Rivers

Guest post by – Rahul Bakare, Arghyam

 This article details an example where local knowledge has been used to develop access to safe water in the tribal areas of the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh

The news this fortnight has been dominated by the north-east monsoon in South India, mainly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Periyar, Vagai, Krishnarajasagar, Mettur and Chemberampakkam reservoirs have either reached full capacity or are expected to in the next few days. Areas downstream of Vagai reservoir received flood warnings.

In the cities of Tamil Nadu, heavy rains and inadequate infrastructure have led to damage to life and property, with 10 people dead in two separate incidents. 

Winter precipitation has begun in Kashmir, with the higher reaches receiving snowfall. 

Article and media courtesy: International Rivers

Organizer: Aqua Foundation

Venue: India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

Description:
Aqua Foundation is pleased to announce one day workshop on 'Latest Trends in Dam Safety' to be held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on November 19th 2011. The workshop is being held as post conference workshop after international exhibition and conference of water being held at the same venue from November 16th to November 18th 2011.

This paper elaborates the techno – legal aspects of Interstate river water disputes act – 1956 which was enacted to resolve the water disputes among the basin states of an interstate river / river valley. This Act’s main purpose is to protect the interests of a downstream state when water resources available in an upstream state are put to additional use.

Interstate River Water Disputes Act – 1956 (IRWD Act) was first enacted on 28th August, 1956 by Indian parliament on the eve of reorganization of states on linguistic basis to resolve the water disputes that would arise in the use, control and distribution of an interstate river or river valley. This Act further has undergone amendments subsequently and its recent amendment took place in 2002. It also validates the previous agreements (if any) among the basin states to harness water of an interstate river/ river valley.

It evolves a methodology for identifying hot spots in Indian rivers. The water quality data is based on the average values observed during the last ten years (2001-2011) at 371 monitoring stations of CWC on almost all major, medium and minor rivers in India. In respect of Dissolved Oxygen and Biochemical Oxygen Demand, the Central Pollution Control Board's classification has been considered for evaluating the hot spot in the rivers.

The physical and chemical quality of river water is important in deciding its suitability for drinking purposes. As such the suitability of river water for potable uses with regard to its chemical quality has to be deciphered and defined on the basis of the some vital characteristics of the water. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) vide its document IS: 10500:1991, edition 2.2 (2003‐09) has recommended the quality standards for drinking water and these have been used for finding the suitability of river water. On this basis of classification, the natural river water of India has been categorized as desirable, permissible and unfit for human consumption.

This report by the Assam Science Technology & Environment Council (ASTEC) contains the compiled recommendation of three consultative workshops organized in Assam University, Gauhati University and

The Madurai Symposium organised by the

This report by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) and Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) on water quality monitoring in Kerala covers all its forty four river basins. This is being done under the “Environmental Monitoring Programme on Water Quality” under which samples are being collected both from surface and groundwater sources.

Groundwater sampling stations were fixed after conducting a sanitary survey in the panchayats. Water Quality Information System is being developed using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to manage the water quality from point or non-point source of pollution.

In the first phase of the project, three river basins of Kerala viz. Kabbini, Periyar and Neyyar were monitored. The network was later expanded to basins such as Chaliyar, Kadalundi, Meenachil, Karamana, Anjarakandi, Pamba, Muvattupuzha, Bharatapuzha, and Chalakudy.