Genesis of Water Institute

Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences (KITS) identified four thrust areas of societal importance in 2008, namely water, food, healthcare, and sustainable energy. The Water Institute (WI) was established at KITS in 2008 as a flagship programme to encourage interdisciplinary research aiming at scientific water management and to ensure water security, especially in the semi-arid zone. WI was initiated keeping in view the MDGs, the focus of which shifted to SDGs in 2016. The Dublin Conference-1992, Rio Conference-1992 and Johannesburg Conference-2012, and the initiatives of GoI, namely the National Drinking Water Mission and WAR for Water, prompted by the Supreme Court of India, motivated KITS to focus on water. The WI gained significance with more areas coming under water stress or water scarcity in India. The water initiative of KITS succeeded in bringing together the faculty and students of different Departments - arts, science, agriculture, engineering, and management - and the alumni on a single platform to focus on interdisciplinary research in multifarious areas in the water sector. As an outcome of the effort, several projects, papers, products, consultancy, capacity building and extension activities emerged. Karunya also could play a role in the policy formulation in the water sector of international agencies and national, state and local governments.