India

Recent reports on the monsoon and the flood situation indicate that the rainfall has receded from northern India and has shifted to the south of India. Reports indicate heavy rainfall and flooding in parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Reports also indicate that India’s 16-week monsoon period has ended last week and the meteorological department has confirmed of 102% than normal rainfall. Inspite of the floods and the problems associated with it, reports also indicate positive news that the heavy rainfall has helped to recharge lakes and water bodies in different parts of India and may see a positive impact on agriculture in the coming days.

Water for Industry

• Indian farmers fight billionaire Mittal and Posco, a leading company in steel making, for water rights in Orissa

Drinking Water/Urban Water/Water Quality

• The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) loses money on half of water it supplies
• The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is paying a hefty price for supplying water to Mumbai with outstanding water supply dues upto Rs 3,065 crore
• 40% water is lost in leakages in Mumbai: The water level over the catchment area at 12.9 lakh ml, but the city still wrangling with water woes
• Poor access to safe and good quality drinking water: water contamination is an important public health concern in Bihar
• After several years of suffering, the villagers of Hebani Gram Panchayat in Mulbagal Taluk of Kolar have found a way to get safe drinking water by themselves
• 1650 water supply schemes planned for meeting the drinking water needs of people in rural areas in Madhya Pradesh
• Diarrhoea cases on the rise in Orissa
• Cholera incidence second highest in Kolkata

Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM) is a premier education and research institution and facilitates work on groundwater management through action research programmes and trainings. ACWADAM’s main thrust has been on the process of capacity building and facilitation, both founded strongly on its research base.

ACWADAM, with support from the Ford Foundation, has embarked on strengthening civil society capabilities in groundwater management, using the watershed management platform. A comprehensive training module on basic hydrogeology and groundwater science, has been developed, and can be sourced by writing to ACWADAM at acwadam@vsnl.net.

These trainings enable the trainees particularly from Civil Society Organisations to improve the planning, implementation and monitoring of their watershed development and allied projects.

Content and Image Courtesy: The Thirsty Planet

National Water Academy (NWA) is a training institution of the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India. NWA conducts training programs that cover all aspects of water resources development and management at basin scale, viz. hydrology, hydrometry and telemetry; flood management; investigation, planning and formulation of river valley projects; environmental and social aspects of river valley projects; design of dams /barrages /canals /gates/ hydro-power structures and FEM; dam safety and instrumentation; GIS and Remote Sensing; Hydro-informatics; IWRM; Water Policy; etc.

This Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) on the broad subject of Surveying, Mapping, Geographical Information Systems and Global Positioning Systems is being carried out by Indian Institute of Technology’s and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a collaborative project supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) to enhance the quality of engineering education in the country, by developing curriculum based video and web courses. In these web based lectures, the authors have developed the subject in detail and in stages in a student-friendly manner. The broad group of Surveying, Mapping, Geographical Information Systems and Global Positioning Systems is structured into modules on the following topics: