Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Israel to build an ‘India-Israel Center of Water Technology’ (CoWT) in Water Resources Management and Water Technologies.
The LoI to establish this center was signed by Manoj Joshi, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, and Naor Gilon, Ambassador of Israel to India in the presence of External Affairs Ministers S Jaishankar and his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen.
The Centre aims to build human capacity to ensure the implementation of the best technologies of Israel in a tailor-made context for the Indian requirements and pilot sustainable technologies to ensure water security for the country.
Learning from the Global Champion of water management
In cooperation with MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, the upcoming Centre will help MoHUA develop its ‘AMRUT’ Mission for achieving its overall targets.
“The partnership with IIT Madras is very important and with our partners in Central Government (AMRUT) and IITM, we will jointly work for better management of Water Resources of India. This will be done with a focus on the introduction of new state of art Israeli technology and know-how in a more sustainable manner,” Dr Lior Asaf, Water Attache, Embassy of Israel said.
About India-Israel Center of Water Technology
“We consider this as one of our most important collaborations working on conservation and proper utilization of Mother Nature’s greatest gift to Mankind – The Water,” Professor V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said while elaborating on the significance of this center.
In addition to sustainable practices of water management, CoWT will build a mutual network of knowledge sharing that would include technology, scientific information, and literature.
Moreover, it will also function as a platform to bring together experts from both countries to hold discussions and consultations on issues like drinking water, sewerage management and to develop new areas of intervention.
The Centre will provide wide exposure to Indian Water professionals at all levels who will demonstrate the projects with the latest technologies and put up an exhibition of Israeli water companies.
At the onset of this development, India and Israel intend to jointly identify specific projects relating to integrated water resources management, urban water supply and non-revenue water, and sewage recycling. The focus will be on building IoT and AI-based solutions for water harvesting, and smart data management with the objective of demonstrating the most advanced technologies in the field.
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