Citizens in coastal Karnataka join hands to revive their water bodies

Citizens from coastal towns of Moodbidri and Karkala in Karnataka have joined hands to revive their water bodies

Citizens from Moodbidri and Karkala, two small coastal towns of Mangaluru in coastal Karnataka, are reviving water bodies in their towns that were built thousands of years ago. Thirteen of Moodbidri’s 18 ancient and historic water bodies, are on the revival path of which five have been restored to their original form as others are in different stages of revival.

Moodbidri town has numerous temples and monasteries and draws pilgrims from across the world. The  town depends on the Phalguni river for its water and draws water from the Puchchmogaru dam built on it.  Water scarcity is a regular problem in the summer and the tourist season, when water consumption jumps by 30 percent.

The citizens in the town thus decided to find alternative ways of meeting their water needs by effectively recharging underground water through revitalising water bodies. Hundreds of dug wells have thus been revived in the last two years that take care of the water needs of individual households. Besides these, a number of community tanks and lakes are also in the process of revival such as the Bettekere, the Mohallakere, Kadalakere, Basavanakaje lake (Down to Earth).

Scientists develop electrically conductive soil to enhance crop growth

Scientists have developed an electrically conductive "soil" which can lead to 50 percent more growth of barley seedlings on average in 15 days. The team has developed an electrically conductive cultivation substrate, tailored to hydroponic cultivation, that they call eSoil. This soilless cultivation method, known as hydroponics, uses a root system that is stimulated electrically through a new cultivation substrate.

This closed system enables water recirculation so that each seedling gets the exact amount of nutrients it needs and very little water ensures that all nutrients remain in the system, which is not possible in traditional cultivation. Thus, seedlings grow faster with less resources through processing nitrogen more effectively. 

Mineral wool is often used as cultivation substrate in hydroponics. But it is non-biodegradable and is produced from a very energy-intensive process while the electronic cultivation substrate eSoil is made of cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer, mixed with a conductive polymer called PEDOT (Telegraph, India).

Melghat villagers in Maharashtra get water out of thin air

Melghat region of Amravati district in Maharashtra has high levels of fluoride in its drinking water posing a risk to the health of inhabitants of the village. However, relief has come in the form of a unique effort, that of an aerial drinking water production plant, set up by Ayurjaal Shuddha Jal Kendra at Ranigaon in Dharani tehsil.

The process in the plant involves extracting ambient air from the surroundings and filtering, condensing, mineralising it to get pure drinking water. The Ayurjaal Shuddha Jal Kendra’s aerial drinking water production plant is the first of its kind in Maharashtra and addresses the water quality challenges faced by people and places that have fluoridated water.

The  project is run under the banner of ‘Swastha Jal, Swasth Jeevan,’ and supported by Nataraj Niketan Sanstha, Maitri Parivar Sanstha, Haldiram Charitable Trust, Samavid International and Haldiram Foods from Nagpur. The objective is to provide clean and healthy drinking water to villages across the state. Purification centres have currently been established in Ranigaon, Loharisawanga, Bamani, and Mahendragad respectively (Times of India).

Researchers develop a model to understand the flow of water in large braided rivers

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) in collaboration with the Brahmaputra Board, under the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, have developed a model to understand the flow of water in large braided rivers. The initiative aims at providing engineers valuable insights into designing sustainable structures for river bank protection.

The model - BRAHMA-2D (Braided River Aid: Hydro-Morphological Analyzer) - was successfully validated on the Brahmaputra river near Majuli Island, the second largest freshwater river island in the world and prone to river bank erosion. 

The research is based on developing a comprehensive mathematical model to help predict river flow variations across depths, which can be useful for flood and erosion control, agriculture, water supply intake design and energy production.

The model combines highly complex mathematical modelling with field-based research on large braided rivers and can help understand how fast water moves at different depths in a river and its circulation around a structure like a spur installed to prevent river bank erosion (Business Standard).

Community forest management linked to positive social and environmental outcomes

A recent study has found that forests in 15 tropical countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities were associated with improved outcomes for carbon storage, biodiversity and forest livelihoods.

The study found that positive outcomes were linked to presence of formal management institutions and involvement of indigenous and local communities in defining their rights and roles in forest use and management. Thus governance reforms like supporting indigenous and local community rights or roles to manage forests can play an important role in supporting both human and environmental goals in tropical forested landscapes (Mongabay, India).

This is a roundup of important news updates from 15th to 31st December 2023. Also read our policy updates here.