Research Papers

WASH Educators Training (WET 2016) by VIKSAT
The training is directed towards creating and nurturing a cadre of young educators for better understanding of water and WASH issues.
Posted on 03 Dec, 2015 02:51 PM

About WET 2016

www.viksat.org
Why do people choose to defecate in the open than use toilets in rural coastal Odisha?
Maybe beliefs that faeces were impure also caused people to look at the practice of containing faeces in the latrine pit in the house as a ‘sin’ is one reason but there are so many others. Posted on 19 Nov, 2015 04:45 PM

Of the one billion defecating in the open globally 66% live in India, of which 92% live in rural areas. Despite concerted government efforts for the last three decades to promote sanitation, India continues to lag behind in terms of access to basic sanitation facilities.

Sociocultural factors affecting toilet use (Source: Sourabh Phadke)
The effects of continuous versus intermittent piped water supply
While piped water supply is the gold standard, a piped connection does not always mean good quality, quantity and frequency of water delivery. Posted on 18 Nov, 2015 02:40 PM

Piped water supply has often been referred to as a gold standard while evaluating access to water supply.

Type of water supply and waterborne illnesses, the connection (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Intersectoral water allocation and conflicts
This study on water allocation from Rajsamand Lake in Rajasthan reveals that current law & policy frameworks are underdeveloped & do not address concerns on equitable allocation of water among users. Posted on 17 Nov, 2015 05:28 PM

Besides water scarcity, allocation of water has become an important concern in India over the last few decades.

Water must be equitably distributed (Source: India Water Portal)
Right to water and sanitation: Looking beyond legal and policy frameworks to sites of entitlement
While research, policy and practice debates routinely talk about the human right to sanitation and water, there is little grasp of how these are translated into local understandings of entitlement. Posted on 16 Nov, 2015 03:09 PM

Increasing concerns over the consequences of inadequate urban sanitation and water with regard to poverty, health, livelihoods, and education have spurred global declarations on the human right to sanitation and water. However, the social and spatial heterogeneity of urban poverty is often missing in global policy debates.

An illegal settlement (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Scarcity amidst plenty: Kerala's drinking water paradox
Kerala is blessed with high rainfall as well as plenty of natural water sources, but it has the lowest per capita share of freshwater resources in the country. Posted on 14 Nov, 2015 02:48 PM

Kerala, flanked on the west by the Arabian Sea and on the east by the Western Ghats is bestowed with enviable natural resources. It has 44 rivers spanning its lush green landscape and rainfall that averages as high as 3000 mm a year.

The Karamana river in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala (Source: India Water Portal)
Do decentralised community water treatment plants improve quality and access?
A study in Andhra Pradesh found that over time, the benefits of the Community Water Systems disappeared. More studies are needed before they can be touted as a proven solution to supplying safe water. Posted on 08 Nov, 2015 01:10 PM

Highly advanced community level drinking water treatment facilities are increasingly being contemplated as good quality water supply solutions in locations where water sources are unreliable, and not available inside or near households.

Safe drinking water, a scarce resource (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Communal versus neighbour-shared latrines: Which is better?
A study in Odisha found that communal latrines were less accessible, less likely to have water, were cleaned less frequently and were more likely to have visible faeces and flies. Posted on 31 Oct, 2015 07:58 PM

As many as 2.4 billion people lack access to improved sanitation globally. 710 million of these people live in urban areas. In India alone, 769 million people lack access to improved sanitation and as high as 597 million people defecate in the open.

Shared sanitation facilities in India

Sanitation and health outcomes (Source: Sourabh Phadke)
Moving from the Kyoto protocol to INDCs: India's plan to address climate change
India says it should not be treated at par with developed and emerging economies by detailing the developmental deficits and disparities its people face in access to basic needs. Posted on 30 Oct, 2015 10:57 PM

Four years ago, the international community at the Durban climate summit agreed to establish an international binding climate agreement as the current Kyoto protocol is set to expire in 2020. Closer to the Paris summit, countries were to prepare a post-2020 action plan on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Climate Change (Source: Sourabh Phadke on IWP Flickr Photo)
How much water should flow in the Yamuna?
Considered sacred, the Yamuna is gasping for breath today choking on the unprecedented load of sewage and industrial effluents that drain into it. Can its ecological flow be worked out? Posted on 26 Oct, 2015 05:17 PM

Rivers are the not just the lifeline of our country, but life itself. We may revere them, even worship them but we continue to pollute, choke, and poison their waters. A river, its catchment area, and its floodplains have evolved over millions of years, and once damaged, may not be easy to reclaim.

For a river to be healthy & maintain all its associated functions, free flow must be close to 50-60% of the total flow all year round (Source: Wikimedia)
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