India

The Borewell FAQ, Part I & II, are meant to provide a primer on the basics related to all aspects of borewells. A well compiled document, it also give links to relevant queries and provides a much needed starting point for all those contemplating a borewell !

Purpose of the postUnder the general supervision of the Water & Environment Specialist, and in collaboration with the Emergency Unit, and other sector emergency focal points in UNICEF Delhi, the position provides technical and programmatic expertise and support for WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) in Emergencies to the Child’s Environment

 CSE (Center for Science and Environment, www.cseindia.org  ) has created an interactive database on threatened lakes of India.

      Pepsico, the manufacturer of Pepsi and several other beverage a

View discussion paper: energy-water-action-study-discussion-paper-june-2009 Dear Sir / Madam, Ground water pumping using electricity is a complex issue, leaving all actors - the farmers, distribution company, State government and environment conscious analysts - frustrated and dissati

Dear All, The Water and Sanitation Channel on youtube- https://www.youtube.com/user/zenrainman- reached a landmark today with the number of videos uploaded reaching the 300 mark. This has been an initiative to document and highlight efforts ongoing in such fields as rainwater harvesting, eco-san, grey-water reuse, groundwater recharge , ecological flows in rivers and such allied issues. It has now hit a steady view rate of 400 a day and has overall been viewed nearly 200,000 times . It is the 20th most viewed ALL time channel from India in the Reporters section and the 20th most subscribed in the Reporters section ( with such other eminent channels ahead such as bodybuilding and punjabi cute boy :) ) The latest video uploaded is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEwiG9tAacs&feature=channel_page on the Chalakudy river in Kerala and to understand the construct and imagination of a river in modern times. One of the most popular videos has been on the guppy fish and it has a young audience to thank that for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7V76FcL2QQ&feature=channel_page The channel has been the first to highlight such technologies and efforts as

Image and Content Courtesy: Avinash Krishnamurthy, BIOME Environmental Solutions Pvt. Ltd.,

Meet Muniyappa and his team of well diggers. They have dug over a 150 wells with us in the last two years and perhaps more than a 1000 wells in their life time. While digging Muniswamy (or someone else in the team) is drenched in sweat and is bare chested. He climbs up and down the well which can be upto 40 ft deep on footholds 2 inches deep that he himself digs into the sidewalls of the wells. When he is deep down under, digging, and soil has to be hauled up, Srinivasu and Muniyappa are precariously perched on the side of the well pulling up the rope that holds the basket full of soil. And then once the well is dug, concrete rings (each weighing in the range of 75 Kg to 250 Kgs depending on the size of the well) are introduced down from the top with the help of the rope - and the sinews of Muniyappa, Srinivasu or Muniswamy. And during this process, Muniswamy virtually climbs in and out of the well for each ring that is introduced.

mmForwarded to the Portal by: Himanshu Thakkar, SANDRP

PROJECT PROMOTER IS CHAIRING ENVIRONMENT CLEARANCE COMMITTEE LETTER SENT TO ENVIRONMENT MINISTER: TEST FOR UPA'S CLAIMS ON GOVERNANCE

For over two years now, Mr. P Abhraham who is on the Board of several hydropower and dam companies has been chairing the Ministry of Environment and Forests' Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley and Hydropower projects. The committee, set up under the EIA Notification 2006 and EPA 1986, screens proposals for dams and hydropower projects for clearances at various stages. The committee also takes decisions on several very crucial policies governing the clearances for these projects. There is clear conflict of interest here between Abraham's role as director of companies and as this most crucial regulatory position in the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Over the past two years, there has been at least six occasions when a project of the companies where Abraham is a director has come for clearance before the committee he chairs. This is a completely unacceptable situation and a number of social and environment groups have written to the New Union Environment Minister to remove Abraham from this position, before the next meeting of the committee he chairs happens (it is scheduled for June 15-16, 2009).

Among many other power and dam companies, Abraham is on the Board of Lanco Infratech, GVK Industries Ltd, JSW Energy Ltd, PTC Ltd, Nagarjun Construction and Maharashtra Power Generation Company. Some of the projects from such companies that came up before the EAC that Abraham chairs over the last two years include the 3000 MW Demwe Hydropower project (Arunachal Pradesh), the 76 MW Phata Byung HEP (Uttarakhand), the 76 MW Rambara HEP (Uttarakhand), the 170 MW Bogudiyar-Sirkari Bhyol HEP (Uttarakhand), the 200 MW Mapang Bogudiyar HEP (Uttarakhand) and the 260 MW Kuther HEP (Himachal Pradesh). Abraham has been abstaining from the meetings whenever these projects came up before the EAC, but this is clearly not sufficient.

   CAREWATER's recent solicitation for comments on IWP blog (click here),  on their research study on dugwell recharge draws attention to a little-known programme of the government of India on decentralized groundwater recharge through the use of farmer d