take ideas more quickly to the market and the field have benefitted a lot from the IIT Madras Research Park, he said.
Speaking further during the anniversary celebration of ICCW of IIT Madras Professor Ramamurthi said here are at least half a dozen such centres which are catalyzing the conversion of our ideas to reality.
As a result of all this, I believe that the number of areas in which our faculty are having more immediate impact definitely in India, if not beyond the country as well, is quite high relative to most institutions.
‘You can see our efforts bearing fruits not just in water, but in healthcare, housing, sustainable and energy, and several other areas.’
It is interesting to note that ICCW of IIT Madras is funded by HT Parekh Foundation and was inaugurated by Mr. Deepak Parekh on 22 April in 2019.
ICCW at IIT Madras is a brainchild of Professor T. Pradeep, a Padma Shri Awardee and Institute Professor at IIT Madras.
This 21,000 sqft-centre has been established at IIT Madras Research Park and has seven exclusive laboratories dedicated to sustainable clean water technologies.
It collaborates closely with the industry as well as academia.
Professor Pradeep said ensuring clean water for all is the most essential but seemingly insurmountable global challenge.
Along this direction, ICCW of IIT Madras is taking baby steps in offering functional, sustainable and socially responsible solutions, he said.
ICCW of IIT Madras focuses on clean water implementation projects through sustainable means, effluent management, cutting-edge research and community welfare programmes in partnership with various governments, co-operatives, NGOs, and corporates.
US-based companies Marmon Group and Buckman Laboratories are consortia members of ICCW of IIT Madras.
The technologies developed by ICCW of IIT Madras include an ‘IOT-based smart water measurement, monitoring and control system’ and low-cost mobile-enabled sensors for toxic contaminants such as fluoride and arsenic, paint shop water recycling for industries and greywater recycling.
An integrated hydroinformatics approach is taken to connect technology with social needs that aligns well with the smart city movement.
Wastewater-based epidemiology and real-time consumption and quality monitoring for households form key aspects of hydroinformatics.
ICCW of IIT Madras has also collaborated with Akamai Technologies in their accelerator program to mentor start-ups in the water sector with social impact potential.
As part of its mission to promote startups, the centre is working with IIT Madras-incubated startups – InnoDI, Hydromaterials and VayuJal – to implement sustainable technologies in total dissolved solids (TDS), fluoride and arsenic affected areas across the length and breadth of our country.
In the past two years over one lakh, people have benefited from clean and mineralised drinking water.