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From Rohini Nilekani's "Uncommon Ground" column in Livemint

As always, the monsoon may or may not come in time and in adequate quantity across the country. As always, again, people who live in the dry areas of the country, especially in the western desert districts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, with less than 250mm of average annual rainfall, will have to cope with scarcity, as they do year on year. Last week, I was in the Kutch region, on work, with soaring temperatures and no promise of rain despite an unusual cloud cover. We travelled a couple of hundred kilometres in the clay desert, despairing at the spread of Prosopis juliflora which—like so many other foreign species brought in by the forest department with all good intentions—has now overpowered large tracts of the countryscape, to the detriment of useful, hardy local species. We also marvelled at the raw beauty of the dry landscape, which yielded sudden delights such as a male nilgai in his prime and slender green bee-eaters diving gracefully in search of prey. Arid districts such as Kutch in Gujarat, and Barmer and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan mainly have livestock economies and it is not unusual to see thousands of animals—goats, cows, sheep, buffaloes and camels—moving amiably along in search of the next watering hole. It seems counter-intuitive that areas with such low rainfall should provide neighbouring states with meat and milk. IWMI (the International Water Management Institute) has done unique research to show how there is a massive export of virtual water from dry regions to wet through the sale of these products, leaving open some interesting questions on policy.

The Water Portal had previously covered ASHWAS, an ambitious water and sanitation survey in Karnataka conducted by Arghyam and partner organisations.

An interactive, animated tool on good water management by CEE and UNEP
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An earlier press release from IAPMO (International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials) announced the Uniform Plumbing Code - India (UPC-I) and the PEEP (Plumbing Education to Em

1. The state government of Uttarakhand promised immediate suspension of all works on the two projects Bhairoghati and Pala-Maneri in its letter of 19th June, 2008 and expressed its full commitment for conservation of River Bhagirathi in its natural form ‘from Gangotri to Uttarakashi’. However construction work on the projects (particularly on Pala Maneri project) leading to destroy Gangaji is going on in full swing. The above makes all assurances to us and to Maa Gangaji look as mere jokes.
2. The Government of India committed immediate stoppage of all work on its project Loharinag-Pala in its letter on 19th February, 2009. But the construction work on the site has gone on un-stopped and on an accelerated speed. This again is an act of cruel deceipt.

In order that is likely to have far reaching implications on water governance in India, the Central Information Commission(CIC) has directed the Union Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) that “any study about water-flow in the river systems of the country must be made available to the general public for its information and education. It is not open to the public authority to hold secret critical information with which lives of millions may be related. Publication of this data informs the people about how the public authority is discharging its appointed functions and whether it was acting accountably about a matter so critical as the nation’s water resources in general and the river systems in particular.” Following an appeal by SANDRP, the CIC has asked the MWR make public the reports of the Central Water Commission & National Institute of Hydrology on the impacts of the hydropower projects on Bhagirathi River in Uttarakhand and for portions that the ministry decides not to make public, “Reasons for holding these parts of the information confidential will have to be recorded, which should be open to scrutiny.” This entire task is to be completed in three months.

      Pepsico, the manufacturer of Pepsi and several other beverage a

View discussion paper: energy-water-action-study-discussion-paper-june-2009 Dear Sir / Madam, Ground water pumping using electricity is a complex issue, leaving all actors - the farmers, distribution company, State government and environment conscious analysts - frustrated and dissati

As the Bonn climate talks have come to a close we would like to bid farewell to frequent long blog posts and continue to facilitate a knowledge dialogue with our negotiators and key officials who have a direct stake in the process to forming our Bonn of contention for 10-14th August when all climate leaders would be meeting again. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dr.Shyam Saran at the press conference"][/caption] For India, since only a very limited population has its outreach in the internet world, we plan to get the word out through vernacular media into different and remote regions of India. Considering India has around 20 official languages and over 100 different dialects, we pay respect to our rich diversity by approaching outreach through radio and local language newspapers along with blogging. On 12th of June, Mr Shyam Saran was extremely unhappy with the pace at which the negotiations were proceeding, as he said so in the press conference he held at the UNFCCC negotiations. Through the various meetings at Bonn and some post Bonn meetings with some high level officials involved associated with the delegations, the following main points came through:

Image and Content Courtesy: Avinash Krishnamurthy, BIOME Environmental Solutions Pvt. Ltd.,

Meet Muniyappa and his team of well diggers. They have dug over a 150 wells with us in the last two years and perhaps more than a 1000 wells in their life time. While digging Muniswamy (or someone else in the team) is drenched in sweat and is bare chested. He climbs up and down the well which can be upto 40 ft deep on footholds 2 inches deep that he himself digs into the sidewalls of the wells. When he is deep down under, digging, and soil has to be hauled up, Srinivasu and Muniyappa are precariously perched on the side of the well pulling up the rope that holds the basket full of soil. And then once the well is dug, concrete rings (each weighing in the range of 75 Kg to 250 Kgs depending on the size of the well) are introduced down from the top with the help of the rope - and the sinews of Muniyappa, Srinivasu or Muniswamy. And during this process, Muniswamy virtually climbs in and out of the well for each ring that is introduced.