Seeking to save millions of liters of water per day across the country, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) - country's national standardization agency that involves in issuing quality certificati

Pune: World over, efforts are being made to use technology to improve water efficiency with minimum compromise on performance. Considering the urban water crisis in India, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, has developed a ‘Roadmap for rating system for water efficient fixtures: A way to sustainable water management in India’.

Water-using fixtures in a building include cisterns and commodes, faucets, showerheads, urinals, etc, apart from other appliances like washing machines and dishwashers. The Maharashtra state government has appealed to the builders and developers associations across the state to opt for water saving measures wherever possible.

The Centre is planning to formulate a law against the use of dry toilets and the erring persons could even be sent to jail, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.

Sulabh International has invited Microsoft founder Bill Gates to visit its headquarters in the Capital to witness its low-cost, environment-friendly toilet technology being used in India and other developing nations. The NGO's invitation follows Mr. Gates' statement made during recent visit to India where he said his “ultimate dream” was to develop low-cost toilets.

“Sulabh International has developed cost-effective, two-pit toilet technology which is being used in households as well as community toilets. Our design is being adopted on a much wider scale because it satisfies the important criteria of a technology design which is culturally acceptable and is also affordable. We are ready to offer Mr. Gates and his philanthropic organisation our technology,”

Indians know little about the water they use and the waste they discharge

Water is life, and sewage tells its life story. This is the subject of the “Citizens’ Seventh Report on the State of India’s Environment”, Excreta Matters: How urban India is soaking up water, polluting rivers and drowning in its own excreta. It has a seemingly simple plot: it only asks where Indian cities get their water from and where their waste goes. But this is not just a question or answer about water, pollution and waste.

Kerala will have 450 functional e-toilets by the end of this fiscal, becoming the first state in India with Connected Toilet Infrastructure which would be on a par with health and hygiene standards of developed countries.

An e-toilet has an automated door opening, power flushing, automatic closet washing and sterilisation and automatic platform-cleaning mechanism -- all backed by SMS alerts to inform a control room about the status of water tank and biogas plant in the event of any errors or failures.

After a Rs 20 lakh toilet for Margao Bus Terminus, Sulabh is looking to renovate other toilets in the town.

Sangeetha Neeraja | ENS

IN a country where 638 million people defecate in the open, Koushik's idea could be a head turner. His invention, the Electronic Lavatory, addresses the problem of sanitation and promotes toilet use.