Avinash Krishnamurthy

An example technology is pico-hydro that uses local streams as a resource.

• The technology is transferred as an asset to households of farmers with access to streams, in the Western Ghats region.
• Most critically, the households decide the allocation of water between electricity generation and irrigation - they manage their demand for electricity based on water availability. The entire system retrofits into their current irrigation infrastructure.
• At the same time, there is an entire value chain of enterprises that develop the technology and deliver it to the farmer's doorstep, integrating access to MNRE subsidies and loans as necessary. 

One of the oldest "People's electricity" systems I have ever seen (Please read the notes for each of the videos).  Of course this trip had even better high points - wine made from Gooseberry and Nutmeg - all locally brewed.  So travelling in the midst of hills, sipping local wine, seeing some great work, (and providing perspectives for someone-else to write - is this work or what?

A workshop on groundwater was organised by ACWADAM and Arghyam Trust in Pune in May 2009, that brought together several experts in the field, and explored diverse topics such as the importance of scale in groundwater resource planning and management, importance of aquifer typologies, participatory processes of groundwater management, groundwater regulation and groundwater linkages with watershed development, markets and policy matters.

The attempt of the workshop and research papers presented, was to highlight contemporary issues in groundwater management, and to look at it through the multiple lenses of hydrogeology, sociology, economics, livelihoods, environment, disasters and so on.

Image and Content Courtesy: Avinash Krishnamurthy, BIOME Environmental Solutions Pvt. Ltd.,

Meet Muniyappa and his team of well diggers. They have dug over a 150 wells with us in the last two years and perhaps more than a 1000 wells in their life time. While digging Muniswamy (or someone else in the team) is drenched in sweat and is bare chested. He climbs up and down the well which can be upto 40 ft deep on footholds 2 inches deep that he himself digs into the sidewalls of the wells. When he is deep down under, digging, and soil has to be hauled up, Srinivasu and Muniyappa are precariously perched on the side of the well pulling up the rope that holds the basket full of soil. And then once the well is dug, concrete rings (each weighing in the range of 75 Kg to 250 Kgs depending on the size of the well) are introduced down from the top with the help of the rope - and the sinews of Muniyappa, Srinivasu or Muniswamy. And during this process, Muniswamy virtually climbs in and out of the well for each ring that is introduced.