Towards a new horizontal water federalism
Where do the aspirations of riverine ecosystems and communities fit in a federalist set-up?
Odisha and Chhattisgarh have locked horns over the distribution of waters of the Mahanadi river at Hirakud dam (Image: Makarand Purohit, India Water Portal)
Deadly chemicals from detergents end up in rivers
India needs to come up with a regulation on use of toxic chemicals in detergents.
Nonylphenol, a toxic chemical found in detergents is known to enter the water bodies and even the food chain, where it bio-accumulates and can pose serious environmental and health risks (Image: Toxics Link)
River as a cultural mosaic
A dialogue that highlights the cultural essence of rivers
Yamuna near Taj Mahal (Image: Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
India’s target to combat land degradation and desertification
While India has increased its target of restoring degraded land from 21 million ha to 26 million ha, what is the scale of the challenge and what do the new targets mean?
Combating desertification and land degradation in semi-arid regions of Maharashtra, India (Image Source: WOTR)
Greening new pastures for green investments
Green capital at scale urgently needed for the energy transition and climate action in emerging economies - CEEW Centre for Energy Finance
Image credit: CEEW Centre for Energy Finance
From droughts to floods: India’s tryst with climate extremes
Deconstructing the traditional narrow engineering based policy discourses around floods and droughts and connecting them to social and cultural realities is the need of the hour in India.
Water talk Series at Mumbai (Image Source:Tata Insitute of Social Sciences)
Solving the energy conundrum
Some lessons for transition to small scale solar energy in rural areas from the work of MAJLIS, a collective of dalit and adivasi women in Madhya Pradesh.
There has to be a policy shift for decentralised off grid or distributed generation catering to small communities. (Image: MAJLIS)
The Water Future Conference in Bangalore: Towards a Sustainable Water Future
The recently concluded 4 day conference in Bangalore looked at the current state of global water resource challenges & future pathways to achieve the SDGs, while ensuring equity in access to all.
Charles Vorosmarty, Chair, COMPASS Initiative, Water Future at the opening plenary on advanced water system assessments to address water security challenges of the 21st century.
Climate vulnerability map of India coming soon
DST and SDC working together to develop pan-India climate vulnerability assessment map, to help communities and states better prepare for climate change.
Dr. Akhilesh Gupta , head of the climate change programme at DST. Image source: India Science Wire
Return of the pearl millet
A women's collective in western Madhya Pradesh protects crop varieties bred by indigenous farming communities.
This variety of bajra has extended whiskers on its seeds when on the plant. This prevented the birds from eating it. Growing bajra in Pandutalav became possible only when Majlis could lay its hands on this variety. (Image: Majlis)
Groundwater markets flourish in peri-urban Hyderabad
Groundwater, drawn at rapid rates from peri-urban areas of Hyderabad is now turning into a commodity, controlled and distributed by a few, to meet the needs of the urban elite.
Groundwater in Hyderabad, in peril (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Applying ethics to water management, to ensure equity in access to all
A workshop in Bangalore explored water ethics and how it can be applied to water management.
From left to right - Siddharth Krishnan (ATREE), David Groenfeldt (Water Culture Institute), Sara Ahmed (University of Cambridge), Veena Srinivasan (ATREE), KJ Joy (SOPPECOM)
Water wisdom in times of a climate crisis
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)
Rising sea temperatures pose a threat to coral reefs
Study analysing data of sea surface temperatures since 1982 finds that three mass bleaching events impacted five major Indian coral reefs.
Image used for representational purposes only. Image source: Wikimedia Commons
India’s deepening water crisis
Making false doomsday claims of a water crisis could support problematic mega solutions, which could lead to more problems.
India's demand for water will exceed supply by a factor of two by 2030, as per a NITI Aayog report (Image: Vinoth Chandar, Flickr Commons (CC BY 2.0))
Manual scavenging is inhumane: SC
Policy matters this week
Despite the ban, manual scavenging continues. (Image courtesy: The Hindu)
Zila Swachh Bharat Preraks - India's sanitation warriors
Tata Trusts, through its Tata Water Mission initiated the ZSBP program to help the Swachh Bharat mission achieve its goals.
For Akshant Nagar, 23, schoolchildren turned out to be the biggest driving force in helping to make Pipariya block in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh become open defecation free (ODF) in just seven months. Image credit: Tata Trusts
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