Political

Orans are local micro bio-diversity reserves- community conserved areas (CCAs) harboring the shrine of a local goddess or deity. Also known as Dev-banis, these local forests vary in size from a hundred to five hundred bighas (about hundred hectares). Most Orans have sources of water, either small springs or rivulets running through them or a variety of ponds and nadis in their midst.

Water conservation is an important part of responsible living. Water is a precious resource which is not to be squandered. Fortunately, there are a number of really easy ways to save water without a whole lot of hassle, and some of the best are listed here!

In the Kitchen Cut down on water usage in your kitchen using these methods. 1. Wash only on a full load: This is true for both washers and dishwashers. By washing in bulk, you'll cut down on the number of cycles you need to run. Also important to keep in mind is the fact that most dishwashers on a full load can clean dishes more efficiently than a hand wash. 2. Cut down on your disposal: Instead of using your disposal, start a compost pile for food waste. 3. Buy foods close to their natural form: Water is needed to produce just about everything from Coke to boxed mashed potatoes. You can cut down on your water consumption by avoiding processed foods that require lots of water to make.

The Third South Asia Water Research Conference was held in Dhaka on May 24-26, 2008. The topic was "Innovative Modelling Approaches for IWRM".

On June 28, 2008, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured these images of Qingdao and the bay of Jiaozhou Wan. It shows the officials and residents of Qingdao (also known as Tsingtao) struggling with a stubborn adversary: algae. The top image is a natural-color image similar to what a digital camera would photograph.

The Rashtriya Jal Puraskar and the Bhoomijal Samvardhan Puraskar are awards for Innovative Practices of Ground Water Augmentation through Rainwater Harvesting and Artificial Recharge/ Promoting Water Use Efficiency/ Recycling & Re-use of water/ Awareness Creation 3 new categories have been added this year for the awards.

PATH's Safe Water project Request for letters of interest for monitoring and evaluation PATH is requesting letters of interest (LOIs) from organizations who wish to be considered to provide monitoring and evaluation (M&E) services for several pilot projects testing commercial channels for household water treatment and safe storage products in India. All the details are here

Forwarded to the portal by: Biswanath Sinha, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust Water MOVES is a quarterly published by Soci

Below Poverty Line (BPL) households in India are made to cough up about Rs 9,000 million as bribe to avail basic and need based public services. The TII-CMS India Corruption Study 2007 focused on BPL households, mostly in rural India. The coverage of this study includes all parts of the country. The study, like the earlier ones is based on CMS-PEE model where the scope is not only limited to perceptions about corruption in general, but perception in specific context of a service and, more importantly, actual experience of paying bribe by BPL households in availing one or more of the 11 selected public services. Depending on frequency of interaction, the eleven services are divided broadly into "basic services" (PDS, Hospital Service, School Education (up to 12th), Electricity Service and Water Supply Service) and "need based services" (Land Records / Registration, Housing Service, Forest, NREGS, Banking Service and Police Service (traffic and crime). This round of India Corruption Study 2007 is designed and conducted by Centre For Media Studies(CMS) in collaboration with the Transparency International India (TII). The CMS methodology for the study involved household level sample survey, exit interviews at service delivery outlets, discussions with the concerned "service providers"in each case and observations on display of information at the service delivery points. Read more on the Corruption Study's take on the Water Supply Services in India

Image & News Courtesy: Department of Science & Technology, India The Department of Science & TechnologyIndia has carved out a "Major initiative on Water Technologies in the Eleventh Plan".

Parineeta Dandekar's earlier post on environmental flows, triggered several responses and we have initiated a discussion forum