Public Infrastructure and Services

Term Path Alias

/topics/public-infrastructure-and-services

Featured Articles
July 10, 2023 By fostering strong collaborations and pooling resources, cities can collectively address the challenges of data-driven urbanization, says NIUA report
There is tremendous transformative potential of data driven approaches in shaping urban environments (Image: Needpix, CC0)
September 1, 2021 Best practices for holistic urban water management in Chennai Metropolitan Area
These bright plastic jugs are ubiquitous in Chennai and Tamil Nadu. (Image: McKay Savage, Flickr Commons; CC BY 2.0)
December 26, 2019 Policy matters this week
The Mandovi river disputed between Karnataka and Goa (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
December 6, 2019 A report by the India Rivers Forum highlights the need to focus further than the main stem of the Ganga river.
Distant snow clad mountains, the smaller hills and the Ganga river (Image: Srimoyee Banerjee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
December 4, 2019 To adapt well & build resilience, climate change strategies need to factor in efforts towards water security, writes Vanita Suneja, Regional Advocacy Manager (South Asia), WaterAid.
Image credit: WaterAid/Prashanth Vishwanathan
Alarm bells ring for Delhi’s groundwater
The city's old wells and baodis are running dry, and the Yamuna is getting more polluted by the day. Where is Delhi's water going to come from when groundwater levels are also dropping? Posted on 25 Jan, 2016 01:19 PM

Delhi, home to 16.75 million people, is in the grip of a major water crisis. Statistics by the Delhi Jal Board for the year 2011 suggest that the water deficit stands at about 250 million gallons per day with the supply being 830 million gallons per day.

Residents say they are forced to flout the groundwater extraction norms with illegal groundwater pumps in Narela in North-west Delhi due to insufficient and poor quality of water supplied.
11,000 acres lake land encroached in Bengaluru
News this week Posted on 19 Jan, 2016 11:29 AM

Panel finds Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) and private builders responsible for 11,000 acres of lake land encroachment

Rachenahalli Lake in Bengaluru (Source: Sumetee Pahwa Gajjar)
IMD to stop using the term 'drought'
News this week Posted on 12 Jan, 2016 09:55 AM

IMD to replace the term 'drought' with 'deficient year'

Affected by drought (Source: IWP Flickr Photo)
Ken-Betwa river gets some respite
Statutory clearance not given for the much touted Ken-Betwa model link project of the Interlinking of Rivers programme due to extreme social and environmental concerns. Posted on 08 Jan, 2016 01:03 PM

In December 2015, more than forty years after it was conceived, the Government was set to launch India’s ambitious 30-link river interlinking project linking 37 rivers.

View of Betwa river (Source: Manual Menal, Wikimedia Commons)
Right information and collective strength of people triumph!
The film titled 'A Hand Pump' tells the story of the villagers of Padapadar, Odisha and their struggle to finally get their right to safe drinking water. Posted on 04 Jan, 2016 08:25 PM

"More than eight villagers in Padapadar have died due to water-borne diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea, jaundice, etc.

A hand-pump installed at Padapadar village
From toilet to tap: Is that the future of drinking water?
Singapore's done it, and so has Orange County USA. Even astronauts do it. Drink recycled wastewater, that is! So will it become a reality in India? Posted on 09 Dec, 2015 12:47 PM

An article in India Today three years ago was titled ‘Beware Delhi!

Yogendra Singh, an operator, explains how the 'Toilet to tap' plant functions
Braving the deluge: Chennai's worst December
Chennai's limp back to normalcy will be slow and painful, especially for low-lying Velachery, Urapakkam, Kotturpuram and Saidapet which remain flooded even two days after the rain has let up. Posted on 05 Dec, 2015 02:39 PM

Residents were convinced that November was the worst but stock taking and rehabilitation had to wait a week longer as the maniacal rains of December took everyone by surprise and completely crippled the city. According the

Rescue efforts underway in Kotturpuram, one of the Chennai's worst affected areas
Water vending machines: How equitable are they?
Water ATMs have been in use in India for a decade but who are they helping and are they fulfilling their objective, which is to provide safe and clean drinking water to the poor at a low cost? Posted on 05 Dec, 2015 02:34 PM

A water ATM, as the name implies, is a sort of a water vending machine similar to bank ATMs except that in a water ATM, money goes in to the machine in return for water. These machines, which run on a cash as well as a prepaid card or smart card system are built, owned and operated by private companies that have rights over public resources such as land and water.

Water vending machines at work (Source:Sarvajal)
India needs to radically overhaul its water institutions
Can India draw some lessons from the Singaporean water story? Prof Asit Biswas, founder of the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico, talks to India Water Portal. Posted on 23 Nov, 2015 09:53 PM

There was a recent report in the Times of India on how Singapore, listed among the 20 smallest countries in the world, made water management and conservation efforts over the years. What lessons can India, a mammoth country draw from this small but densely populated country?

India's water sector: Endemic corruption and public apathy (Source: K N Balraj, IWP Flickr Photos)
Monsoon 2015: Chinks in Chennai's infrastructure exposed
Yet to recover from the torrential lashing, the low-lying city of Chennai is slowly piecing its life back together. How ironic for a state that was a pioneer in rainwater harvesting. Posted on 19 Nov, 2015 09:34 PM

Chennai has historically been a water-starved region, but never rain-starved as it receives much of its annual quota during the northeast or ‘retreating’ monsoon between October and December. But this November was like no other. 

Flooded streets in Chennai
×