GWI partner in GRIHA Summit, New Delhi

For the second year in a row, UNSW Sydney partnered with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)  in Delhi to co-design the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) Summit. The GRIHA summit is the annual event of the GRIHA council which promotes and recognises innovations and efficiencies in design and construction in the commercial and residential building industries. The theme of the 11th GRIHA summit was 'Approach to integrated sustainability', and a recurrent theme through  the summit was stewardship of water resources. To this end, GWI was honoured to coordinate and moderate two sessions on the management and use of water resources.

The first session focused on urban agriculture and involved students from IIT Ropar who visited UNSW Sydney to participate in a student competition to design sustainable urban agriculture business in Delhi. A feature of the student  designs was the efficient use of water resources through the use of hydroponics to minimise water demand and the use of recycled storm, grey and black water to maximise water efficiency and recycling of nutrients.

The second session coordinated by GWI looked at the grand challenge of water management in India and featured presenters from the Tata Water Trust, the TERI Centre for Advanced Studies and the  property development  group Mahindra. The session focused on the targets required to achieve SDG6 in India, strategies to shift attitudes and behaviour on water use and management, flood control, water efficiency  in the building sector and the expansion of wastewater treatment, recycling and diversified water sources in Mumbai and Delhi.

GWI was honored to convene both sessions and have the opportunity to interact with Government, industry and research organisations.