'Excreta Does Matter' seminar to be held in New Delhi

MUMBAI: The Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) is organizing the second Anil Agarwal Dialogue 2013: 'Excreta Does Matter', on urban India's water supply and waste management challenges, in New Delhi on March 4 & 5, 2013.

The dialogue highlights the main findings of the 7th State of India's Environment Report called Excreta Matters.

The two-day seminar will deliberate on critical issues on how cities will get affordable and sustainable water and waste systems that can supply to all and take back and treat the sewage of all.

It will be attended by about 200 leading national experts on water and sewage treatment from the private sector, government, non-profit organizations and donors.

India's rapid urbanization has thrown up very serious problems concerning water supply and sewage management.

"Our cities produce nearly 40,000 million litres a day of sewage, enough to irrigate 9 million hectares; barely 20 per cent is treated while the rest pollutes rivers, lakes and groundwater. Cities are also huge water sinks and now source water from increasingly greater distances pushing up costs and leading to conflicts," informed Nitya Jacob, programme director of CSE - Water.

The dialogue is an annual series, named after Anil Agarwal, environmentalist and founder of CSE. Anil strongly believed in the power of research, discussion and debate to drive policy.

Visit http://www.cseindia.org/content/anil-agarwal-dialogue-excreta-does-matter for more information.