News and Articles

The Karamana River in Kerala – once revered but now shunned
Pollution in Kerala river, growing water scarcity worldwide and increased hydropower projects in the north east are the highlights of this week’s news. Posted on 23 Apr, 2013 08:26 AM

People warned to stay away from river

Better sanitation facilities in industrial townships than in Metros
Mixed results from the National Urban Sanitation Policy survey, Goa's polluted groundwater level and the water deficit in Tamil Nadu are in the limelight this week. Posted on 15 Apr, 2013 08:00 PM

20 out of 423 cities score well on sanitation issues

Why participatory groundwater management is no longer an oxymoron: The story of Randullabad
Randullabad village has been practising participatory groundwater management for the last two years with ACWADAM's guidance. This article details this achievement. Posted on 15 Apr, 2013 06:04 PM

India is heavily dependent on groundwater use. Domestic use, agriculture and industry all rely on groundwater extracted by means of pumps, wells and tanks. This  dependence is illustrated by falling groundwater levels. Frequently, this overuse and consequent decline trigger conflicts.

Karnataka tops the nation in managing rural drinking water scheme
Country topper in managing rural water scheme and states adopting the new version of the National Water Policy hog the limelight this week. Posted on 08 Apr, 2013 10:24 AM

Karnataka emerges as top performer in managing rural drinking water schemes

Biodiversity informatics in India - A bird's eye view
Prarthana Vishal writes of a recent workshop in Bangalore that highlighted the initiatives by the government and research community to map India's biodiversity resources Posted on 24 Mar, 2013 12:28 PM

Biodiversity information management using informatics techniques began in 1970s and since then there have been several initiatives by taxonomists, researchers and curators across the world.

Safe water for all - Some ways we can preserve this natural resource
Maya Ramaswamy shares her views on how discussing "water rights"will be meanigful only if all of us collectively contribute towards preserving and conserving our environment and in turn save our water sources Posted on 21 Mar, 2013 09:36 PM

Water rights are being discussed today as a possibility. This will lead to civil war in this country. Rights are meaningless without paying attention to duties. It is our constitutional duty to preserve and heal our environment. 

If we pay attention to freeing our waters:

A commerce ex-lecturer from Karnataka's Udupi district converts 25 acres of barren land into a lush green farm through rainwater harvesting
This article by Aarti Kelkar - Khambete narrates the story of a commerce ex-lecturer, who successfully transformed a barren piece of land into a self sustainable farm Posted on 20 Mar, 2013 05:46 PM

This story of the untiring efforts of a commerce ex-lecturer to convert twenty five acres of a barren piece of land into a self sustainable green farm, provides an ideal example of a model for rainwater harvesting and demonstrates how persistence and the sheer determination to go on till the end, can yield miraculous results.

AR Farms
Residents of Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh, resist public private partnership in their water supply project- A press release by Manthan Adhyayan Kendra
With no single example across the world to cite for successful model of water privatisation, the irony remains that it continues to grow in developing countries. India is witnessing a range of private sector participation in various water schemes, these come under different forms and shapes but the motive remains the same- make profit out water.
Almost all privatisation endeavor in water sector has met with obstacles, Khandwa is no exception! The teething problem of the project doesn't appear to settle as the rising discontent and resistance among people continues to grow.
Posted on 20 Mar, 2013 09:58 AM

The bad track record of the public sector to provide water has increasingly led to private sector participation in water supply system. The proponents of privatization state that private sector would increase efficiency, bring adequate finance and help build the infrastructure that is required to run the utilities properly in an effective manner.

Model Groundwater Bill lays responsibility for protecting the resource from contamination primarily with the states concerned - Roundup of the week’s news (March 11- March 17, 2013)
The roundup this week includes news on the formulation of the model bill for groundwater development in India, Posted on 18 Mar, 2013 05:23 PM

the drought situation in Maharashtra, the traditional rainwater harvesting system in Rajasthan. Besides this, the news also includes reports on the campaign to save the Loktak lake in Assam and mangroves in Sundarbans, the water supply schemes in Kerala and the dropping of groundwater levels in India

New bill to control groundwater exploitation

Sweet smell of success: Human waste fertilises land & turns farmers wealthy in Bangalore
Farmers fertilise the soil with rich organic carbon and nutrients in urine and faeces, reduce chemical additives and gather a bumper harvest. Posted on 17 Mar, 2013 05:07 PM

Human excreta is loaded with nutrients, which when disposed off discriminately, increases pollution and leads to a loss of resources. On an average a human being produces some 500 litres of urine and 50 kilograms of faeces a year, sufficient to fertilise plants that would produce more than 200 kilograms of cereals!

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