Aarti Kelkar Khambete

Understanding the connect between caste and sanitation

De-linking the relationship between the two and not acknowledging the contribution of sanitation workers can limit the goal of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to clean India and achieve total sanitation. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 7 months ago

Factors affecting sanitation outcomes (Source: Sourabh Phadke)

Water filter use in India: Safety, luxury or a threat to the environment?

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) share the findings of a study on water filter use in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and discuss its implications in India's overall context. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 7 months ago

Safe drinking water, a scarce resource (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Why do people choose to defecate in the open than use toilets in rural coastal Odisha?

Maybe beliefs that faeces were impure also caused people to look at the practice of containing faeces in the latrine pit in the house as a ‘sin’ is one reason but there are so many others. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

Sociocultural factors affecting toilet use (Source: Sourabh Phadke)

The effects of continuous versus intermittent piped water supply

While piped water supply is the gold standard, a piped connection does not always mean good quality, quantity and frequency of water delivery. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

Type of water supply and waterborne illnesses, the connection (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Intersectoral water allocation and conflicts

This study on water allocation from Rajsamand Lake in Rajasthan reveals that current law & policy frameworks are underdeveloped & do not address concerns on equitable allocation of water among users. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

Water must be equitably distributed (Source: India Water Portal)

Right to water and sanitation: Looking beyond legal and policy frameworks to sites of entitlement

While research, policy and practice debates routinely talk about the human right to sanitation and water, there is little grasp of how these are translated into local understandings of entitlement. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

An illegal settlement (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Scarcity amidst plenty: Kerala's drinking water paradox

Kerala is blessed with high rainfall as well as plenty of natural water sources, but it has the lowest per capita share of freshwater resources in the country. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

The Karamana river in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala (Source: India Water Portal)

High pressure recharge well to the rescue of school children in Mewat, Haryana

An innovative rainwater harvesting structure stores sweet rainwater below the ground, within a saline aquifer. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

School children of Sukhpuri reap the benefit of HPRW (Source: Sumathi Sivam)

Do decentralised community water treatment plants improve quality and access?

A study in Andhra Pradesh found that over time, the benefits of the Community Water Systems disappeared. More studies are needed before they can be touted as a proven solution to supplying safe water. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

Communal versus neighbour-shared latrines: Which is better?

A study in Odisha found that communal latrines were less accessible, less likely to have water, were cleaned less frequently and were more likely to have visible faeces and flies. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

Sanitation and health outcomes (Source: Sourabh Phadke)

Adapting to floods and improving lifestyles could give us some clues to finding an alternative to embankments

Dr David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD, talks to Monoj Gogoi on his visit to flood-affected Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts of Assam and Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 8 months ago

In conversation with Dr Molden (Source: Monoj Gogoi)

Household water filter use in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad's rural areas have better access to expensive RO filters than more affordable gravity non-electric filters. What are the factors and implications affecting this choice of water filters? Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 9 months ago

Implementing watershed development projects in Andhra Pradesh: Lessons learnt

Since 1994, govt. supported watershed development projects have undergone significant change resulting in innovative protocols and developments. What else is in store for them? Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 9 months ago

Watershed development, the need of the hour (Source: India Water Portal)

Kerala's waters polluted by perchlorate

A study found high concentration of perchlorate in groundwater samples as compared to surface water samples in Kerala with Ernakulum district showing the highest contamination. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 9 months ago

Half of Amritsar's drinking water samples contaminated

An alarmingly high level of contamination of the 1,317 drinking water samples in places visited regularly by residents calls for public awareness, immediate attention, and action by the authorities. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 9 months ago

Safe drinking water, a scarce resource (Source: India Water Portal)

India's urban water systems: Challenges and way forward

Stages of urban development, sources of water, and the nature of aquifers all pose different challenges for water demand and availability in urban spaces in India. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 9 months ago

Water, a valuable resource (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)

Dengue blurs the line between rich and poor

Although dengue has been around in India in for over two centuries, the pattern of the disease has changed remarkably over the last two decades. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 9 months ago

The dengue-causing Aedes aegypti mosquito (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The connection between gender and safe sanitation in rural India

Sanitation issues among women and girls are influenced by inequitable gender norms that put them at greater risk of experiencing violence and multiple health vulnerabilities. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 9 months ago

Health and sanitation, the linkages (Source: India Water Portal)

Community involvement key to successful water quality interventions

Faulty perceptions of water treatment and a false sense of protection from locally available water sources increased the risk of children to diarrhoeal diseases in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 10 months ago

Water quality and health impacts (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Parched lips, barren lands and the scramble for water in Maharashtra

What are the factors that have caused the Marathwada region to be known as the 'suicide capital for farmers'? More importantly, do farmers here have some respite before the monsoon disappears? Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 8 years 10 months ago

Staring at drought (Source: Wikimedia Commons)