The Tamil Nadu government is looking into using treated wastewater for greening efforts in urban areas.
At a conference on heatwaves and changing monsoon patterns amid climate change held by Climate Trends, a research-based consulting and capacity building organisation, here on Thursday, Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary to Departments of Environment, Climate Change, and Forests, said an ‘Urban Greening Policy’ is in the draft stage under the Green Tamil Nadu Mission.
“Given the fact that Tamil Nadu is the most urbanised State in India and [considering] the rate at which urbanisation is happening, it is critical that urban areas receive a programme for greening. One of the important things we’re trying to do is looking at how to combine urban greening efforts with the available wastewater. It will be a very effective strategy to utilise treated wastewater for this,” Ms. Sahu, who joined the conference virtually, said.
Sudha Ramen, Member Secretary of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission, said as part of Tamil Nadu’s Heat Mitigation Strategy, a preliminary study on urban heat island hotspots was carried out. Through heat hazard profiling in the State, it was found that 68% of the population had been exposed to eight to nine hours of severe heat between March and June. Recommendations have been made to develop a robust data management system to document heat illnesses among vulnerable sections, Ms. Ramen added.
T. Jayaraman, senior fellow, Climate Change, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, said working rules and, if necessary, legislation should be prepared for heatwave action plans and mitigation strategies. He said while the focus was on urban places, there were no heatwave action plans for rural areas. “It is more complex in the rural setting. So, formulating these plans is an important step forward,” he added.