Political

Treating sewage with plants
Neknampur lake serves as a fitting example of how low cost but effective natural techniques can be used to clean city lakes that are choking with pollutants. Posted on 17 Apr, 2018 04:56 PM

A radical new method is fast emerging as an effective and sustainable solution to increasing pollution in urban lakes. Called floating treatment wetlands (FTW), they are artificial islands with plants that stay afloat on the lake. The plants clean the lake through hydroponics system, resulting in a cleaner, beautiful lake and an improved habitat for creatures that depend on it.

Floating treatment wetland at Neknampur lake. (Pic courtesy: 101Reporters)
NGT appointed team inspects Bengaluru lakes
Policy matters this week Posted on 17 Apr, 2018 04:49 PM

National Green Tribunal forms commission to inspect Bengaluru lakes

Bengaluru's infamous Bellandur Lake (Picture courtesy: Deccan Chronicle)
Indian monsoon recovers after decades of decline
Even if the total rainfall recovers, there is no indication that heat waves, droughts, extreme events and widespread floods are about to go away. Posted on 17 Apr, 2018 02:08 PM

As the parched Indian subcontinent eagerly awaits the monsoon, all indications are that it will be a normal monsoon, especially since no El Niño is in the offing for 2018. 

Recovering rainfall is a good sign. (IWP Flickr photos)
IMD predicts a normal monsoon
The country had recorded a rainfall of 97 percent in 2016 and 98 percent last year during monsoon which runs from June to September. Posted on 17 Apr, 2018 12:03 PM

India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday forecast that the monsoon this year will be normal, with rainfall of 97 percent of the long period average (LPA) with an error of plus or minus five percent. 

A normal monsoon is good news for India's economy. (IWP Flickr photos)
Cauvery water not very polluted, says study
News this week Posted on 17 Apr, 2018 11:10 AM

KSPCB says Cauvery water can be used for drinking after conventional treatment

Cauvery river water falls under Category-C. (Picture courtesy: Deccan Chronicle)
Tourism increases black carbon in air
A study finds an increased concentration of black carbon in Gangotri region during tourist seasons. Posted on 16 Apr, 2018 03:25 PM

In a significant input for the growing debate on global climate change, a study by researchers at the Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) has found that there is a remarkable increase in the concentration of black carbon in the atmosphere near the pilgrim town of Gangotri in Uttarakhand during the two annual tourist seasons of April to June and during September and Octobe

Black Carbon Monitoring Station at Chirbasa near Gangotari. (Photo credit : Dr P.S. Negi, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun)
Tackling fluorosis by following Nalgonda's lead
Engaging with the fluorosis problem in Nalgonda gave the FKAN a chance to understand the problem and apply the solutions nationally. Posted on 15 Apr, 2018 04:21 PM

Fluorosis continues to be a regional issue in Telangana to this day, even decades after the first cases were discovered in Nalgonda in 1937. More than three lakh people in the district are affected with skeletal and dental fluorosis, a stigma that has stuck for generations.

Shifting to non-fluoride affected food and increased nutrients is necessary to deal with fluorosis (Image: Fluoride Knowledge and Action Network)
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)
Saving Jhabua’s children from fluorosis
INREM Foundation’s work helped develop protocols on designing proactive action on safe water and nutrition to help mitigate fluorosis in Jhabua. Posted on 13 Apr, 2018 09:03 PM

In 2010, nine-year-old Kailash from Miyati village, Jhabua developed symptoms of skeletal fluorosis. Fluorosis, which affects millions of people in India, is a health issue caused due to high fluoride content in drinking water. Skeletal fluorosis is marked by deformed bones.

Nutrition garden developed in Jhabua for sustainable nutrition and resistance from fluorosis among villagers.
Yak faces threat of climate change
Nomads are beginning to notice increasing heat stress among yaks in the Indian Himalayas. Posted on 12 Apr, 2018 11:37 AM

Yak--the lifeline of pastoral nomads in high altitudes of the Indian Himalayan region--is facing the threat of gradually rising temperatures in the region. 

Yaks are used to very cold temperature and exhibits heat stress when the temperature increases. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
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