Groundwater

From the serious to the absurd, water has featured across a breadth of movies, both in Hollywood and Bollywood.

India is the world's largest consumer of groundwater where it is extensively used for irrigation. However, there is a considerable waste of this valuable resource. While a part of this waste can be attributed to a lack of incentive for conservation, unmetered electricity supply contributes greatly to this problem. This has led to the formation of what is being termed an energy-irrigation nexus.

Several sessions at the IWMI-Tata Annual Partners' Meet in 2012 discussed this phenomenon, its causes, impact and possible management strategies. 

What are the water sources and where is the water utilized ? The short videos below aim to educate us on simple facts of freshwater sources and scarcity....

The works have to done maintaining appropriate standards and quality of the schemes, and ensure their completion in time. The manuals are prepared keeping in mind the activities mentioned in the 12th five year plan.

Budget 2013: Highlights from the water sector

Author: K.M.Seenivasan

The draft Bill can be requested from the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, Government of Rajasthan. The draft Bill through discussion at the state assembly may be amended into an ‘Act’. Following is broad review of the draft Bill. For detail review by the author, you may ask the author at: mansee@edc.org.in.

This report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presents strategies for inclusive rural development embodying the principles of environmental sustainability. It recommends measures needed to achieve green, including measuring and tracking, the use incentives and the building of capacities. It also contains a number of case studies showing how green results can be achieved.

Kerala is a rain blessed state in the country. It has highest  number of wells, when compared with other states. However due to its slanting topography there is significant decline in the ground water levels leading to severe water scarcity during summer months in most districts of the state. Further over extraction and dependence of groundwater for domestic use from the dug wells especially in rural pockets has resulted in several groundwater problems. In this backdrop the paper in  The Ecosan- An International Quarterly Journal of Environmental Science, sheds light on groundwater quality issues in two panchayats of Kerala.