Karnataka

On 29^th January, my colleague Binayak and I went to Nelmangala to participate in the "Save Arkavathy"Walk. The Walk was organized hoping that the participants would learn from the experiences of the villagers along the Arkavathy River and be able to generate interest in them to join the walk.

There is a spurt of gastro-enteritis in the city today. Residents think that it is the contaminated mains supply from the BWSSB that is the source of the gastroenteritis. The Bangalore water supply and Sewerage Board thinks it is water bought by residents from the private water tankers that is the cause but then seems to change its mind.

What exactly is a Persian wheel? Also known as Rahat (in Urdu), it's a simple water lifting device, where a number of small pots are attached to a long chain. Two gear wheels make up the system and as the first one is revolved, the pots each dip and swallow water from the well and soon after pours itself out to a metallic shaft which in turns empties into an intricate network of troughs that distributes water adequately through the cropped area. It is believed that the technology originated in Egypt and as world shrunk through extensive trading, it spread to India and China.

Regional Workshop on Ecological Sanitation (From Umesh Pakalapati, CapNet South Asia, Hyderabad) A regional workshop on "Ecological Sanitation"will be held in Bangalore, Karnataka, India in February (15th-17th), 2008. It is being organized with the support of CapNet Global and Arghyam Trust, India. Cap-Net invites interested people to send their details.

Arghyam Trust organised an interaction in Bangalore with Mr. Ramaswamy Iyer to mark the recent release of his book "Towards Water Wisdom: Limits, Justice and Harmony" . The release of Mr. Iyer's book is covered here: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/04/new-book-by-ramaswamy-iyer/

We at the Water Portal and Arghyam were very gratified as Mr. Iyer spoke briefly but warmly of the Portal and its usefulness as a resource on water issues. Photos from the event are below. Others in the photographs include Sunita Nadhamuni, CEO of Arghyam, Dr. L.C. Jain who introduced Mr. Iyer and particapated in the proceedings and Vishwanath Srikantaiah of the Rainwater Club and Arghyam

In July 2007 India Water Portal collaborated with Chitradurga All India Radio (AIR) station (FM 102.6MHz) to produce and broadcast programs related to rainwater harvesting and ground water management. This activity was part of the 'offline' dissemination program of the Water Portal , i.e. creating awareness related to water issues through different offline media. We feel that the program series is a success and would like to reproduce the experience on a larger scale. The series -- named Mayadanta Male (literal , Magical Rain) involves 15 programs of 30 minutes duration each.

India Water Portal has partnered with VOICES and BIRD-K to produce and broadcast a set of radio programs on rainwater harvesting.The programs are in Kannada and target audience is people of Tumkur district, though the programs can be heard over a much wider reach including Bangalore.

Project Manager, India Water Portal, Arghyam Location: Bangalore The India Water Portal, an initiative of Arghyam, Bangalore is looking for someone to join our hi-energy team.