Groundwater

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How soil and water conservation transformed the lives of people in a remote village - The case of Gulliyada village in Talavadi block of Erode district, Tamil Nadu

Soil and water conservation are necessary to make agriculture self sufficient, sustainable and viable especially in hilly regions that are hard pressed for these resources. MYRADA (Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency), as an institution, is involved in a big way in various activities that engage local people in planning for the development of their area in the three southern states. In Erode district of Tamil Nadu, the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) has been instrumental in bringing about a marked change in the topography of the region.

Seetha Gopalakrishnan

Posted on 09 May, 2012 04:12 PM

Author: Seetha Gopalakrishnan

MYRADA and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Erode district, Tamil Nadu

Privatisation of urban water supply in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh - An update from Manthan Adyayan Kendra

Khandwa is a medium-sized town located in western Madhya Pradesh. The 'Khandwa water supply augmentation project' has been awarded to Vishwa Utilities Pvt. Ltd., a Hyderabad based company under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis for water supply augmentation to the town, for the next 25 years. The project has been under execution since October 2009. The private party would supply water to the town @ Rs 11.95 per KL. The raw water for this would be pumped from a reservoir 51 km, away from the town. This report by Gaurav Dwivedi and Rehmat, Manthan Adhyayan Kendra deals with the privatisation of urban water supply in the town.

Gaurav Dwivedi

Rehmat

Posted on 09 May, 2012 09:53 AM

Startling conditionalities

Effects of industrial and agricultural activities on properties of groundwater - A paper published in the Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology & Life Sciences

This paper published in the journal Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology & Life Sciences describes the findings of a study that was carried out to check the effects of industrial and agricultural activities on the groundwater properties in terms of heavy metal concentration. Polluted groundwater is defined as groundwater that has higher concentrations of dissolved or suspended elements than the maximum permissible concentrations fixed by national or international standards for drinking, industrial or agricultural purposes. Sometimes natural groundwater pollution may also occur because of the presence of the respective substances above the prescribed limits.

Sukhdev Kundu

Posted on 05 May, 2012 03:24 PM

The main sources of groundwater contamination are industrial, municipal and agricultural wastes (both solid and liquid), rocks, sludge and slimes, refuse, pesticides, herbicides, effluents from livestock and poultry farms. Many pollutants are even able to penetrate into groundwater aquifers.

People in National capital territory of Delhi are far away from safe drinking water: Role of governance and civil society

Dhobi Ghat, a slum area with a majority of Muslim population , is situated on the bank of river Yamuna, near Batla House, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi with around 150 families. These families are mostly deprived and poor, surviving with low literacy rate, malnutrition, hunger and lack of sanitation. This report by Ravi Nitesh deals with how people in Delhi do not have access to safe drinking water.

Ravi Nitesh

Posted on 30 Apr, 2012 09:56 PM

Adaptive sustainable agriculture: Crop system intensification in Andhra Pradesh

Along with the soil and water conservation programmes, promotion of agricultural techniques and practices is equally important in sustaining the livelihoods of the people in the long term. All too often, market considerations exert undue pressure on the agricultural practices, which in turn affect the production base and cause irreversible imbalances in the eco system. This report by WOTR deals with the issue.

Chandrasekhar Nemani

Posted on 30 Apr, 2012 07:01 PM

WOTR has been extensively promoting sustainable agriculture practices as part of its adaptive sustainable development approach. The objective is to promote low external inputs, increase land productivity, use of indigenous seeds, and reduce cost of cultivation.

Precious Kaveri water down the drain; wasted to wash vehicles: Letter to the Chairman, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board

I tried sending a suggestion to Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to tackle the urgent crisis in Karnataka this hot summer but didn't get any reply. Water crisis is a serious issue. When people do not have water to irrigate their lands, to drink for themselves, it pains me in the heart to see people wasting water profusely to wash their vehicles which goes down the drain. Manjunath M P presents the letter he sent to the Chairman, BWSSB.

Manjunath M P

Posted on 23 Apr, 2012 12:47 PM

Dear Chairman BWSSB,

Critical review of the impacts, challenges, prospects and conflict management for vitally needed inter-linking of rivers in India

Hon’ble Supreme Court in its judgment of 27th February 2012, directed union and concerned states governments, to implement ambitious interlinking of the rivers project (ILR) in a time bound manner and also asked Union Government to appoint a high-powered committee for planning and implementation of the project. Social tensions, political instability and street fights are already being experienced in India, on account of fast deteriorating situation of availability of qualitative water in adequate quantity.
This article presents a critical review of basic objectives, controversies, social & ecological impacts besides concrete suggestions to overcome the blockades in Inter-basin Transfer of Water (IBTW), now commonly known as Inter-linking of Rivers (ILR).

