Political

SAWAS (South Asian Water Studies) calls for papers on longer-term perspectives on water governance and management (reform) in India. The papers should not exceed 5000 words (including references and footnotes). We are inviting original, well argued and accessibly written analyses of water sector reform experiences, assessments of future developments, discussion of dilemmas and contradictions, accounts of policy processes and policy instruments, etc.

Papers are to be submitted to Dr Daphne Gondhalekhar at ZEF, Bonn (daphneg@mit.edu) not later than September 30, 2009. Papers will be peer reviewed. Accepted (and eventually revised) papers will be published in a forthcoming issue of SAWAS (South Asian Water Studies)

For more information on the broad thematic aimed at, please download the Information Click here

Image and Content Courtesy: Excella Orbit

Excella Orbit, a division of Sambodhi Research & Communications Pvt. Ltd. is conducting a bouquet of trainings during the month of July, August & September, 2009 and January-March, 2010

July 28-31, 2009 - Basic & Advanced Analysis using SPSS, Hyderabad August 10-13, 2009 - Basic & Advanced Analysis using SPSS, New Delhi August 25-28, 2009 - Design & Development of Management Information System, New Delhi

Meteorological data is essential for water resource planning and research. In India, this data is difficult to obtain for the average citizen. In this application, entire datasets for various meteorological indicators from 1901 to 2002, for any part of India, is made available for users, in a simple format.

CSE needs programme coordinators/senior researchers. To research, write, advocate and coordinate activities for environmental change

Arghyam’s Grants Team is inviting applications from dedicated and talented students for their internship programme. Positions are open for data analysis, water writing and documentation. Both these positions are for 2 months. Only Bangalore based candidates or candidates willing to relocate to Bangalore for the duration of this project need apply.

There is no other word that can aptly describe water - Blue Gold. Today I was watching the movie - Blue Gold - World Water Wars. A must see movie for environment and water enthusiasts. The movie starts with a true story of a Californian gold hunter - how his body got transformed into a quasi corpse in seven days because of lack of water. The story then moves on how we humans are using water without discretion. Here are some interesting statistics:

1. Manufacturing an average automobile requires 350,000 liters
2. Upto 7 barrels of water is required to extract a barrel of oil - Save oil to save water
3. One microchip requires 32liters of water
4. Today there are 50,000 large dams worldwide
5. Today there are at least 10 publicly traded water indices
6. 750 pounds of carcass requires 5.2 million liters of water - be a vegetarian and save water.
7. 30,240 liters of water is required per 50pound bag of wheat! Don't waste food my friends.
8. 1.8 million liters per bale of cotton - Don't buy too many clothes (don't wear too less either)
9. 77,500 liters of water is required per 50pound bag of rice. One kilo of rice requires 3,500 litres of water
10. 99 liters for an apple
11. 107 liters for a banana
12. 22,000 liters of water per 50pound bag of corn
13. 10 litres for a rose

Currently I am reading this book - "The Humanure Handbook" by Joseph Jenkins. I am impressed. If there is one thing human beings don't want to talk about, it is their excreta. I don't remember discussing managing the excreta with anyone - either at home or at school.

As part of the research study, River Basins and River Basin Organisations in South Asia, done by the Society for Participatory Development Hyderabad, CapNet South Asia (Read More) and Gomukh Environmental Trust for Sustainable Development Pune (Click Here), data about individual river basins has been collected for the river basins in South Asia.

In this presentation Probhash Kumar Biswas and Tirthankar Sarkar of Jadavpur University, Kolkata have designed a rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling system to meet some of the water needs of the hostel block in Jadavpur University.

Last Wednesday, this rural Australian town 100 miles south of Sydney, made history with its near-unanimous consensus to ban the sale of bottled water. At the town meeting of 350 voters, only 2 voted against the ban. This indicates an increasing awareness of the futility of the bottled water and its drain on natural resources. The landmark decision comes right after the State-wide ban in New South Wales, where State departments and agencies have been restrained from buying bottled water, calling it “a waste of money and natural resources”.