Metering and Pricing

Money deals mar climate talks in Warsaw

110 countries sign Minamata convention to ban mercury

No environment clearance in eight critically polluted areas

Dongria Kondhs win the mining battle

Did you know that the planet would die in three days if it ran out of water? Water is a basic necessity and the United Nations recognized the right to it as a basic human right in 2010. Isn’t it ironic that we are still allowing a few utility companies privatise it, speculate over it and control it?

Toilet under the open sky for 73% of rural India

The Planning commission has found that 73% of rural India practices open defecation despite many sanitation programmes encouraged by the government. The main reason for this is the unavailability of toilets.

Oasis Breeze and Mana Sarovar Apartments are two apartment complexes like any other in Bangalore. They have a huge water problem. Residents use water without realising how much they are wasting and depend on water tankers without realising how much they are using. To monitor better usage, individual water meters were set up in each household of the apartments.

Indian farmers depend on groundwater for irrigation but often, there is a shortage of electricity that is required to pump out this water. While diesel pumps are an option, they are costly to run. A better alternative is to tap into freely available solar power. However, this technology is quite expensive at present and effective subsidies and incentives drive its usage.

Green pastures and meadows, tall trees, lakes, wells and the river…those are my memories of Delhi. It wasn’t too long ago that one woke up early to the sounds of lawns being watered, children running off to school and people walking in the parks. A flurry of activity but quite different from what it is today.

India is the world's largest consumer of groundwater where it is extensively used for irrigation. However, there is a considerable waste of this valuable resource. While a part of this waste can be attributed to a lack of incentive for conservation, unmetered electricity supply contributes greatly to this problem. This has led to the formation of what is being termed an energy-irrigation nexus.

Several sessions at the IWMI-Tata Annual Partners' Meet in 2012 discussed this phenomenon, its causes, impact and possible management strategies.