India

Data related to the water sector although available online was very scattered and inaccessible and did not reveal much on its own when India Water Portal (IWP), Arghyam started the data project with the aim of providing better ways of accessing and representing data related to the water sector. The process led to some interesting learnings, revelations and very positive outcomes.

Cleaning, analysis and contextualizing the available data

IPCC releases its climate change report, alarms India of severe water shortage

HC issues notice to Indian Railways over poor quality water

Rainfall maps for the period of 100 years were created to see the changing patterns and differences over time.

Data used

MET data was used to generate the maps for every year.

The Indian Meteorlogical Department (IMD) defines drought as ‘the consequence of a natural reduction in the amount of precipitation over an extended period of time, usually a season or more in length, often associated with other climatic factors (viz.

Groundwater is water that is stored underground in aquifers or rock layers than can absorb water. India gets 85% of all its drinking water from this source.   

Rainfall is an essential part of monitoring groundwater as it recharges the aquifer and brings groundwater levels up. Rainfall and well levels are important parameters for data collection.

Groundwater is water that is stored below the ground in aquifers, or rock layers that can absorb water. India gets 85% of all its drinking water from this source.

Since water reforms were introduced in India in the 1990s, water privatisation has been propagated as a panacea to the sector's problems. 

71% of earth’s surface is covered with water found in rivers, lakes and oceans. Due to massive urbanization and industrialization, these resources are often polluted with garbage and industrial waste among other things. There are several ways of cleaning this wastewater. One such method is bioaugmentation.