West Bengal

Mahashtra scraps state's River Regulation Zone policy

Maharashtra drought this year is worse than 2012 drought

The East Calcutta Wetlands are an unappealing mixture of poverty, sunshine and wastewater. The people here have patiently and wisely transformed this ecosystem into an oportunity for food, employment and purified water- for free!

They take your pain and give you what you need. They will absorb the excess showers that our cities can’t handle and replenish water underground when our taps run dry. Often underestimated, these shallow water bodies are also home to countless life forms and serve as winter destinations for distant migratory birds. Blame me for being philosophical but I equate wetlands to mothers.

This paper in Journal of Earth System Science attempts to estimate the possible rate of land subsidence of Kolkata City including Salt Lake City and the adjoining East Kolkata Wetlands located at the lower part of the deltaic alluvial plain of South Bengal basin. Land subsidence is an environmental hazard which is caused by overdraft of groundwater or oil extraction and results in gradual settling or sudden sinking of the earth’s surface owing to subsurface movement of the materials of the earth. 

The delta belt is home to approximately 125-140 million people. And over 300 million people are supported by the delta. The density of population in the Delta region is 200 people / sq.km. making it one of the densest regions in the world.

The delta region is a high-rainfall region and receives 60-80 inches of rainfall every year.

A major problem faced by the towns and cities across the world is the dealing with the huge volume of wastewater generated everyday. The wastewater is either treated with high costing conventional water treatment procedures or let untreated into rivers or other water bodies.