Water-borne diseases are a major threat to human health, said the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) registrar Dr J Kumar. He was speaking at the inauguration of a five-day national training programme on the analysis of water, waste water, soil, and hazardous waste organised by the university’s College of Basic Science and Humanities, Microbiology department in association with the Central Pollution Control Board.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the university registrar said that various sources of water like rivers, canals, waterfalls and lakes among others have been polluted by varied microbes and pollutants. He stressed that it was the duty of scientists to examine the water quality of various water sources to facilitate supply of clean water to the public and prevent spread of various dangerous water-borne diseases. He said that the department of microbiology should provide all necessary information related to this to the scientists from various parts of India attending the training.
Speaking on the occasion, the College of Basic Science and Humanities dean Dr Uma Melkania, stressing on the importance of purity of water, said that the responsibility for ensuring water purity has to be ascertained. The department of microbiology head Dr Rita Goyal, stressing on the importance of the training programme, said that purification of water prevents the spread of dangerous water borne diseases like cholera and thyphoid among others.
Earlier, welcoming the participants to the training, the programme coordinator Dr Anita Sharma said that the training was aimed at raising awareness on the importance of water pollution and treatment so that harmful micro-organisms in water can be identified and necessary steps taken for purification of water. The trainees will be informed about various techniques for identifying microbes in water and the purification of water.