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Local catchment management in cities - A guidebook by UN-HABITAT
Posted on 19 Apr, 2010 05:02 PM
This guidebook by UN-HABITAT, provides an overview of the principles and practices required for sustainable urban water catchment management. It deals with the principles and practices for better management of water resources which, in turn, will lead to general improvement in the health of the local population, food security, environmental protection and sustainable development. It states that it is necessary to develop enduring partnerships among the participating institutions and organizations in the catchment area.
Along side, policies, laws and regulations should be geared to provide an enabling framework as needed for formulation and implementation of action plans at the local level. The guidebook also comprises case studies from Australia, India, Latin America and South Africa to showcase the prospects of local action for water resources management.
Sustainable groundwater development through integrated watershed management for food security - A research report by ICRISAT
Posted on 15 Apr, 2010 04:45 PMThis paper by ICRISAT discusses the results from on-farm community watersheds through groundwater management as the drivers for sustainable management of watersheds in dry land areas. The issues of sustainable development and management of the groundwater resource through integrated watershed management (IWM) approach are also dealt with, in the context of food production and security.
State-level utilization of funds and assets created through Ganga Action Plan - Report by Planning Commission for the Supreme Court (2009)
Posted on 15 Apr, 2010 03:41 PMThe report was prepared by the Water Resources Division, Planning Commission in response to a Supreme Court directive to verify whether the funds allocated to Ganga Action Plan (GAP) had been duly utilized by the States. The report is based on data obtained from Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and field visits made to plant sites in Uttarakhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Optimum water management in a command area - A research report by National Institute of Hydrology
Posted on 14 Apr, 2010 02:44 PMThis research report by the National Institute of Hydrology deals with optimum water management in a command area. The dynamics of water within the unsaturated zone of soil is a complex phenomenon dependent on properties of the atmosphere, soil and vegetation. For agriculture water management, it is necessary to have models that accurately predict the behavior of soil moisture.
In this study, a model is developed to stimulate the dynamics of soil moisture within the root zone in an agriculture command. Focus is given to incorporate the spatial variation in crop type, soil type and rainfall in the command area and the dynamics of soil-water-plant interaction is stimulated.
Hydrological inventory of South Bihar river basins – A report by National Institute of Hydrology
Posted on 12 Apr, 2010 12:25 PMThis report by National Institute of Hydrology provides a compilation of the hydrological information of seventeen different river basins of South Bihar (now Jharkhand). Hydrological modeling of a basin requires detailed hydrological information about the basin. Further, the hydrological information of a region or a basin is of immense use to water resources planners and managers. However, the hydrological information collected by different organizations are often scattered and are not in representable form.
NBA's indefinite action starts from April 11 : An appeal for solidarity
Posted on 12 Apr, 2010 10:22 AMAriticle Courtesy: National Alliance of Peoples' Movements
Dear Saaathis,
You all must have got the word by now ...Narmada is in serious crisis ...Not just the people and the environemnt, but the very project itself today...And unjust politics is also at its peak again ...This is the last and critical leg of the SSP battle...
Thousands of us are to embark on an indefinite mass action of Narmada from April 11th and sit before the Narmada Control Authority from the 13th at Indore. The situation is very serious and highly politicized, since even as there are 2 lakh adiavasis, farmers, fish workers, labourers yet to be rehabilitated in the submergence area, only corruption has increased ten-fold and gross environmental non-compliance has been exposed by the latest Devender Pandey Committee.
Water Footprint Manual: State of the art - A method of water footprint assessment by the Water Footprint Network (November 2009)
Posted on 11 Apr, 2010 07:37 PMhe Water Footprint Manual, 2009 by the Water Footprint Network is a comprehensive and up-to-date outline of the method of water footprint assessment. It introduces
how water footprints can be calculated for individual processes and products, as well as for consumers, nations and businesses.
The concept is introduced as a comprehensive indicator of freshwater resources appropriation, as against the traditional and restricted measure of water withdrawal.
The hidden water use behind products are measured over the full supply chain and water consumption volumes are measured by source and polluted volumes by type of
pollution. All components of a total water footprint are specified geographically and temporally. Blue water (surface and groundwater), green water (rainwater stored
in the soil as soil moisture) and grey water (polluted water) footprints are defined and are included along with the indirect water use in measuring the overall water
footprints.