Er. Radhey Shyam Goel

Posted on 23 Apr, 2012 12:17 PM

Guest post by : Er. Radhey Shyam Goel

1. Introduction

Depleting water resources in Thalassery, Kerala: Huge effort is required to address water supply and sewerage handling issues

By chance only I happened to see the IWP, and am very glad and impressed to see the efforts and dedication of the team involved, to help the nation to promote and achieve sustainable use of water. I wish I can also contribute to the portal in whatever way possible to serve this noble initiative, in order to be part spreading awareness and thereby ensuring excess to drinking water to our future generations.

Fazal Maliyakkal

Posted on 22 Apr, 2012 02:57 PM

Author : Fazal Maliyakkal

A framework for rural drinking water quality management, based on experiences from the voluntary sector - A learning document by Arghyam

Arghyam, Bangalore, a non-profit foundation focusing on domestic water and sanitation, has published a document highlighting a water quality management (WQM) framework for rural areas. The framework lays out a phased and process-driven approach to WQM in rural areas and is based on work done by 12 prominent non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who have been working on water quality (WQ), from across the country. Ayan Biswas of Arghyam writes about this.

Arghyam

Ayan Biswas

Posted on 20 Apr, 2012 04:33 PM

The phases that have been identified for a sustainable WQM programme are:

(1) Assessment of baseline situation

(2) Participatory planning

(3) Water quality monitoring

(4) Implementation

The sanitation crisis in India - An urgent need to look beyond toilet provision

Recent evidence indicates that India is heading towards a major sanitation crisis in the coming years. Efforts made at meeting the sanitation challenges have been found to have very limited results, with as high as 65% of the population not having toilet facilities coupled with very low use of existing toilets in urban and rural areas.
It is perhaps the right time to critically evaluate and move beyond the excessive focus we have on 'provision' and pay attention to the underlying complexities of the mechanisms involved, that influence sanitation behaviour among people. If we dont do so, we stand the risk of "missing all the trees for the forest", i.e. missing the social and economic dimensions of the sanitation needs of the people, in the hurry to count the number of toilets provided ! Aarti Kelkar-Khambete writes about the issue.

Aarti Kelkar-Khambete

Posted on 18 Apr, 2012 12:14 PM

Guest post by: Aarti Kelkar-Khambete

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

The sanitation crisis and the recent evidence on lack of toilet facilities

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July 4, 2024

बांदा, जखनी गांव : आज भी खरी है मेड़बंदी

मनुष्य को जब से भोजन की आवश्यकता पड़ी होगी उसने भोजन का आविष्कार किया होगा। किस स्थान पर भोजन उगाया जाए? फसलें पैदा की जाएं जमीन खोजी होगी खेत बनाया होगा। खाद्यान्न पैदा करने के लिए खेत का निर्माण तय हुआ होगा तभी से मेड़बंदी जैसी जल संरक्षण की विधि का आविष्कार हुआ होगा। यह हमारे पुरखों की विधि है जिन से खेत खलिहान का जन्म हुआ है एवं जिन्होंने जल संरक्षण परंपरागत प्रमाणित सर्वमान्य मेड़बंदी विधि का आविष्कार किया है जिसमें किसी प्रकार की कोई तकनीकी शिक्षा नवीन-ज्ञान, वैज्ञानिक ज्ञान की आवश्यकता नहीं होती है।

July 3, 2024

India experiments with parametric insurance to mitigate costs of disasters

News this fortnight

Life during floods in Assam (Image Source: Kausika Bordoloi via Wikimedia Commons)

July 3, 2024

उत्तर कोरिया सरकार ने मानव मल एकत्र करने के लिए आदेश क्यों दिया है

उत्तर कोरिया के तानाशाह किम जोंग उन के एक नए आदेश के बारे में जानना चाहिए कि उन्होंने कोरिया की जनता से 10 किलोग्राम मानव मल एकत्र करने का आदेश दिया है। ताकि उसे खाद के रूप में इस्तेमाल किया जा सके। हालांकि यह आदेश उत्तर कोरियाई लोगों के लिए पूरी तरह से नया नहीं है, क्योंकि वे पहले से ही सर्दियों में खाद के रूप में मानव मल का उपयोग करते आए हैं।

July 2, 2024

From scarcity to sharing: How farmers are managing groundwater in Rayalaseema

Community governance for groundwater management

Jasmine on the fields as part of the groundwater collectivisation agreement at Kummara Vandla Palli village, Sri Satya Sai District. (Images: WASSAN/Swaran)