Research Papers

This article published in the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems includes a collation of traditional household water purification methods practised by rural communities in developing countries.

There is a palpable sense of a looming water crisis in India. Conflicts across competing users and uses are on the rise. In the irrigation sector, it is widely felt that “paucity of resources and poor performance of existing major and medium irrigation systems are the two main problems”(1).

In this technique, transparent containers are filled with contaminated water and placed in direct sunlight for at least 6 h, after which time it becomes safe to drink. This simple, straightforward disinfection method that utilises the abundant, freely available sunlight is low cost, easy to use and sustainable.

Environmental degradation & climate change have induced human mobility by creating environmental migrants.

There is no scientific basis for rejecting these record yields in Bihar as a ‘hoax,’ because there is considerable evidence available that confirms the reported yields. Saying that the Indian government could not confirm the yield *after* the harvest is obviously correct, but it is a mistaken assertion.

As a result of rapid urbanisation, majority of migrated population is forced to settle in places which are not legally recognised by state authorities. These areas thus lack in basic services like water supply and sewerage. Consequently, the slum dwellers often resort to illegal methods to avail these services.

A month ago, India Water Portal tried to make sense of the numbers involved in India's flagship programme. Two-thirds of the works in progress in the current financial year (2012-13) were devoted to works linked with water - split nearly equally between water for domestic use and water for livelihoods.

This report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presents strategies for inclusive rural development embodying the principles of environmental sustainability. It recommends measures needed to achieve green, including measuring and tracking, the use incentives and the building of capacities. It also contains a number of case studies showing how green results can be achieved.

Kerala is a rain blessed state in the country. It has highest  number of wells, when compared with other states. However due to its slanting topography there is significant decline in the ground water levels leading to severe water scarcity during summer months in most districts of the state. Further over extraction and dependence of groundwater for domestic use from the dug wells especially in rural pockets has resulted in several groundwater problems. In this backdrop the paper in  The Ecosan- An International Quarterly Journal of Environmental Science, sheds light on groundwater quality issues in two panchayats of Kerala.

Article Courtesy: Delft University of Technology

Author(s): Matthijs Brouns, Merijn Janssen, Andrew Wong