The core of the manual deals with the four distinct phases in water footprint assessment: (1) setting goals and scope; (2) water footprint accounting; (3) water
footprint sustainability assessment; (4) formulation of response. The goals and scope would vary for national governments, river basin authority, company etc. Water
footprint accounts give spatiotemporally explicit information on how water is appropriated for various human purposes. The manual articulates the need for clarity
about the inventory boundaries, about where to truncate the analysis, at what level of spatiotemporal explication and for which period of data when setting up a water
footprint account. It in addition deals with difficult questions like whether to include the water footprint of labour, transport or energy applied in a production
system in the assessment of the water footprint of the final product.
The manual then goes on to state the inventory boundaries of water footprint sustainability assessment. The sustainability of a water footprint is viewed upon from
different perspectives: the environmental, social and economic perspective. Besides, sustainability is measured at different levels: local (e.g. violation of local
environmental flow requirements), catchment or river basin level (e.g. contribution to the violation of environmental flow requirements downstream). In addition, the
water footprint of a product has implications beyond the level of a particular river basin. In the section on water footprint accounting the coherence between various
sorts of water footprint accounts is looked at. The manual presents complex equations explicating the water footprints due to processes and products and has sections
dealing with calculation of (a) green, blue and grey water footprint of growing a crop or tree (b) green and blue evapotranspiration using the CWR (Crop Water
Requirements) option in the FAO’s CROPWAT model (c) green and blue evapotranspiration using the ‘irrigation schedule option’ in the CROPWAT model. The manual also
presents the data sources for the calculating these.
The Water Footprint Manual (2009) by the Water Footprint Network (WFN) is a comprehensive and up-to-date outline of the method of water footprint assessment. It introduces how water footprints can be calculated for individual processes and products, as well as for consumers, nations and businesses.
The concept is introduced as a comprehensive indicator of freshwater resources appropriation, as against the traditional and restricted measure of water withdrawal. The hidden water use behind products are measured over the full supply chain and water consumption volumes are measured by source and polluted volumes by type of pollution. All components of a total water footprint are specified geographically and temporally. Blue water (surface and groundwater), green water (rainwater stored in the soil as soil moisture) and grey water (polluted water) footprints are defined and are included along with the indirect water use in measuring the overall water footprints.
Water Storage: A strategy for climate change adaptation in the Himalayas - A report by ICIMOD
Posted on 10 Apr, 2010 05:24 PM
This report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) highlights the phenomenon of climate change and argues that water storage will be a key strategy for climate change adaptation in the coming years.
The report discusses the importance of the Hindu Kush Himalayan ranges as an important source of water to a large section of the population and warns of the impending crisis of water scarcity and food insecurity in the regions of Asia, if water harvesting and conservation efforts are not undertaken. The document argues that water storage thus becomes a central issue, which is very complicated to implement, particularly in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.
Joint Convergence Guidelines of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Integrated Watershed Management Programme, issued by the Ministry of Rural Development (April 2009)
Posted on 09 Apr, 2010 09:36 PMThe Joint Convergence Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) in April 2009, attempts to bring about inter-sectoral convergence in the various watershed management programmes being implemented by the different departments under the MoRD. In particular, it deals with the convergence between the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) being implemented by the Department of Rural Development (DoRD) and the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) being implemented by the Department of Land Resources (DoLR).
Dams, Rivers & People - Feb/March edition of SANDRP newsletter
Posted on 06 Apr, 2010 05:22 PM
A bi-monthly newsletter - Dams, Rivers & People: February / March 2010 issue of the newsletter
Hihghlights
- Kerala’s initiative to desilt reservoirs: the Euphoria & the Concerns
- Book Review: Why are the rivers source of conflicts?
- Gujarat makes up stories about Sardar Sarovar Project
- Only 13-17% water losses in Mumbai, Chennai, why not Delhi?
- World Bank’s Double speak on Large Hydro: Renewable or not?
- Pakistan: Glacial lake dam threatens Hunza Valley