Technical Program & Speaker Biographies
Technical Program
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Guest & Keynote Speakers
January 5, 2010
- Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak (Guest Speaker)
- Dr. Slobodan P. Simonovic (Keynote Lecture)
January 7, 2010
- Prof. Rafael Bras (Keynote Lecture)
January 5, 2010
Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak (Guest Speaker)
Founder, Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement
Sulabh Bhawan, Mahavir Enclave
Lecture Title: Sustainable Sanitation and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak is a great humanist and social reformer of contemporary India. To the weaker sections of society especially, his is the compassionate face of a paternal redeemer. He has the vision of a philosopher and the undying zeal of a missionary. He is an icon of sanitation and social reform who has made a difference in the lives of millions of people. Dr. Pathak will be remembered in history for his innovative strides in the field of sanitation as well as social reform. With his efforts erstwhile untouchables have been allowed by the society to intermingle with them and to live on par, dining with them and being allowed to offer prayers in the temples. He has created a new culture which embraces the poor and extols the dignity of labour.
Inspired by one of the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi to abolish scavenging and based on the bedrock of technology, Dr. Pathak founded Sulabh International Social Service Organisation in 1970 and launched a social reform-cum-environmental upgradation movement taking up the challenge of the problem of sanitation related pollution leading to environmental degradation and health hazards caused by the practice of defecation in the open and use of bucket toilets.
In search of a solution, Dr. Pathak developed eco-friendly twin-pit compost pour-flush toilet technology for the individual households as an alternative to the cost prohibitive sewerage or septic tank based systems of excreta disposal. Against this, the Sulabh technology is appropriate, economically affordable, eco-friendly and culturally acceptable. It has on-site human waste disposal facility, dispenses with installation of a vent pipe and has requirement of hardly 1 to 1.5 litre of water for flushing purpose. It thus, helps improve environment and leads to conservation of water. More than a million household toilets have been constructed and bucket toilets converted into Sulabh Shauchalayas, liberating more than a million scavengers from their sub-human occupation and rehabilitating them in different vocations with restoration of human rights and dignity; and their wards being imparted quality education and vocational training to bring them in the mainstream of society.
Sulabh twin-pit pour-flush technology has been declared as one of the Globally Best Practices by UN-HABITAT/UNCHS (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements) and recognized and approved by various national and international agencies. The UNDP Human Development Reports-2003 and 2006, have recommended its use for the 2.5 billion people in the world with no access to improved sanitation facility.
A technology was also developed by Dr. Pathak for recycling and reuse of human excreta from public toilets maintained on pay and use basis by Sulabh. In this technology, biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion of human excreta, and is used for cooking, lighting, electricity generation, etc. Biogas plant effluent is treated by a simple method to make it colourless, odourless and pathogen-free, making it quite safe for reuse or discharge into rivers or any water body. The biogas plants can be installed at and serve housing colonies and high-rise buildings and areas not served by sewers. These technology and management based facilities used by 10 million people on daily basis have made a marked difference in environment both in urban and rural areas.
Put also into practice by Dr. Pathak is the duckweed-based waste-water treatment technology. For the bio-degradable organic waste, he has developed a convenient technology known as STAC – Sulabh Thermophilic Aerobic Composter, which takes only 10 days to degrade the waste.
Till date Sulabh has constructed and is maintaining nearly 7,500 public toilets. While maintaining the public toilets, run on pay and use basis the surplus income, if any, is used for socially useful activities like running vocational training centres catering to the needs of wards of scavengers, promoting health awareness amongst the slum dwellers.
Women in absence of toilet facilities at home are the worst sufferers. Compelled to withhold answering call of nature from sunrise to sunset and subjected to likelihood of facing insecurity, indignity and lack of privacy women have gained the most from provision of toilet facilities which have eliminated the mentioned problems. In rural India, absence of toilet facilities at schools makes the girl students averse to attending schools. Dr. Pathak’s effort to provide toilet facilities at schools has removed the aforementioned discouraging factor.
By providing the toilet related sanitation facility, Dr. Pathak has used it as a tool to combine technology with a social purpose and human face. Through it he has touched the untouched, reached the unreached and helped them overcome social barriers based on caste distinctions in India. The crusade of sanitation has converted into a movement without involving violence or social resistance and upheaval. The Sulabh International Social Service Organisation in its nearly 40 years of existence has seen a silent revolution in the sanitation scenario, a fundamental change in attitude of people and a transformation of mindset towards improved sanitation practices. He has shown the path and ushered in the dawn of sanitation amidst area of darkness.
