Political

Credit: Binay, Business Standard

The speaker line up for the opening day of the conference has some of the most respected names in the water sector, in India. I have put together resource pages for each of the speaker's profiles and the subject of their talk.

This presentation provides information on the process that needs to be followed to construct a deep tube well for agricultural purposes in Pavalangudi village of Vridhachalam Taluk, Cuddalore district, Tamilnadu. The extent of area is 100 acres. The presentation covers three stages of ground water exploration - surface, subsurface methods, well development and the methodology adopted.

The main objective is to study and understand the hydrological cycle of the region, to have an overall concept about the type, nature & number of aquifers, the quality of ground water.

During conflicts and wars, many die as a consequence of bombings and battles. To the death toll, many more zeroes get added in the days and months to follow! Poor hygiene and sanitation takes several hundred lives in the refugee settlements.

In an earlier post on IUWM and interventions based on hydrological considerations, I had discussed the typologies which could define the way we intervene and address the inconsistencies in the water utility services as well as the net water availability of the region.

Policy – Technology – Planning – Implementation has seldom been one straight highway in developmental issues like infrastructure, poverty, education or water! An all-encompassing approach to address these issues requires effective conversations.

This case study published in Yojana documents Megh Pyne Abhiyan's work in organising access to safe drinking water for rural communities during the 2006 and 2007 floods in North Bihar. As a result of the Abhiyan's work, approximately 13000 and 36000 people accepted and accessed rainwater as a safe drinking water during the North Bihar floods of 2006 and 2007 respectively. Using rain water for drinking led to significant improvement in health indicators and flood-related deaths and sickness, as well as reduction in health expenditure.

This report by ACWADAM based on a rapid hydro-geological appraisal of 2 villages, in Supaul distict in flood-prone North Bihar, gives a good understanding of local conditions as well generates a lot of useful data, that can help in planning groundwater management interventions in a village. Such information is crucial especially for regions such as North Bihar, where current data about the local conditions are literally absent.