IIT-Bombay. (File Photo) IIT-Bombay. (File Photo)

IIT-Bombay’s new Water Innovation Centre: Technology, Research, Education (WICTRE), which was inaugurated on Tuesday, will study rivers in Mumbai and the chemical effluents that affect them, said a professor at the institute Thursday.

The professor, Shobha Shukla of the department of metallurgical engineering and materials science, said, “… the Taloja, which starts from MIDC area and goes all the way up to Vasai, is dying fast, resulting in the loss of its aquatic ecosystem…The river needs to be cleaned and rejuvenated to prevent this loss.”

The centre, inaugurated by IIT-B Director Devang V Khakhar in the presence of the head of the department of science and technology, Sanjay Bajpai, has been set up to study rivers and industrial effluents and to develop a model for purification and desalination of water bodies. The WICTRE has received nearly Rs 5 crore for its first year from the Ministry of Science and Technology.

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