Political

Forwarded to the Portal by: National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM)

Papers may address one or more of the following areas:

Situation analysis

• Studies assessing current and future water situation in India
• Water – climate change nexus and implications for the future

This paper published in the journal Conservation and Society reassesses/debates the decision taken by the government to dredge a new sea mouth in the Chilika Lake in Orissa, India, which was based on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) studies.

The paper argues that decisions such as these need to be understood and evaluated by taking into consideration not only the underlying technical aspects, but by also exploring the political and historical contexts in which decisions are taken. 

This presentation by ACWADAM deals with geological mapping. The occurrence of water within a watershed is governed by the rock types occurring both at the surface and within the subsurface, their sequence and their structure. The physical structure which plays host to the water within the watershed is geological. Every watershed programme must therefore include a fundamental understanding of this framework so that the development and management measures planned through such programmes are meaningful and properly justified technically.

These presentations by ACWADAM deal with the application of remote sensing and aerial photography techniques in groundwater management. Remote sensing is a technique by virtue of which information about an object, area or phenomenon is obtained with the help of a sensor on board a platform from distance without coming in contact with object, area or phenomenon.

This presentation by ACWADAM deals with the conceptual framework of groundwater management.

This presentation by ACWADAM deals with the issue of groundwater management under the climate change scenario in India. Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. The causes are -variations in solar radiations, plate tectonics, volcanism and change in earths orbit & axis.

This presentation on aquifer properties by ACWADAM deals with the storage and transmission properties of aquifers. The two functions of an aquifer, accumulation of water (storage) and flow of water (transmission) are discussed. The permeability or hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer which allows water to flow towards the well is described. 

This presentation by ACWADAM on earth system deals with the interactions between the four elements that make up this system. The complexity of the earth system, in which spatial and temporal variability exists on a range of scales, requires that an organized scientific approach be developed for addressing the complex, interdisciplinary problems that exist.

The presentation by ACWADAM on earth system deals with the four elements that make up this system. Earth science generally recognizes four spheres, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere; these correspond to rocks, water, air, and life. These four interdependent parts or the earth's spheres are described as:

• the lithosphere, which contains all of the cold, hard, solid rock of the planet's crust (surface), the hot semi-solid rock that lies underneath the crust, the hot liquid rock near the center of the planet, and the solid iron core (center) of the planet
• the hydrosphere, which contains all of the planet's solid, liquid, and gaseous water,
• the atmosphere, which contains all of the planet's air, and
• the biosphere, which contains all of the planet's living organisms.