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Government Programmes
Facing up to the water crisis
Posted on 24 Apr, 2020 11:58 AMThe conventional freshwater sources available in India are being currently overexploited, leading to widespread environmental degradation and depletion of freshwater resources especially groundwater. To sustain the needs of an increasing population and ecology, our consumption of water far exceeds the rate at which we are recharging water sources.
![Water conservation measures invariably have a positive effect on water quality and the environment (Image: Joel Bassuk / Oxfam; Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/water-conservation1.jpg?itok=vaef26TX)
Gearing to overcome water quality woes
Posted on 21 Apr, 2020 05:22 PMIndia has the most people in the world without access to safe drinking water (133.9 million). Many studies indicate that poor and marginalized populations are the worst affected from waterborne diseases resulting from the consumption of contaminated water.
![HWTS solutions are best suited for villages (Image: WaterAid)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/sf2-pic-wateraid.jpg?itok=RsqVd4oY)
Vulnerable, in the time of Covid-19!
Posted on 21 Apr, 2020 09:30 AMThe Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc worldwide and India continues to be in the line of fire. While cases continue to rise, India is also experiencing a crisis of another kind, that of the lockdown affecting the livelihoods of a large number of workers from the informal sector.
![Meeting the basic needs of vulnerable communities during Covid-19 (Image Source: SOPPECOM)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/joy1.jpg?itok=J_ZRRDhL)
Springing back to life
Posted on 20 Apr, 2020 11:45 PMSprings are the key source of water for rural households in Uttarakhand, yet they have seen an overall neglect over the decades with discharge from many springs declining bit by bit. The depletion of aquifers, changes in land use and ecological degradation have led to several initiatives to address springshed management in the state. We speak to Dr.
![Image: Flickr Commons](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/spring-himalayas_0.jpg?itok=SZ4ZTkQH)
WASH in the times of COVID-19
Posted on 17 Apr, 2020 10:08 PMMaharashtra has the highest COVID-19 cases in the country and the government is taking a slew of measures to flatten the curve. We speak to Mr.
![Students handwashing with soap (Image: World Bank, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/handwashing-soap.jpg?itok=EGI_3QFB)
Covid-19: Implications for watershed management
Posted on 16 Apr, 2020 04:47 PMOver the last four decades, watershed management has emerged as one of the most decentralised, integrated, persisting, innovative and effective programs to enhance natural resources such as water, soil and the vegetative cover as well as to provide means of livelihood to marginalised sections in rural areas.
![COVID-19 has adversely affected this year's watershed management work (Image: ILO South Asia-Pacific; Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/watershed1.jpg?itok=Lq6BFhAH)
Health Ministry advises states to ensure adequate water supply in rural areas
Posted on 16 Apr, 2020 11:37 AMCentre advises states to ensure adequate water supply in rural areas during lockdown
![Villagers collecting borewell water from a private farmland (Source: IWP Flickr photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/5702254451_53f0088bec_c.jpg?itok=s8z3Lq4l)
From policy to practice: Can National Water Policy 2020 bridge the gap?
Posted on 11 Apr, 2020 07:46 PMThe way water as a resource has been viewed in the policies of India has evolved significantly over the years. Reduction in per capita availability over the years (5177 to 1463 cubic metres between 1950-2015) has forced every new policy to change the way it has approached its management. It was considered an economic commodity in the second National Water Policy (NWP) drafted in 2002.
![Women extracting water from the riverbed, Gaya (Image: ICIMOD/ Prasanta Biswas; Flickr Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/women_extracting_water_from_the_river-wa.jpg?itok=bloLlW_5)
Guidelines to handle COVID-19 biomedical waste are out
Posted on 08 Apr, 2020 01:10 PMCPCB releases guidelines to handle COVID-19 biomedical waste
![Biomedical waste. Image for representation only (Source: Vivien Rolfe via Flickr)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/7006378710_b243ece68b_c.jpg?itok=UrSJdiEy)
Joining the battle against Covid-19
Posted on 02 Apr, 2020 10:48 AMThe World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus disease a pandemic. Originating from Wuhan in China, it has traversed almost the entire globe, and claimed more than 41,000 lives, while over 8 lakh people are infected already. That’s largely the urban population.
![Keeping the communities abreast of best practices for a safe and healthy living (Image: PRADAN)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/pradan1.jpg?itok=yX74kSLg)