West Bengal

Maharashtra Government puts its rivers in danger
Policy matters this week Posted on 27 Jan, 2015 12:29 PM

Mahashtra scraps state's River Regulation Zone policy

View of the river Mula in Pune, Maharashtra
2014-drought in Maharashtra worse than the 2012 one
News this week Posted on 23 Dec, 2014 11:58 PM

Maharashtra drought this year is worse than 2012 drought

Drought in Maharashtra
Teachings of the East Calcutta Wetlands
A self-organising sewage management system where fish and vegetables are grown, the wetlands earlier known as the Salt Lakes, teach how to live creatively with nature. Posted on 07 Jul, 2014 04:06 PM

The East Calcutta Wetlands are an unappealing mixture of poverty, sunshine and wastewater. The people here have patiently and wisely transformed this ecosystem into an oportunity for food, employment and purified water- for free!

Ecology & Traditional Wetland Practice
Ingenious system to manage sewage in Kolkata
Fisher folk of the East Kolkata Wetlands use sewage from the city’s lakes to rear fish. Watch an interview of the person who popularized this system that the locals invented years ago. Posted on 11 Sep, 2013 08:48 PM

They take your pain and give you what you need. They will absorb the excess showers that our cities can’t handle and replenish water underground when our taps run dry. Often underestimated, these shallow water bodies are also home to countless life forms and serve as winter destinations for distant migratory birds. Blame me for being philosophical but I equate wetlands to mothers.

Fishermen use wastewater of Kolkata to rear fish
Threat of land subsidence in and around Kolkata City and East Kolkata Wetlands – A paper in Journal of Earth System Science
The groundwater of the cities and wetland areas should be developed cautiously based on the groundwater potential to minimize the threat of land subsidence, the report says. Posted on 18 Jul, 2011 07:33 PM

This paper in Journal of Earth System Science attempts to estimate the possible rate of land subsidence of Kolkata City including Salt Lake City and the adjoining East Kolkata Wetlands located at the lower part of the deltaic alluvial plain of South Bengal basin. Land subsidence is an environmental hazard which is caused by overdraft of groundwater or oil extraction and results in gradual settling or sudden sinking of the earth’s surface owing to subsurface movement of the materials of the earth. 

Effect of climate change on the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta regions
The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghana delta belt comprises of 105,000 sq. kms of which 2/3rds is in Bangladesh. The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghana system has the largest catchment area of 1,100,000 km². The delta region is particularly vulnerable to seasonal floods, heavy run-offs from melting snows, and tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal. Inspite of this, it is one of the most thickly populated regions on Earth. Posted on 28 Aug, 2009 02:28 PM

The delta belt is home to approximately 125-140 million people. And over 300 million people are supported by the delta. The density of population in the Delta region is 200 people / sq.km. making it one of the densest regions in the world.

The delta region is a high-rainfall region and receives 60-80 inches of rainfall every year.

East Kolkata wetland system: a low cost efficient ecological water treatment
The Kolkata approach is a unique urban wastewater management approach where the raw sewage from the city is directed into the east Kolkata wetland area (a Ramsar site) Posted on 11 May, 2009 11:59 AM

A major problem faced by the towns and cities across the world is the dealing with the huge volume of wastewater generated everyday. The wastewater is either treated with high costing conventional water treatment procedures or let untreated into rivers or other water bodies.

×