COIMBATORE, DECEMBER 11 (MExN): A three-day international conference on Water Resources and Environment Research (ICWRER 2025), jointly organised by Karunya University, Coimbatore, and the University of Waterloo, Canada, opened on December 9 with a call for intensified scientific collaboration to address escalating global water and environmental challenges.
The conference was inaugurated by Dr Arnold Heemink of the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands, and has brought together scientists, researchers and water-sector specialists from India and seven other countries to deliberate on issues relating to water management, sustainability and environmental resilience.
Delivering the keynote address, Conference Chair and noted hydrologist Prof E. J James said the melting of glaciers, recurrent floods and droughts were “clear indicators of climate change.” He also highlighted the alarming retreat of the Sundarbans mangroves and the degradation of the Point Calimere wetland in Tamil Nadu, warning of severe consequences for ecosystems and biodiversity.
In his presidential address, former Vice-Chancellor and COO of Karunya Trust, Prof Prince Arulraj, urged the scientific community to scale up research and develop innovative solutions to global water challenges.
Co-chair of the conference, Prof Kumarasamy Ponnambalam of the University of Waterloo, traced the four-decade journey of ICWRER, noting that the first conference was held at the University of Waterloo in the aftermath of the Dublin Conference on Water and Environment and the Rio Earth Summit, with Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as its foundational theme.
Er Roy E Unny, Technical Director at Mott MacDonald, Australia, called on delegates to translate research findings into practical and actionable strategies to combat water scarcity. Dr Edward McBean, Professor at the University of Guelph, Canada, noted that around 70 per cent of India’s surface water was unfit for consumption and proposed a multilayer soil-based approach to improve water quality. Dr Heemink presented mathematical models predicting coastal tides that threaten marine ecosystems. Dr Chandrasekar Iyer, former Chairman of the Central Water Commission, emphasised the need for sustainable and climate-resilient water management systems.
The programme was held under the guidance of Karunya University Vice-Chancellor Prof Elijah Blessing. Registrar Dr S. J Vijay delivered the vote of thanks, while Prof Sajan Kurien, Dean, School of Agricultural Sciences, outlined the technical agenda.
Conference sessions include discussions on water security, water policy, climate impacts, water economics and the application of Industry 4.0 tools in water research. Presentations cover a range of topics such as reservoir sedimentation, hydropower generation from Niagara Falls, textile wastewater dye removal, and groundwater modelling using machine-learning techniques.
Co-sponsored by NABARD and Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., ICWRER 2025 will continue over the next two days, facilitating international collaboration and the development of innovative solutions for global water sustainability.
