The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Awareness on sanitation stressed

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Friday, Mar 21, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Awareness on sanitation stressed

Staff Reporter

Call to protect future generations from water-borne diseases

— Photo: S. Rambabu

camaraderie: National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) scientist in-charge S.V. Vijay Kumar (right) presenting a memento to Zilla Parishad chairman Ch. Venugopala Krishna at a meeting organised on the occasion of World Water Day on the NIH campus in Kakinada on Thursday.

Kakinada: Preventable water-borne diseases are estimated to claim at least 14,000 lives every day around the world but a vast majority of the population continue to be deprived of access to clean drinking water. On the flip side, huge quantities of water is wasted and its importance in maintaining sanitation is completely neglected.

Keeping this in view, the United Nations prescribed ‘awareness on sanitation’ as theme for World Water Day observed on Thursday.

In his presentation, the scientist in-charge of National Institute of Hydrology (NIH)’s Delta Regional Centre, Kakinada, S.V. Vijay Kumar, observed that the Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 stated that 1.6 billion people have to acquire access to safe drinking water over the period 2005-15 but the target was bound to be missed by 600 million if the trend of 1990 was taken into account.

Urgent remedial action was required if the future generations were to be protected from water-borne diseases. Therefore, the role of good sanitary conditions was stressed upon.

Infant mortality

Participating as the chief guest, Zilla Parishad Chairman Ch. Venugopala Krishna said that the civilizations had thrived on rivers but in reality little care was taken of the water resources. He claimed to have initiated sanitary measures in schools on a large-scale and solicited similar efforts to spread awareness about the conservation of water and prevention of its contamination. Further, he observed that the infant mortality rate on account of water-borne diseases in India was high than the global standards. JNTU Engineering College principal E.V. Prasad, District Medical and Health Officer D. Vijay Kumar, Rural Water Supply Superintending Engineer M. Ram Mohan and others were present.

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