Wells and Step-wells

Term Path Alias

/topics/wells-and-step-wells

Featured Articles
February 24, 2021 Baravas, the unique water harvesting structures of Maharashtra continue to stand the test of time. Urgent efforts need to be made to conserve them and learn from them!
A barav from Limb village in Satara district, Maharashtra (Image Source: Aarti Kelkar Khambete)
November 18, 2019 Bangalore's water utility is understaffed, under financed and unable to service the city's water needs.
Image credit: Citizen Matters
November 13, 2019 News this week
A cyclonic storm that hit India in 2016. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
November 4, 2019 Despite being the lifeline of India’s water supplies, groundwater is overlooked by policy makers and users alike.
An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra. Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr. Image used for representational purposes only.
October 25, 2019 Groundwater use has doubled in Pune. Comprehensive mapping of groundwater resources and better management and governance is the need of the hour.
Groundwater, an exploited resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
September 26, 2019 New report documents India’s rich traditions of water harvesting and sustainable use.
Bandhara (in Nashik, Maharashtra), a low masonry weir of 1.2 to 4.5 m height, which is constructed across a small stream for diverting the water into a small main canal taking off from its upstream side (Image: Shailendra Yashwant, Oxfam India)
The politics of groundwater
To make access to water adequate and equitable, the focus must shift from water sources to water resources. Science, community participation and cooperation, are key to addressing our water woes. Posted on 04 Jul, 2018 12:15 PM

A growing demand for water implies the need for an improved understanding of our resources, and the ability to manage that demand in an equitable and sustainable way.

Wells, not dams, have been the temples of modern India

When solving one health problem triggers another
Studies reveal that efforts at guinea worm eradication have triggered the spread of hydrofluorosis in Rajasthan. Posted on 27 Jun, 2018 02:17 PM

Up until two decades ago, the main sources of drinking water in Rajasthan included surface water from perennial ponds, reservoirs, lakes, dams, rivers and streams with borewells and tubewells used sparingly and only in remote areas. All this changed when guinea worm infections started appearing in the state. 

A child drinks water from a hand pump. (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Hyderabad's groundwater levels fail to improve
News this week Posted on 26 Jun, 2018 02:48 PM

Good rainfall fails to improve Hyderabad's groundwater table

Despite good rainfall, Hyderabad's groundwater levels continue to be precarious. (Photo: IWP Flickr)
Toilets need water, women suffer under ODF drive
Toilets in households have only increased the drudgery of village women as they have to fetch water from faraway sources for toilet use. Posted on 12 Jun, 2018 01:28 PM

Rajasthan is all geared up for the open defecation free (ODF) status well before the national deadline of October 2, 2019. According to the assistant engineer of the nagar parishad, Resha Singh, 4.75 lakh toilets have been constructed since October 2, 2014 in Alwar district which is about to be declared ODF.

Village women collect water for toilet use. (Photo by India Water Portal)
Not enough water, villagers look for solution
Chhattisgarh’s Bemetara district has been facing severe water shortage for a while now. Rainwater harvesting could be a solution to this. Posted on 25 May, 2018 06:03 PM

There seems to be no end to the drinking water crisis in the Bemetara district in Chhattisgarh. It is only becoming worse with every passing day. More than 40 percent of all the hand pumps installed in the district have run dry due to the depletion of groundwater level.  

Women of Bagledi struggle to get a pot of drinking water from one of the four stand posts.(Pics: India Water Portal)
Call for Admissions for Graduate Program of Water Science and Policy 2018 at Shiv Nadar University
A first of its kind academic program offering a multi-disciplinary perspective on water with a special focus on policy and practical solutions.
Posted on 08 May, 2018 03:59 PM

Entering its second year, the Graduate Program of Water Science and Policy 2018 at Shiv Nadar University envisages a multi-disciplinary classroom, engagement and content delivered by some of the best minds globally – experts on water who have worked on ground realities, made policies and initiated change.

Sharing water, reaping benefits
This study finds that smallholder farmers who undertake group micro irrigation through pooling of land and water resources greatly benefit through increase in productivity and profit margins. Posted on 14 Apr, 2018 05:06 PM

Agriculture is of central importance to India’s economy with more than half of the workforce in the country depending on it for their livelihoods. However, it is increasingly being threatened due to climate-change-induced changing rainfall patterns and water scarcity having a negative impact on production.

Sprinkler irrigation in Narayanganj block, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh (Image Source: WOTR)
Fluorosis detection: A step towards providing clean water
FKAN’s work on preparing an action plan for the fluoride-affected Remuna block in Balasore shows how proactive policy work can help highlight the issue. Posted on 26 Mar, 2018 05:21 AM

Rabindra Kumar Jena, the Member of Parliament (MP) from Balasore, Odisha knew that something was wrong with the health of people in a part of his constituency but he could not put his finger to it. By sheer chance, in 2015, he got to know that this seemed to be related to excessive fluoride in water, which caused a disease called skeletal fluorosis.

People became crippled in Balasore due to skeletal fluorosis. Image: FKAN
Tackling climate change in Maharashtra
Maharashtra needs to make its agriculture resilient to climate change, urges Watershed Organisation Trust on the eve of World Water Day 2018. Posted on 23 Mar, 2018 02:42 PM

On the eve of the World Water Day, Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), made a presentation to the members of the Maharashtra Legislature. The presentation was a part of an event titled Tackling Climate Change in Maharashtra that was presided over by the chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis.

Agriculture needs to be made climate resilient. (Image Source: India Water Portal)
No water for irrigation from Sardar Sarovar dam
News this week Posted on 20 Mar, 2018 12:20 PM

Farmers anxious as government stops water supply from the Sardar Sarovar dam for irrigation

Sardar Sarovar canal (Picture courtesy: Wikimedia commons)
×