Political

In this report, groundwater quality scenarios of the worst affected region of Nargund-Navalgund area of Malaprabha command in Dharwar, Karnataka have been simulated through a three dimensional finite difference code SWIFT III. Mathematical modeling of the groundwater quality was done on a local rather than a larger regional scale.

Dr. G. D. Agrawal Scientist and Rishi

Meeting Dr. G. D. Agrawal in his spartan, two room cottage in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh, you would never guess what an accomplished and distinguished scientist he is – first Member-Secretary of the Government of India’s Central Pollution Control Board, former Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at IIT Kanpur and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. The list goes on and on.

Yet this eminent professional sweeps his own floors, washes his own clothes and cooks his own meals. He retains only a few possessions and dresses in homespun khadi. At the age of 76, his main mode of transport within Chitrakoot is a bicycle and when he travels further afield, he goes by ordinary bus and second-class train. These are the deliberate choices of a devout Hindu whose deepest values are for simplicity and reverence for nature. Dr G.D. Agrawal is the doyen of environmental engineering professionals in India. Well past retirement, he continues to teach and inspire students as an Honorary Professor of Environmental Sciences at the Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya, in Chitrakoot (M.P.).

Organizers:

• Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS) Roorkee
• Department of Water Resources Development and Management
• Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Workshop Themes:
This International workshop will provide a platform to the exprerienced and related expert professionals for intensive and threadbare deliberations to explore possible solutions to the vexed problem of stream flow management, channel improvement, sustainability of river eco-systems & IWRM and inland water ways. The focuses of the workshop are as follows:

Forwarded to the Portal by Dr.Vijay Verma

You are well aware that Dr. G D Agarwal aged 79 years Scientist, Environmentalist, Bureaucrat and Saint is on fast unto death from 20th July 2010 at Matri Sadan, Haridwar. His fragile age will not permit to endure long days of fast. It seems we are waiting for his demise.

National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA) is formed to fool people of India as this is happening since Independence.

Image courtesy: NUWA

The Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, invites nominations for the National Urban Water Awards 2010.

The National Urban Water Awards Awards (NUWA) have been instituted by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India, to recognize, inspire and celebrate excellence in urban water management.

These awards have been instituted with the explicit purpose of honoring urban local governments, water boards and organizations who have demonstrated improvements in service delivery of water through effective water management practices. The awards aim is to provide a forum to showcase urban initiatives and inspiring models in water managements.

Organizers:

Had the opportunity to attend a recent worldwide gathering on the topic of youth and social entrepreneurship, which gave much food for thought. The event was the 5th Global YES Summit, entitled “ReWork The World”.  Details of the gathering are at www.reworktheworld.org . The message there  was that we need to do something radical in order to find productive work for the vast numbers of youth coming into the workforce especially in developing nations. The new jobs cannot be of the old variety, they need to be green, sustainable jobs. In other words, we need to ‘rework the world’.  The conference was based on the premise that these new jobs will come out of social entrepreneurship.

My house is about 20 years old and is located in R T Nagar in Bangalore. In 1990, I had got a borewell dug. The Borewell is about 150 feet deep and has been giving me excellent quality water until about 2 years ago when I started noticing muddy water. The water that is pumped to an overhead tank contains fine particles of mud which tends to settle down in the overhead tank.

In the present study, an attempt has been made to estimate the soil erosion rate in Malaprabha representative basin by using WEPP model and Universal Soil Loss Equation. Soil erosion and sedimentation are the two important natural processes, which need immediate attention from the scientific community. Two major types of erosion are geological erosion and erosion from human or animal activities.

In this study, an attempt has been made to study the characteristics of short interval rainfall data of the Punpun river basin lying in Bihar-Jharkhand, which has been identified as the representative basin for the NIH- Centre for Flood Management Studies, Patna. The estimation of flood peaks for small catchments is required for water resources planning, flood forecasting, design of various drainage systems, flood control and design of hydraulic structures.