News and Articles

From worshipped to diseased - the slide of the Karamana river in Kerala
The Karamana, which flows through Kerala's capital city Thiruvananthapuram is now so polluted that it is closed to residents. Will the city figure out a way to clean it up? Posted on 05 Jul, 2013 07:55 AM

Karamana, the pride of Thiruvananthapuram and an important source of drinking water for the city, is now dreaded and diseased. Parts of the river have been closed to residents now because they are so polluted. What was once a thriving river is now being used as a garbage dump. I decided to trace the path of the river to see how bad the damage really was. 

Karamana river from the Karamana Bridge
Walk along the path to heaven...on earth!
This photo essay showcases the stark beauty of Sela lake, Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. Posted on 04 Jul, 2013 09:54 PM

Tawang, a mystical, magical place is nestled in the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh. Indians not from this region as well as foreigners need special permission to visit this restricted area. It is only accessible through a narrow mountain pass. A road snakes through this pass, which is the second highest motorable pass in the world, and at a height of 13,700 feet, reaches a crystal clear lake.

Prayer wheels,Tawang
The Himalayan states - are they India's crown jewels or distant cousins?
People in India revere the Himalayas but most may not know much about its people. A common platform to highlight issues that the mountain peoples face is the need of the hour. Posted on 04 Jul, 2013 10:25 AM

Left, right, up, down...bump, bump, bump! That was me… being thrown about on all sides of the jeep that I was in. No, I wasn’t off-roading! I was on an investigative mission to Pinrow, a village in Nainital district, Uttarakhand from my home. I was investigating the impact of the state government's push for 100% of child births to happen in the hospitals.

Nandadevi at sunrise
Face to face with our star volunteers!
They found India Water Portal by chance. Realizing that their experience could help us, they gave their time willingly to our data projects and transformed the data into a more usable format. Posted on 02 Jul, 2013 12:46 PM

Meet Ajay, a software professional in Bangalore with over 8 years work experience. He came across the India Water Portal when he searched for borewell consultants. He found the information on the site so reliable and useful that he kept coming back. On one such visit, he read about the volunteer program, which encourages non-water experts to engage with water data.

Volunteer with us
Seawater entering coastal towns in Goa causes big problems
Our first data story, which analyses the sea water intrusion in Goa, helps you look at this data in a simple way – analytically and visually. Posted on 01 Jul, 2013 03:18 PM

India waterportal’s data finder has over 300 datasets. A non-data or non-analytics person can feel overwhelmed trying to pull out important information and understand it.  A data story will help do just that.

Process explaining seawater intrusion
A 'green' house like no other!
Most of us understand the problems with water availability but how much do we know about implementing rainwater harvesting strategies and reusing grey water at home? Posted on 01 Jul, 2013 02:50 PM

“I want to live in a house like this!” was my first thought when I entered Vishwanath’s home. (Vishwanath is Founder, Director of Biome Solutions). My colleague and I had gone to visit his house to see and understand how he has implemented ranwater harvesting systems and other green initiatives there.

Rainwater harvesting tank in a Bangalore house
Everything you need to know about water purifiers
Water purifiers contain different types of filters but what kind of contaminant does each type filter out? What should you look for when buying a water filter for your home? Posted on 01 Jul, 2013 11:00 AM

Pure, clean and safe drinking water isn’t available easily these days. Growing population, industrial development and environmental degradation are all causes for this. Given this situation, it becomes even more important for us to be aware of purification techniques and the available water purifiers in the market to ensure that our drinking water is of good quality. 

Filter of a water purifier
Toilet under the open sky for 73% of rural India
Continuing open defecation in rural India, possible epidemic outbreak in Uttarakhand and draft bills on water laws are the highlights of this week’s news. Posted on 01 Jul, 2013 10:00 AM

Toilet under the open sky for 73% of rural India

The Planning commission has found that 73% of rural India practices open defecation despite many sanitation programmes encouraged by the government. The main reason for this is the unavailability of toilets.

Open defecation continues due to lack of toilets
Another Bangalore lake becomes a garbage dump
The Sarakki lake, once a year-round water recharge area is now a garbage dump. Its Lake Trust calls on the Karnataka government and people to save the lake. Posted on 27 Jun, 2013 03:48 PM

Sarakki Lake is one of the bigger stand-alone lakes in Bangalore, and was once a great year-round recharge area for Sarakki, Jaraganahalli, Puttenahalli, Chunchagatta and Kothanur. It is now a cesspool of sewage, and is polluting the air, water and land around it. India Water Portal volunteer Sucheta Ramprakash covered

Garbage fills Sarakki Lake
Sustainable living: it's simple!
Sustainable living and making apartment complexes environmentally friendly - these were the themes of a recent workshop organized by Apartment Adda and The Alternative in Bangalore. Posted on 26 Jun, 2013 04:00 PM

Oasis Breeze and Mana Sarovar Apartments are two apartment complexes like any other in Bangalore. They have a huge water problem. Residents use water without realising how much they are wasting and depend on water tankers without realising how much they are using. To monitor better usage, individual water meters were set up in each household of the apartments.

Sustainable living  Source: Mercer Island Pulse
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