/topics/biological-pollution
Biological Pollution
Clean water, a crucial weapon to combat COVID -19
Posted on 21 Mar, 2020 04:32 PMThis month has been seeing a different kind of a scare world over, that of the deadly corona virus pandemic that has been spreading rapidly, infecting people and leading to a rising number of deaths in numerous countries.
![Is our tap water really safe? (Image Source: IWP Flickr Photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/cmi_0.jpg?itok=1JwzzJ8n)
Tap water to all
Posted on 20 Mar, 2020 01:47 PMEfforts are underway by both state and central governments to improve access to safe and adequate drinking water to people, and nationally, as on 31 December 2018, 79% of rural habitations had been covered at 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) but only 47% at 55 lpcd.
![Child drinks water from a tap (Image: Imal Hashemi/Taimani Films/World Bank, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/tap-water_0.jpg?itok=M9PCsVOw)
Poisonous encounters: Nitrates in drinking water
Posted on 16 Mar, 2020 10:07 AMNitrogen pollution of water can lead to severe consequences not only for the environment, but also to human health. Current evidence shows that nitrogen pollution of water is on the rise not only in developing, but also in developed countries.
![Polluted drinking water, a grave health hazard (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/chennaiw_3.jpg?itok=4u5_z3dK)
Jal Jeevan Mission: Will piped water to every household no longer be a pipe dream?
Posted on 14 Mar, 2020 04:26 PMMillions of Indian women can take up to six trips a day to gather and transport water, which takes up a major part of their day. During scorching summers when many sources dry up, their drudgery gets even worse.
![A school boy from Tilonia in semi-arid region of Rajasthan drinks from a tap from a rainwater harvesting tank that provides clean drinking water. (Image: Barefoot photographers of Tilonia)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/tap-water.jpg?itok=fRxWZL1R)
Women lead the way in water quality surveillance
Posted on 06 Mar, 2020 01:45 PMHistorically, water is a gendered burden, with women being the primary caregivers responsible for cooking, washing and cleaning chores in the house and in modern times in institutions (teachers, anganwadi and healthcare workers). Women have traditionally been associated with various water related tasks - be it collecting, fetching, or purifying water.
![Organised under WaterAid India’s partnership with GAP, water testing workshop (2019) held in Indore district aimed at training women and youth to lead the entire process of community water management – from planning to supply, operations and maintenance and to educate communities on water-quality issues. (Image: WaterAid India/Ashima Narain)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/wai1.jpg?itok=FVFEjRSY)
Bringing back the trust: Getting our belief back in public water supply systems
Posted on 06 Mar, 2020 01:01 PMThe Government of India has passed a draft notification to bar membrane based systems such as Reverse Osmosis (RO) to be used as domestic purifiers in cities where the tap water is safe according to the Burea
![Is our tap water really safe? (Image Source: IWP Flickr Photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/drinking_water1_1.jpg?itok=M38KTsKL)
Unravelling Kuttanad’s drinking water paradox
Posted on 24 Feb, 2020 12:55 PMSurrounded by vast expanses of water, the Kuttanad region in Alleppey district, Kerala faces severe drinking water scarcity due to infrastructure failure and civic body inaction.
![Lack of sufficient quality water, poor pipe connectivity and frequent breakdown of existing pipelines are common in the area (Image: Jayasree Vaidyanathan)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/pipe.jpg?itok=2mf1p4dU)
Community water purification system in a Delhi urban slum
Posted on 22 Feb, 2020 12:38 PMIt’s a dull reality that the state of water in the urban slum of Lalbagh near Azadpur in north Delhi was awful till a few years back. Hoards of people would queue up to get water from the public taps or the tankers along the road. Life was tough here and people got access to piped water supply only recently.
![Once selected for the role, the women entrepreneurs were trained to run the community filtration plant and overlook all operations ranging from the management of customers to the plant finances. (Image: India Water Portal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/asbah_0.jpg?itok=OxbVguSG)
Decentralised groundwater governance to deal with the groundwater crisis
Posted on 17 Feb, 2020 05:43 PMThe challenges to sustain groundwater dependency in India are many where groundwater over extraction is not only leading to rapid depletion of the resource, but also giving rise to water quality issues in a situation where the response at the level of policy continues to be lukewarm.
![The need for decentralised governance to deal with the current groundwater crisis (Image Source: ACWADAM)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/img_5018_0.jpg?itok=1Axtr83L)
Banning RO purifier use when water conforms to BIS norms - Comments invited
Posted on 06 Feb, 2020 05:18 PMThe use of reverse osmosis (RO) purifiers has become a contentious issue, mainly because of the amount of water that is wasted following its use.
![Water filter use, safety or luxury? (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/chennaiw_0.jpg?itok=8WiJA3Tk)