Surface Water

This paper published in the Economic and Political Weekly, provides a critique of the writings by John Briscoe on the implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty and argues that it is a biased and a one sided presentation of issues, which ridicules and ignores the attempts made by India at negotiating with Pakistan and reaching a peaceful agreement over the water issue.

Building the Tehri Dam in India - 

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

India’s Groundwater Challenge and the Way Forward
P S Vijay Shankar , Himanshu Kulkarni , Sunderrajan Krishnan

The groundwater crisis is acquiring alarming proportions in many parts of the country. Strategies to respond to groundwater overuse and deteriorating water quality must be based on a new approach involving typologising the resource problems and redefining the institutional structure governing groundwater. This approach is based on the notion of groundwater as common property.

KWDT-II freshly assessed the yearly yields in the Krishna and determined the award on the basis of the yearly yield at 65 per cent dependability which was assessed at a total of 2,293 tmcft. 

In its order, announced in an open court, the tribunal allocated a total share of 1,001 tmcft to Andhra Pradesh, 911 tmcft to Karnataka and 666 tmcft to Maharashtra with certain restrictions imposed on each State in keeping with the dependable flows of the rivers on which the allocations have been made. The allocation under the first award (KWDT I) was 811 tmcft for Andhra Pradesh, 734 tmcft for Karnataka and 585 tmcft for Maharashtra.

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.

These Articles analyse and detail the issues of rainwater harvesting and river pollution

There are vast areas of fresh water flooded forests in Amazon River, Mekong River and Meghna River (Bangladesh) basins. In these flooded forests, the flora & fauna is richer than tropical ever green forests and many tree species grow more than 20 meters in height. These forests are inundated / submerged by river flood water up to ten meters depth for 5 to 7 months duration at a stretch.

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.

Forwarded to the portal by: Sudhirendar Sharma

Those activists, practitioners and journalists who have travelled in the Kosi River basin during 2008 (before the Kushaha breach), 2009 and 2010 have helped enhance our collective understanding on a manmade crises of gigantic proportions. Though not pre-planned, a unique fellowship on Kosi has indeed developed over these years. In their respective domains, each of the fellows have/are contributing to taking the key learnings across for better understanding on how our land, rivers and water ought to be managed (or not managed). The task, however, is far from finished.