Health

This link on the CAG website provides the details of an international conference that was held on 15-16 March 2010, in the backdrop of the environmental audit proposed by the the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, for management and conservation of the environment .

The purpose of this conference was to deliberate on the causes of pollution, action taken by governments and civil society to address this and environmental, management and legal interventions needed to put lakes, rivers and ground water on the path of sustainability.

More than 20 experts on water and water pollution issues were invited to share their views as panelists during the conference. Apart from these distinguished panelists, the heads of supreme audit institutions from countries like Austria, Maldives, Bangladesh and Bhutan were also present to share their experiences regarding audit of water pollution in their countries.

This set of case studies is a part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covering themes of agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water. The case studies related to agriculture and food security are summarised below:

Organizer: Toxics Link In collaboration with India International Centre

Venue: Conference Room I, India International Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.

Description:

“A little water is a sea to an ant.” An eco system is made up of many small parts, which could be erroneously thought of as insignificant. Within the intersection of mega scale urban planning and the impacts of climate the almost lost traditional water systems of Delhi need to be revisited urgently. The imminent challenge is to explore these water systems in the context of new urbanizations, and evolve meaningful ways in which they can coexist, for ecological security.

Reviews of some of the movies screened -

“Be water, My friend”

This UNESCO funded film, “Be water, My friend” tracks the research of Professor Gordon Lightgoot, an expert on ancient water monuments as he tries to understand and rectify the alarming drying up of Karez’s in northern Iragi region of Kurdistan.

"So far, we have recovered 170 bodies, 140 of whom have been identified," said an officer in Leh's police control room, adding that up to 300 people were still unaccounted for.

Aid workers also estimate that 10 to 12 villages remain inaccessible due collapsed bridges and blocked roads where landslides deposited boulders and mud up to 15 feet high (4 metres).

A Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) is a very useful tool to capture the health dimensions of the environment including air, water and land. The CEPI is intended to act as an early warning tool and can help in categorising the industrial clusters/areas in terms of priority of planning needs for interventions.

This report by the Central Pollution and Control Board (CPCB) presents the results of the application of the CEPI to selected industrial clusters or areas.

The main objective of the study was to identify polluted industrial clusters or areas in order to take concerted action and to centrally monitor them at the national level. This was in order to improve the current status of environmental components such as air and water quality data, ecological damage, and visual environmental conditions.

Floods: lessons to be learnt from the massive flooding in Surat city

A report by IIM criticises the way in which dams are managed in the country and calls for the need to apply Management Science / Operations Research techniques and information technology to improve dam management and prevention of floods

Flood fury: are we ready to face such an event?

A remarkable piece of water history should have been headline news everywhere this week.

Deaths due to water pollution occur mainly as a consequence of drinking of contaminated water. The common diseases caused by consumption of contaminated water are Cholera, Viral Hepatitis, Enteric Fever (Typhoid) and Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases (ADD).
 
The number of deaths reported State-wise on account of Cholera, Viral Hepatitis, Enteric Fever (Typhoid) and Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases (ADD) for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 are given in      Annexure – I-III.