Odisha emerges as the only state to guarantee quality drinking water on household tap connections
The Odisha government initiated its ‘drink from tap’ mission for urban areas in 2017 with the aim of saving money, resources and time involved in fetching water by the urban poor, and now has become the only state to have guaranteed safe drinking water on household tap connections. This has helped in reducing waterborne diseases and household investments in overhead water tanks, underground reservoirs, motor pumps and reverse osmosis (RO)-based water filters.
The mission covers 2.55 million people in eight cities namely Puri, Gopalpur, Nimapada, Brahmapur, Champua, Rajgangpur, Birmitrapur and Rairangpur and work is ongoing in 17 other cities with the aim to cover 4.1 million people in urban Odisha by end of this year.
This achievement was made possible by ensuring 24x7 water supply and water quality through controlling water leaks, preventing pollutants from entering the piped network and regular monitoring, treatment and testing of water at multiple steps throughout the day before it reached the consumer taps.
The biggest achievement of the project is real-time quality surveillance. The government has also recognised the need for community partnership to achieve this through its Jal Sathi initiative, engaging women from self-help groups (SHG) as facilitators of urban drinking water supply management (Down To Earth)
Kachchh potters turn to energy efficient kilns to save time, resources and the environment
Pottery is an ancient craft and in parts of Kachchh, Gujarat and there are around 55 villages in Kachchh where the potter community resides and works. Making objects out of clay is a long process, and involves steps right from sourcing the raw material to moulding the prepared mixture on the potters’ wheel to finally firing the kiln to bake these pots. The process besides taking a long time also faces challenges in terms of access to firewood to fire the kiln, which is getting more and more difficult as plantations are being removed for infrastructural development.
However, an initiative to introduce energy-efficient kilns to potters in the region in 2023 has brought new hope. It has saved time from 36 hours in traditional kilns to four to five hours in the energy-efficient one. It also reduces the firewood requirement by up to 50 percent thereby benefiting both the potters and the environment. Moreover, with reduced fuel usage, carbon emissions have also reduced (Mongabay, India).
IMD predicts scorching summer heat for India
The latest seasonal outlook by IMD predicts that most of India may suffer from above normal day time and night time temperatures along with heatwaves from April to June. Temperatures across India are already soaring, with the four states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh having recorded heatwave conditions or warm night conditions between March 27 and April 1.
A heatwave is declared when the maximum temperatures of a place cross 40 degrees Celsius (°C) for the plains and are above normal by 4.5°C. For coastal areas, the threshold is 37°C and for the hills, it is 30°C.
IMD says that except for isolated places in east, the Northeast and northwest, the rest of India will reel under excessive heat conditions for the three summer months. (Down To Earth).
A family in Bengaluru beats the water crisis by harvesting rain
While Bengaluru continues to grapple with water scarcity, a family residing near HSR Layout in Haralur has managed to not only solve their water woes, but also grow a lush green garden in their premises.
Suma Raj, a homemaker, and her husband, Rohit Malekar, a writer, prioritised water conservation when they decided to build their own home in Royal Placid Layout, Haralur and opted for roof-based rainwater harvesting during the construction phase. They invested approximately Rs 4.2 lakh in 2020 to construct a reservoir with a capacity sufficient to meet half of their annual water needs of 70,000 litres.
They utilise this harvested rainwater for all purposes except drinking and cooking throughout the year. While their neighbours rely on borewells that are gradually drying up, this stored rainwater is used for cleaning and gardening. They have successfully weathered three summers without depleting their water reserves (Economic Times).
Rajasthan village solves its water woes by building a wall through the MGNREGA scheme
Rajasthan, India’s largest state, is the most vulnerable to droughts, with 98 percent of its 250 village blocks in sectors having dangerously low groundwater levels and almost 7 percent of the its land uncultivable.
The village of Surajpura used to suffer from acute water scarcity every year. This is because it gets scarce rains in the sowing months of July to October, while unseasonal rainfall in winter damages standing crops. Poor soil quality further adds to the woes of the village as it prevents water soaking through.
Determined to deal with this situation, the village has achieved an exemplary feat. The villagers of Surajpura have built a wall! A 15ft (4.5 metre) mud bulwark snakes through barren land for nearly a mile, with an equally long trench dug beneath it. The 650 residents of the village toiled on it for six months in 2022, and it is now being regarded as an architectural marvel.
The wall has successfully stopped rainwater runoffs, and the trench channelled the water to parched farms in the drought-prone region of Rajasthan in north-west India, reviving them for the first time in more than two decades.
Farms in Surajpura have now enough water to grow crops and with full wells the village is now alive with chirping birds. Migration in the region has also stopped. What is important is that the wall has been built as part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), a government-run social welfare policy and one of the world’s biggest job programmes (The Guardian)
Booming salt business in Kutch threatens environment and traditional livelihoods
Fishing for prawns is an important occupation in the Little Rann of Kutch and lasts for the duration of the monsoon. When the Rann starts drying up after the monsoon, small salt workers (Agariyas) move inside the Rann.
The salt production from sub-soil brine takes place till March-April, which involves making pans with two-foot high bunds. Brine pumped into it from underground wells is evaporated to harvest Vadagra (large crystal salt) once in the season. However, in places where tidal water is available in addition to brine, karkach salt (small crystals) is harvested 10-12 times in the same duration.
Big salt units now produce karkach on a large scale. According to the Gujarat Forest Department, 193 big salt units now operate in Shikarpur part of the Sanctuary, with an average holding of 250 acres (101.18 ha) each. The area under salt works in Surajbari (Hadakiya Creek) has increased from 2962 ha to 15950 ha from 1993 to 2015
The powerful businesses have not only destroyed the traditional livelihoods of fisherfolk in the region but also negatively affected the biodiversity of the region by destroying the mangrove forests in the region. There has been a 60 percent reduction of fishing areas in the same region, along with a reduction of fishermen families from 5,200 at its peak a couple of decades ago to around 1,100 at present. There was a time Agariyas and fishers coexisted peacefully. The small bunds the salt workers made would dissolve in the rain and one could see a flat Rann after the monsoon. But things are changing now (Scroll.in).
This is a roundup of important news updates from 16th March to 31st March, 2024. Read our policy updates here.
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