Rural Water

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July 28, 2024
Tap into the numbers: Budget insights on WASH
The budget allocation for the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation reflects a steady upward trajectory, underscoring the importance of scaling financial commitments to meet the growing demands of the WASH sector.
Child drinking water from handpump in Guna, Madhya Pradesh (Image: Anil Gulati, India Water Portal Flickr)
February 14, 2024
Sustainable water management to enhance rural livelihoods
The event underlined the need to create a skilled workforce with multi-skilling abilities, embodying the concept of a one-stop-shop and service, particularly relevant for the organised sector.
The release of the reports prepared under the Jal Kaushal Project, led by the JustJobs Network and funded by Arghyam (Image: Arghyam)
January 11, 2024
Mapping the water workforce
These preliminary findings provide a roadmap for detailed research, offering insights into the jobs, tasks, and skills required to manage rural water resources in India.
Examining jobs, skills, and tasks in rural water sector (Image: JustJobs Network)
January 7, 2024
Evolution of state's role in rural drinking water governance in India
Need to nudge state governments to evolve a detailed roadmap (planning, implementation and operations related strategies)—immediate, medium and long-term—for ensuring drinking water security.
Demand-responsive approach became the mainstay of the project with the initiation of sectoral reforms (Image: India Water Portal Flickr)
October 20, 2023
Building community expertise in planning, designing, and overseeing WASH systems
A holistic approach to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) initiatives
Shantilata uses a cloth to filter out the high iron content in the salty water, filled from a hand pump, in the village Sitapur on the outskirts of Bhadrak, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha (Image: WaterAid/ Anindito Mukherjee)
February 15, 2023
Sustaining ward level water supply schemes in Bihar
Design principles for operation and maintenance at scale
The programme intends to improve safe drinking water coverage in rural Bihar (Image: AKRSP(I))
Water for friends- for free!
At a time when Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), is much talked about, two villages in Nagaland show that helping one's neighbour doesn't always have to be for a cost.
Usha Dewani
Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 03:17 PM

“Water flows humbly to the lowest level. Nothing is weaker than water, yet for overcoming what is hard and strong, nothing surpasses it.”– Lao Tzu
Water reservoir at Mima village
Ancient engineering marvels of Tamil Nadu
Eris, a system of cascading tanks, were once completely managed by local communities. With centralisation came disuse and lack of maintenance but an organisation is working to revive them.
Seetha Gopalakrishnan
Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 02:06 PM

South India has a rich tradition of tanks with the three southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh contributing to close to 92% of the total irrigation by tanks in the 1970s. Two decades later, this number dwindled to close to 53%. A decade after that, in 2001, the total contribution of tank irrigation in all of India was estimated to be just around 5.18%.
Small tank near Thalambedu in Kanchipuram
Alternative farming method in Karnal
No-till agriculture, an alternative farming method, which helps prevent soil depletion as well as uses water efficiently, is being used successfully by farmers in Haryana.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 01:24 PM

Kalwaheri is a village of over thousand households comprising mostly of small farmers and landless people tucked away in Karnal, Haryana. The district, once the birth place of the Green Revolution, is now far from green.
Seed-fertilizer drill in use at Kalwaheri village
Fishing for shrimp in Haryana’s farmlands
Saline waters left Rohtak's farmlands fallow. After some research by local organisations, the farmers who were into agriculture, could soon move into aquaculture!
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 05 Apr, 2014 01:08 PM

Mile after mile of saline lands line the Delhi-Rohtak-Bhiwani stretch of the highway. Here, the land wasn't always saline, it became that way thanks to canal irrigation. Farmers have used extensive surface water, which has led to an increase in groundwater levels. This leads to the twin problem of waterlogging and salinity.
Tiger shrimp production at Rohtak; Source: CIFE
A picture paints a thousand words? So do comics!
Local jokes, dialogues and narratives from issues of community quarrels over water tanks to rainwater harvesting came alive in a Grassroots Comics workshop in Sikkim to mark World Water Day.
Usha Dewani
Posted on 31 Mar, 2014 10:31 PM

As a run up to World Water Day 2014, India Water Portal conducted a Grassroots Comics workshop with Field Facilitators, Barefoot Engineers and other field workers of the Dhara Vikas Programme.
Fatehabad - Another Fukushima?
Nuclear plants are usually located near oceans or rivers in order to have access to ample water for cooling but not the plant at Fatehabad. It is India's largest and could be its most dangerous too.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 25 Mar, 2014 08:14 PM

National Highway 10 passes through Badophal, a village in Fatehabad district of Haryana. The highway is lined by a tiny market and a point where several jeeps start and terminate. These jeeps are headed to Gorakhpur village, some 15 kms away via Kajal Heri, another village en route.
Gorakhpur nuclear power plant site
The key to successfully managing groundwater in India
Dr.Himanshu Kulkarni who was Chairman Working Group on Sustainable Groundwater Management for the 12th Plan, suggests measures to mitigate the poor groundwater scenario in the country.
Makarand Purohit
Hamsa Iyer
Posted on 23 Mar, 2014 10:47 PM

Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni is the Executive Director of the Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), a non-profit organisation in Pune. It is a premier education and research institution, which facilitates work on groundwater management through action research programmes and training.
A study group observing groundwater in a well
A village becomes water secure
Implementing rooftop rainwater harvesting, treating the catchment and building a community water tank are some reasons why Patkhori village is starting to sail through its water crisis.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 23 Mar, 2014 10:12 PM

Mewat, a historical region comprising of the present Mewat district of Haryana and parts of Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts of Rajasthan, lies in a semi-arid belt. It experiences variable rainfall annually and receives, on average, 336 mm to 540 mm, as per the Mewat Development Agency.
Water scarcity in Mewat
It takes more than money to make a difference
Eris' and 'ooranis', which are tanks that supplied water for generations in Tamil Nadu, are being revived thanks to monetary donations, good management practices and community participation.
Seetha Gopalakrishnan
Posted on 16 Mar, 2014 10:28 PM

Tamilnadu has a rich tradition of tank management at the village level. Every village had one or more irrigation tanks, locally known as ‘kanmais’ or ‘eris’, and a drinking water tank called ‘ooranis’. This system worked for centuries with the support of residents and the local administration.
View of a 'Kanmai' in Madurai
Managing tanks - a bottom-up approach
Governance by the government must give way to governance by the community if we are to preserve the tanks of Tamil Nadu, which are fast disappearing.
Seetha Gopalakrishnan
Posted on 12 Mar, 2014 10:31 AM

Our day-to-day dependence on fresh water is tremendous, whether for domestic or agricultural use. Theoretically, we know that it is a finite resource and that it can't be taken for granted but in practice, we do. India has an average rainfall of around 1150 mm but lets out nearly 1263 billion cubic metres of water into the sea unutilized. 
Chengalpattu Eri
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