Health

With more than 8360 tons of trash created daily in Delhi, the city has three trash pile sites at Bhalaswa, Ghazipur and Okhla. In these sites technically known as landfills, garbage is buried between layers of earth to build up low-lying lands.

About the conference

India’s communal fabric is one characterized by immense diversity of practices and belief systems. Local history, environment and culture sculp the way people behave, both as individuals as well as a community as a whole.

A number of studies have linked water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions to improvements in health outcomes such as diarrhoeal diseases, helminth (parasitic worm) infections and childhood stunting.

Dr. Dinesh Kumar Mishra of Barh Mukti Abhiyaan, an authority on the river network of North Bihar speaks to India Water Portal about the flood problems, the skewed flood control policy of the Government, the Kosi breach of 2008 and the gargantuan interlinking of rivers project.

Stagnant puddles, which are a breeding ground for mosquitoes, follow the rains every year causing an increase in the incidence of water-borne diseases. Malaria is the third most common of these diseases in India after diarrhoea and typhoid. 

Come monsoon and the situation in the Hindon river is truly troubling. Large stretches of the river continue to suffer toxic contamination.

The Swachh Bharat Mission’s baseline survey report of 2012 named Odisha and Bihar as the states having the worst sanitation figures in the entire nation. While 88% of households in Odisha had no toilets, the figure stood at 78% for the state of Bihar.

Declining groundwater levels and increasing stress on water resources in rural areas in India is a major concern for development since the livelihoods of a majority of the rural population depends on agriculture and the availability of sustainable water resources. More productive use of rainwater is necessary to help mitigate the impact of water scarcity.

What's not to like about clay pots? "They cool water naturally due to the tiny air pores present in them, are affordable, save energy and are eco-friendly when compared to refrigerators", says Gautam Bandhopadhaya, a water expert in Chhattisgarh.