By E. Arunkumar
BORDA Partner CDD-Regional Coordination Office, Chennai
A half–day Introductory Seminar on “Decentralised Wastewater Treatment System (DEWATS)”, was conducted by Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination (CDD) Society’s – Regional Coordination Office (RCO), Chennai, in collaboration with the Builders Association of India (BAI), Southern Region on Friday, 4th December 2009 at Hotel Dee Cee Manor, Chennai.
This Seminar aimed to create awareness on DEWATS in the community of Builders and Architects. The participants were mostly Builders, Apartment promoters, Consulting Architects, government officials from Slum Clearance Board, Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (TANSIDCO), Metro Transport Corporation, Chennai, and professionals from NGOs.
The Seminar started with a welcome by Mr. Ramani, Regional Coordinator, CDD-RCO Chennai, followed by the inauguration by Mr. Murthy, BAI Chairman (Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry). The first session was a presentation by Mr. Jens Goetzenberger, Dhan Foundation, Madurai, on Sanitation and the MDGs. Mr. Dominick Hock presented “Principles of Decentralised Wastewater Treatment Solutions (DEWATS)”. Mr. T. Vijayanand, ExNoRa International, Chennai, presented “Role of Decentralised Treatment solution in present scenario of Rapid Urbanisation”. Mr. Rahul Sachdeva, CDD, Bangalore, presented “Integration of Decentralised Wastewater solutions in City wide Master Planning”.
The participants seemed curious to know more about the DEWATS approach. Some of the builders expressed their interest in adopting it in their constructions. The Government officials were more interested in DEWATS.
This Seminar is expected to build awareness in professionals involved in the urban and rural development about decentralised wastewater solutions that will help in developing better cities, towns and villages. This, in turn, may generate requests for DEWATS from some of the participants.
