India

The occurrence of exceptionally heavy rainfall events and associated flash floods in many areas during recent years prompted the researchers to study long-term changes in extreme rainfall over India. 

The CGWB under the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, is the national apex agency entrusted with the responsibilities of providing scientific inputs for management, exploration, monitoring, assessment, augmentation and regulation of ground water resources of the country.

This document by the World Health Organisation, for the first time, sets forth global criteria to evaluate whether a household water treatment option reduces waterborne pathogens sufficiently to protect health. Through use of a risk-based framework and by emphasizing the philosophy of incremental improvement, it is intended to provide implementers and policy-makers with an evidence-based and pragmatic approach to select options suited to local conditions.

Household water treatment interventions may play an important role in protecting public health where existing water sources, including those delivered via a piped network or other improved sources, are untreated, are not treated properly or become contaminated during distribution or storage. Household water treatment applications are a range of technologies, devices or methods employed for the purposes of treating water at the household level or at the point of use in other settings, such as schools, health-care facilities and other community locations. Point-of-use water treatment is another term used for household water treatment.

Guest post: Shwetha Kamath (India Water Portal Volunteer)

About 74 per cent of India's total population, currently about 1.25 billion, live in rural areas. More than one third of the water available to them is not potable. In a grim reminder that poor quality of drinking water leads to serious health problems, India has admitted that about 180,000 rural populated areas are afflicted by diseases which are caused due to impure, toxic organic and inorganic substances including tri-halo methane, chlorine, etc. Some states have reported multiple contaminations in drinking water and there is no doubt that the current water situation in India will get much, much worse unless suitable solutions are sought. Most existing purification methods not only remove the impurities but drain out the essential minerals as well. Moreover, they are expensive and require extensive maintenance. Thus a natural filter comprising of bamboo, gravel, pebble and other locally available natural adsorbents is a great alternative to carry out water purification. What makes this filter unique is the use of bamboo charcoal which is not commonly used in any filter designed for domestic purposes.

Article and Image courtesy: Infochange India
Author: Rahul Goswami

Celebrating the fact that per capita agricultural income is increasing faster than overall per capita income, the government is targeting 4% growth in agriculture in the Twelfth Plan period. But this is a rosy view that does not stand up to scrutiny.

Article and Image courtesy: PC Quest
Auhtor: Shumpy Saini

An online portal that provides the right aid and resources to the right people at the right time when disaster strikes.

With a belief that those who serve people in need shouldn't have to sacrifice on the tools they use, Aidmatrix Foundation came up with CDRN. It's an online portal that helps bring people together with the use of applications for supply-chain management, volunteer management and fund raising. People can enter their needs, donations, products or supplies into the CDRN system, which is in turn accessed by a nationwide network of relief agencies, corporates, state Governments, federations, and PSUs. It allows donors to provide discounted pricing offers as well as donations directly to various relief agencies by viewing needs posted on the system.

 Dr. Y Venugopal Reddy begins by stating that the article offers a comprehensive, succinct and summary overview of the subject and is very useful as reference material. However, there is, a vital element that is missing in the analysis, namely, a discussion of the risks to the economy and economic agents. An enumeration and discussion of the many risks must be taken into account while framing the Twelfth Plan.

The year 2011-12 is the last year of the Eleventh Plan and this is therefore an appropriate time to review what has been achieved with a view to identify weaknesses in the strategy that need to be corrected, and also identify new challenges that may require new initiatives. The paper is presented in the hope of spurring a broader discussion on these issues.

This has been followed with a discussion on issues of quality and quantity. The importance of groundwater in India’s water sector is highlighted. The presentation discusses how an increase in overall irrigated area, in spite of decrease in contribution from big dam irrigation projects was possible due to the steep increase in groundwater irrigated areas.

. It protects and nourishes the soil. It also saves the water and enriches the ground water reserves.

Download the below attachment to read more