People and Organisations

Mr. S.S. Ranganathan, author of this guest post, is a retired senior executive of Ion Exchange and currently a consultant based in Bangalore.

He can be reached at: ss.ranganathan@gmail.com , +91-9343734229

WATER SECURITY FOR THE RESIDENTS OF APARTMENTS & GATED COMMUNITIES -  S.S.Ranganathan

Forwarded to the Portal by: Arun Tharakan

"90 % of the Plumbing industry workforce in India not professionally trained" "Lack of professionally trained plumbers a major drawback for country's construction sector"

The lack of plumbing infrastructure and a trained, certified workforce has long plagued the citizens of India, for whom 7.5 percent of deaths each year can be directly attributed to water and sanitation issues. In response, International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Engineers(IAPMO) is working with the Indian Plumbing Association (IPA) and its training arm, the Indian Institute of Plumbing (IIP), to help the nation make big strides forward in both areas of need. IAPMO- Having already jointly developed the Uniform Plumbing Code-India (UPC-I), an extensive code of plumbing practice (published in February 2008) that will serve the construction sector in India for years to come, the organizations subsequently turned their focus to education and training. The ambitious Plumbing Education to Employment Program-PEEP is a comprehensive industry focused program with structured courses of study to develop plumbing design engineers, plumbing construction managers/supervisors and plumbing installers/repairers.

Image and Content Courtesy: Development Alternatives As part of the Capacity Building Series (2009- 10) Development Alternatives is organizingA Result Oriented Approach to Livelihood Projects from 12-14 June 2009. The training is organized by the TARA Livelihood Academyand will be held at the Institute of Social Science, 8 Nelson Mandela Road, New Delhi. Complete information regarding the subjects covered, detailed plans & nomination formats can be accessed here:

This page provides information on the Jala Samvardhane Yojana Sangha (JSYS) site developed by Ministry of Water Resources, Government of Karnataka.

The School of Environmental Studies of Jadhavpur University has studied the arsenic contamination in West Bengal for last 19 years. Their website gives some of the details of their work, including district-wise and block-wise reports

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The American Ground Water Trust is a non-profit education organization, based in the United States. The programmes developed by the trust aim at:

Forwarded to the Portal by: Himanshu Thakkar, SANDRP

Submission Sent to Prime Minister, DJB, Ministry of Water Resources & HP Govt.

A memorandum demanding the scrapping of the proposed Renuka Dam Project in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh was sent to the Prime Minister, Union Minister of Water Resources, the Delhi Jal Board, the Central Water Commission and the Ministry of Social Justice today by concerned environment groups as well as representatives of the dam affected communities. The 5 page detailed submission has made this demand on three basic grounds - technical/conceptual issues, environment implications and the social impacts of the project. Attacking the very root and concept of the project the memorandum highlights the point that the agreement that was signed in May 1994 is no longer valid, as per the opinion of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, since Rajasthan, one of the parties, did not sign the agreement. The Delhi Jal Board has admitted in response to an RTI application that no options assessment has been done to arrive at the least cost option before taking up the Renuka dam proposal. Without such an assessment, taking up a proposal like the Renuka dam would be completely wrong and inappropriate use of public resources. Moreover, several Studies have proved that Delhi itself is thirsty not because there is shortage of water but actually due to mismanagement and misappropriation of water. According to the Performance Audit report of the Delhi Jal Board for 2008, Delhi has distribution losses of 40 per cent of total water supply which is abnormal and significantly higher than the acceptable norms of 15 per cent prescribed by the Ministry of Urban Development.

Portal Staff member Vijay Krishna writes:

Forwarded to the Portal by: Madhavi Purohit, WASMO

Image and Content Courtesy: WASMO, UNPAN

Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO), Gujarat wins the United Nations Public Service Award. Water and Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO) of Government of Gujarat has been declared winner for 'United Nations Public Service Award - 2009' under the category of "Fostering participation in policy-making decisions through innovative mechanisms"for "Institutionalization of Community Managed Drinking Water Supply Programme and User Level Water Quality". This award will be received at a ceremony to be held on 23rd and 24th June 2009 at United Nations Head Quarters in New York. It is an internationally acclaimed Award being conferred by the United Nations, Division for Public Economic and Public Administration, New York, for recognizing the significant contribution made by the organization to improve the public administration. The UNPSA Programme recognises institutional efforts to design, provide and expend services to citizens in a cost effective manner while promoting people's participation in the design of services and the definition of their needs for poverty alleviation and as a step forward to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Image & Content Courtesy: SaciWATERs

Crossing Boundaries Project Newsletter aims to share the initiatives undertaken by SaciWATERs and the Partner Institutions in order to fulfill the objectives of the Crossing Boundaries Project. It also seeks to share ideas, goals, concerns and research with partners, civil society organizations, international NGOs, UN agencies and other important players in the water policy sector.

The 24^th Volume of the CB NEWS features highlights of the participation of the Crossing Boundaries team at the World Water Forum 5, Istanbul, 2009. It also brings to you consolidated reports of the recent Staff Training Programme and Reader Workshop organised by SaciWATERs.