Lakes, Ponds and Wetlands

Guest Post by: Parineeta Dandekar

At the first sight, Daarche Paani (‘water at the doors’) appears unreal.. on a small flat plateau called ‘Sadaa’ in konkan, an elegant cobbled walkway leads a puzzled visitor to stairs carved in stone, which go down to an ancient grove, and here is an intricate system of tanks, channels and falls which supplies water to the Panderi village and goes down as a free flowing stream, to irrigate a plantation of arecanut, pepper and mangoes in a village called Gudaghe. When I visited the place, I could see three eminent visitors, a silent lady washing her load of clothes, a fairy bluebird splashing at a tank and a huge moonmoth in one of the trees.

Stone walkway and ancient mango trees leading to Daarche Paani.
Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

Dear all,

IUCN, with Zoo Outreach Organisation, have today published a new report, 'The status and distribution of freshwater biodiversity in the Eastern Himalaya', which is available online here

The scarcity value of natural resources has risen due to rising pressure of human population and demands made by modern economics progress. As such managing these resources has become very important.

The author sees the need for the conservation, maintenance and management of these ancient water bodies for the supply of water to cities. The author suggests that there is need to integrate traditional wisdom with modern water resource management.

Guest Post: Text by Amitangshu Acharya, Photographs by Ayan Ghosh

Kachchh – a brilliant halfway between a turmeric yellow Rajasthan and the emerald green Sahyadris – offers an upside down version of life. It tells you that seeds of life and civilisation are often hidden beneath the sands of time in inhospitable terrains.

Guest Post by Shashank Srinivasan

High altitude wetlands in the Indian Himalayas are crucial to the water security of downstream communities. They buffer the flow of glacial meltwater to sustain river flow in the dry season, ensuring that human settlements have access to water when they need it most.

High altitude wetlands are also reservoirs of biodiversity and contribute local livelihood opportunities. Identifying these wetlands and demarcating areas for their protection is thus crucial to any wetland management plan.

In this poster, a method of using topographic data obtained by remote sensing techniques, to identify the catchment areas of these wetlands has been described.

The author suggests that the protection of these catchment areas will ensure the survival of these wetlands, as well as of the communities that depend on them.

This document by the Sulabh International Academy of Environmental Sanitation presents the guidelines for water safety plans for rural water supply systems. The revised National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) Guidelines 2009-2012 issued by Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation has shifted the focus from source development and installation of water supply system for providing drinking water supply to rural household to focus on development of village security plan.

This report by ICIMOD contains an assessment of the threat facing the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region from the recent (post-1950s) and rapid formation of meltwater lakes on the surface or at the end of a large number of the region’s glaciers owing to current climate warming. Individual case studies of the catastrophic outburst (glacial lake outburst floods or GLOFs) from such glacial lakes are introduced.

This working paper by the University of Bonn attempts to give a spatial and temporal overview of water management in India. It traces how people and the successive regimes made choices across space and time from a wide range of water control and distribution technologies. The paper divides the water management in India into four periods –

• the traditional system of water management before colonial times;
• response from the colonial rulers to manage the complex socio-ecological system;
• large scale surface water development after independence; and
• finally, the small-scale community and market-led revolution.

23rd November 2010, New Delhi

• Seeking a moratorium on clearances for large dams in Northeast India
• Withdrawal of clearances granted to 2000 MW Lower Subansiri, 1750 MW Demwe Lower & 1500 MW Tipaimukh dams
• Future steps on hydropower projects and dams only after full, prior and informed consent of people in the region
• Protect the Brahmaputra river basin as a cultural and ecological endowment