Dr. Pathak has written several well-received books including Road to Freedom, a sociological classic on the problem of scavenging. Besides, he has been frequently contributing on diverse topics for newspapers and magazines. Some of his notable published books are: Sulabh Shauchalaya – A Simple Idea that Worked (1980), An Innovative Approach to Improve Rural Sanitation (1988), Road to Freedom – a Sociological Study on the Abolition of Scavenging in India (1991), Action Sociology and Development (1992), Gandhi: Sanitation and Untouchability (2009), Serfdom to Freedom (2009), and New Princesses of Alwar – Shame to Pride – Concept & Vision (2009).
Dr. Pathak is the recipient of many awards including Padma Bhushan by the Govt. of India. He was awarded the International Saint Francis Prize for the Environment “Canticle of all Creatures” and Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar. His Holiness Pope John Paul-II gave him audience and appreciated his contribution for the upgradation of the environment and selfless service to the poor. Dr. Pathak was awarded Stockholm Water Prize for the year 2009 by Stockholm International Water Institute in August during the World Water Week.
From the above, it is seen that practices of environmental protection and conservation compatible with sustainable development have been successfully implemented by Sulabh under the able leadership and guidance of Dr. Pathak who has ingeniously utilized technologies and expertise to enrich and empower the depressed classes, improve community health, hygiene and environment. Thus, he is fulfilling the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar.
Dr. Slobodan P. Simonovic (Keynote Lecture)
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Director of Engineering Studies at the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction
The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, CANADA
Lecture Title: Climate Change and Water Management:
The renaissance of Systems Approach
Dr. Simonovic has over thirty years of research, teaching and consulting experience in water resources engineering. He is teaching courses in civil engineering and water resources systems. He actively works for national and international professional organizations. He has received a number of awards for excellence in teaching, research and outreach. Dr. Simonovic has been invited to present special courses for practicing water resources engineers in many countries. He is assisting in the publication of water resources Journals, and participates actively in the organization of national and international meetings. He has published over 300 professional publications and one major textbook.
Dr. Simonovic’s primary research interest focuses on the application of systems approach to, and development of the decision support tools for, management of complex water and environmental systems. Most of his work is related to the integration of risk, reliability, uncertainty, simulation and optimization in hydrology and water resources management. He has undertaken applied research projects that integrate the mathematical modelling, data-base management, geographic information systems and intelligent interface development into decision support tools for water resources decision makers. Most of his reseacrh is being conducted through the Facility for Intelligent Decision Support (FIDS) at the University of Western Ontario.
Expertise:
Subject Matter - Systems modeling; Risk and reliability; Water resources and environmental systems analysis; Computer-based decision support systems development; Water resources education and training.
Topical Area - Reservoirs; Flood control; Hydropower energy; Operational hydrology; Climatic Change; Integrated water resources management.
January 7, 2010
Prof. Rafael Bras (Keynote Lecture)
Distinguish Professor and Dean
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
University of California, Irvine
Rafael L. Bras, a prominent MIT hydrologist and hydroclimatologist, was named dean of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine, effective Sept. 1.
Bras is well known for his contributions to soil-vegetation-atmosphere system modeling, and he has been recognized for his innovative work describing and forecasting floods and precipitation. His landscape-river basin-evolution models are widely used in hydrology and geology. Bras also has pioneered ideas about how the deforestation of the Amazon will impact regional and continental climates.
He has authored more than 170 refereed journal publications, two textbooks, several monographs and many other publications and presentations.
Bras’ numerous awards and accolades include his 2001 election into the prestigious National Academy of Engineering. He is a corresponding member of the National Academy of Engineering of Mexico, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. He received the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for his work on water science and technology, and he also was awarded the Macelwane and Horton medals of the American Geophysical Union for his geophysical and hydrology work. This May he receives the Simon W. Freese Award of the Environmental and Water resources Institute of ASCE and the Honorary Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers.
Bras chairs an international panel of experts overseeing a $7.9 billion project to develop and construct a system of barriers that will protect Venice, Italy, from flooding during unusually high tides. The project is scheduled for completion in 2014.
