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Groundwater
Groundwater map of India & farmer suicides
Posted on 03 Dec, 2008 11:48 AMSuvrat Kher from the What's With The Climate? blog has an interesting post about the correlation between the groundwater map of India & the incidence of farmer suicides in India. The post takes a look at the incidence of groundwater, the lack of proper management of available resources & the resulting socio - economic losses.
National Urban Sanitation Policy
Posted on 01 Dec, 2008 01:16 PMThe Government of India, Ministry of Urban Development recently released the National Urban Sanitation Policy. We attach the document below, as well as key excerpts. We request you to add your comments below regarding the provisions of the Sanitation Policy. Click here to view the National Urban Sanitation Policy The document is quite comprehensive and detailed. It lays out a vision for urban sanitation in India. It instructs states to come up with their own detailed state-level urban sanitation strategies and City Sanitation Plans. It moots the idea of totally sanitised and open-defecation cities as a target and the setting up of a multi-stakeholder City Sanitation Task Force to achieve this. Environmental considerations, public health implications and reaching the unserved and urban poor are given significant emphasis in the policy. Funding options are laid out including direct central and state support including through existing schemes, public-private partnerships, and external funding agencies. It directs that atleast 20% of the funds should be earmarked towards servicing the urban poor. The Center also plans to institute awards to the best performing cities, reminiscent of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar awards for villages. Important Excerpts from the Policy:
Rainbow Drive Layout -- A model for urban water management ?
Posted on 10 Nov, 2008 10:10 AMBangalore's sprawling expansion outpaces the public utility's ability to accommodate skyrocketing demand for water and sanitation services, and it is increasingly common for new residential communities to assume total management for their own water and sanitation services through their resident welfare associations.
UNESCO Publishes First World Map of Underground Transboundary Aquifers
Posted on 02 Nov, 2008 11:29 AMForwarded to the Portal by: Anuradha The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will publish the first-ever world map of underground aquifers, which account for some 96 per cent of global freshwater resources, the agency announced in a press release today. Despite their strategic importance, no global inventory of aquifers , most of which straddle international boundaries , had been compiled before UNESCO started work on its online map, which will be launched to coincide with the submission to the General Assembly of a draft Convention on Transboundary Aquifers next week. The UNESCO is presenting a detailed map identifying underground water resources that are shared by at least two countries, using data compiled since 2000 by UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme for a groundwater database. The map will include information about the quality of water and rate of replenishment of the 273 transboundary aquifers , 68 in the American continent, 38 in Africa, 65 in Eastern Europe, 90 in Western Europe and 12 in Asia.
Blog action day -- Water and poverty
Posted on 15 Oct, 2008 10:24 PMToday is Blog Action Day 2008, where blogs all over the world are writing about poverty. We thought we would use this opportunity to talk about water and poverty.
KRAPAVIS:Reviving "Orans" physically and conceptually
Posted on 13 Aug, 2008 04:39 AMOrans are local micro bio-diversity reserves- community conserved areas (CCAs) harboring the shrine of a local goddess or deity. Also known as Dev-banis, these local forests vary in size from a hundred to five hundred bighas (about hundred hectares). Most Orans have sources of water, either small springs or rivulets running through them or a variety of ponds and nadis in their midst.
National Water Award and Groundwater Augmentation Awards
Posted on 15 Jul, 2008 04:02 AMThe Rashtriya Jal Puraskar and the Bhoomijal Samvardhan Puraskar are awards for Innovative Practices of Ground Water Augmentation through Rainwater Harvesting and Artificial Recharge/ Promoting Water Use Efficiency/ Recycling & Re-use of water/ Awareness Creation 3 new categories have been added this year for the awards.
Hydrophobic sand by DIME
Posted on 16 Jun, 2008 10:47 AMDesalt Innovation Middle East LLC (DIME) has introduced hydrophobic sand or "water proofed" sand. DIME has exclusive rights from a chemical manufacturer in Germany to produce the sand, by the addition of an additive SP-HFS 1609 by a specially developed mixer.
In pictures: 1000 year old bawadi in Patan, Gujarat
Posted on 06 Jun, 2008 06:55 AMRANI KI-VAV PATAN