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Right to water and sanitation: Looking beyond legal and policy frameworks to sites of entitlement
While research, policy and practice debates routinely talk about the human right to sanitation and water, there is little grasp of how these are translated into local understandings of entitlement. Posted on 16 Nov, 2015 03:09 PM

Increasing concerns over the consequences of inadequate urban sanitation and water with regard to poverty, health, livelihoods, and education have spurred global declarations on the human right to sanitation and water. However, the social and spatial heterogeneity of urban poverty is often missing in global policy debates.

An illegal settlement (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Ponds--once a lifeline of India's agriculture--are being revived by some Punjab farmers
Farm ponds, rediscovered by a few farmers in Patiala, could be the answer to the state's growing groundwater crisis as they can harvest rainwater and cushion against flooding. Posted on 16 Nov, 2015 10:45 AM

The northern region of India is facing drought for the second consecutive year.

Harmesh Singh has taken to rainwater harvesting on his farm since the groundwater has gone down.
Scarcity amidst plenty: Kerala's drinking water paradox
Kerala is blessed with high rainfall as well as plenty of natural water sources, but it has the lowest per capita share of freshwater resources in the country. Posted on 14 Nov, 2015 02:48 PM

Kerala, flanked on the west by the Arabian Sea and on the east by the Western Ghats is bestowed with enviable natural resources. It has 44 rivers spanning its lush green landscape and rainfall that averages as high as 3000 mm a year.

The Karamana river in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala (Source: India Water Portal)
Let's not only blame Punjab's farmers for lighting up!
The current rice-wheat crop cycle and the cost of safe disposal of the straw push farmers towards burning, thereby causing them health issues as well as draining available natural resources. Posted on 13 Nov, 2015 11:35 PM

A few days ago, there were news items galore with NASA's images of the burning of rice straw in Punjab. The red dots were presumed to be the fields

Short period between rice harvesting and sowing of wheat forces farmers to burn straw. (Source: Neil Palmer Wikimedia Commons)
Is it possible to build resilience to climate change?
As the earth warms up, farmers face the most heat. Can they be better prepared and move towards a safer future? The film ‘For a safer future: Insights on climate resilience from India’, shows how. Posted on 13 Nov, 2015 10:57 PM

Gorakhpur of Eastern UP is not new to floods. Her people have understood and adapted to the flow and ebb of the waters that have been a part of their lives for long. People here have learned to live with the flood in tune with nature’s wayward ways. Though nature continues to play truant, recent years have seen an increasingy abrupt, uncertain and accelerated face of these disasters.

‘For a safer future: Insights on climate resilience from India’: A film (Source: GEAG and TERI)
More people should use this zero sewage discharge toilet
The three-decade old 'Gramkranti Eco-Bio Toilet' doesn't pollute or need a septic tank or a sewage network. In fact, its output is a nutrient-rich liquid that can be used as a pesticide! Posted on 13 Nov, 2015 08:46 PM

Toilets need a septic tank or a connection to a sewage network, enough water to clean and flush, and regular maintenance to ensure proper functioning--except if it's the '

The team: Sanjay Joshi (left) and Ravindra Ganorkar (Source: Nivedita Khandekar)
Wildlife Board panel not to consider projects in and around protected areas
Policy matters this week Posted on 11 Nov, 2015 08:23 PM

Panel not to consider projects until eco-zones are clearly demarcated

Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan (Source: Vasundhara Deogawanka via IWP Flickr Photos)
State Government's slow response caused 2013 flash floods: CAG
News this week Posted on 11 Nov, 2015 08:19 PM

CAG report blames Uttarakhand Government for 2013 flash floods

House washed away by the Uttarakhand floods (Source: IWP Flickr Photo)
High pressure recharge well to the rescue of school children in Mewat, Haryana
An innovative rainwater harvesting structure stores sweet rainwater below the ground, within a saline aquifer. Posted on 10 Nov, 2015 11:34 AM

356 students and the teachers of Government Middle School in Sukhpuri village of Mewat district, Haryana are a happy lot now that they have access to potable water right within their school premises

School children of Sukhpuri reap the benefit of HPRW (Source: Sumathi Sivam)
Do decentralised community water treatment plants improve quality and access?
A study in Andhra Pradesh found that over time, the benefits of the Community Water Systems disappeared. More studies are needed before they can be touted as a proven solution to supplying safe water. Posted on 08 Nov, 2015 01:10 PM

Highly advanced community level drinking water treatment facilities are increasingly being contemplated as good quality water supply solutions in locations where water sources are unreliable, and not available inside or near households.

Safe drinking water, a scarce resource (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
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