Research Papers

Relevance of Meltwater in River Basin Hydrology
Much talked about disappearing Himalayan glaciers, little is done and more is debated. In this ongoing discourse, we lose the rate of river flows. Seeking facts... Posted on 23 Jul, 2010 10:53 PM

peer paper in Science Magazine focuses on the core of a riverine system, the upstream basin, and its impact on the entire river basin.

Augmenting groundwater resources by artificial recharge: A case study - Kolwan valley - A report by ACWADAM
Increasing the groundwater levels with artificial recharge in Kolwan, Pune Posted on 19 Jul, 2010 04:45 PM

KolwanThis report by ACWADAM describes the results of a research study conducted under the DFID funded AGRAR project at the Kolwan site in Pune district of Maharashtra state in India. The research focused on studying the usefulness of artificial recharge to augment groundwater resources through watershed development.

An important criterion of the study was also to understand the impact of artificial recharge on already changing livelihoods in areas where watershed development was conducted on a large scale.

A rapid geohydrological study of microwatersheds from Bolangir district, Orissa state - A report by ACWADAM
Planning water resource management in one of the hottest and most backward regions of India, Bolangir district in Orissa Posted on 16 Jul, 2010 03:50 PM

BolangirThis document by ACWADAM is a report of a rapid geohydrological assessment of some of the microwatersheds from parts of Bolangir district Orissa.

Bolangir district in Orissa forms a part of one of the hottest and backward regions of India with low land-productivity, and opportunities and technologies for agriculture in the district remain relatively unexplored.

Vagaries of rainfall and the underlying hard-rock geology further compound the problem and limit agricultural productivity to a great extent. Given such natural uncertainties, systematic implementation of a watershed management programme is the most viable avenue to overcome the problems of this region.

Bolangir district was thus selected as pilot area to conduct a pre-feasibility exercise for planning of water resources management. ACWADAM, Pune was invited, along with Samaj Pragati Sahayog, Bagli to conduct this pre-feasibility exercise.

Draft regulatory framework for wetlands conservation - Comments by ATREE
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment details the draft regulation - Wetlands Conservation and Management Rules (2009) and submits several concerns to the Ministry Posted on 09 Jul, 2010 11:49 PM

The Ministry of Environment and Forests released a draft of the regulatory framework for wetland conservation - Wetlands Conservation and Management Rules (2009) for feedback from all stakeholders. The draft framework was prepared by a multi-disciplinary expert group, and final round of comments were invited till June 21st 2010.

The Wetland Conservation Team of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) did a detailed analysis of the draft regulation and submitted several pertinent concerns to the Ministry. The most significant observation is that the new framework (as do much of India's policies and laws) continues to propose unjustifiable State control and interventions over the country's wetlands and livelihoods of people dependent on them. The regulation does not make any constructive suggestions or recommendations for the conservation that the country's wetlands demand, and instead brings all wetlands into complete official control by installing Central, State and District-level wetland regulatory authorities, wherein the majority of the members will be senior government officials.

Conservation of lakes - Myths and realities of desilting
Desilting Lakes is more dangerous and hazardous unlike common belief as it disturbs the original lake bed and increases losses through heavy seepage Posted on 09 Jul, 2010 11:11 PM

Desilting is becoming a major component of any Lake Conservation Project now a days. The basic reasons given for necessity of desilting are - increasing the storage capacity and checking eutrophic conditions.

As it is not practicable to reverse the slow process of silting in the bed of lakes through which only silt can be removed, there is no word like 'desilting' in any standard English dictionary. What we are doing in the name of 'desilting' is practically 'digging' or 'excavation' of lake bed. By so called desilting, the original lake bed is disturbed which has far reaching adverse effects on the performance of the lake. Most visible effect is the increase in percolation rate resulting in heavy seepage losses through the lake bed as observed after massive desilting at Pushkar lake in 2009.

Optimal operation of groundwater skimming wells A study of 90 wells along the river Yamuna at Palla,North Delhi
This report examines the problem involving the pumping of groundwater from a group of 90 existing wells along the banks of the Yamuna River, northwest of Delhi (India), underlain with geologically occurring saline water. Posted on 02 Jul, 2010 04:49 PM

Abstract

A study of saline freshwater interface phenomenon in the Mahanadi delta region, Orissa
The subsurface aquifer systems in Mahanadi delta region in Orissa (India) is largely characterized by two groups of freshwater aquifer systems: 1. The south western Mahanadi delta region is represented by unconfined to semi-confined freshwater aquifers underlained by brackish/ saline aquifer systems with a diffusion boundary 2. The north eastern parts of Mahanadi delta is represented by deep freshwater confined aquifers overlained by brackish/saline water aquifers with aquitard/ aquiclude boundary. Both the systems are prone to saline water mixing/ migration with time and development. The present paper incorporates results of a simulation study using a finite element based FEFLOW model and examines saline water migration scenarios when subjected to increasing rates of pumping under steady state conditions with the help of a calibrated groundwater model. The results indicate the unconfined and semi-confined aquifer systems in the south western part of Mahanadi delta are prone for faster rates of saline water mixing of the contamination when compared to the deep confined systems in the north eastern parts of Mahanadi delta. Posted on 02 Jul, 2010 04:47 PM

ABSTRACT

Groundwater management: The critical issue dealing with normative concerns of equity and sustainability in watershed development in India.
Right to water is closely linked to ownership of land in India and the person who owns the piece of land has have a full ownership right to use as well as exploit groundwater under his piece of land, as well as from neighbouring land. Due to this unfair rule, landless and resource poor are thrown out from various benefits of the groundwater which are generated through watershed development and water conservation projects. Posted on 02 Jul, 2010 04:31 PM

 

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World Bank Report and AP High Court Writ Petition on Flourosis situation in Nalgonda District
The World Bank (WB) report on the website, highlights the seriousness of the high fluoride content of the water in Nalgonda district, its impact on the health of the population and the attempts that are being made to deal with the situation. Posted on 01 Jul, 2010 04:17 PM

The fluorosis section of this website dedicated to Nalgonda district, highlights the acute problem of very high levels of fluoride in the ground water resources of the district and its impact on the health of people - a high prevalence of severe and crippling bone and skeletal deformities. The site has information on the status of the affected people, flouride levels and various articles, petitions and pictures.

Impact assessment of Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) awarded panchayats - A report by TARU
The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM), Govt of India was launched to cover all households with water and sanitation facilities and promote hygiene behaviour for overall improvement of health of the rural population. The Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) was introduced as a part of the effort to give innovative financial incentives to encourage positive sanitation and hygiene behaviour changes in rural communities. This work looks at the impact of the NGP in fulfilling its objectives by looking at some of its design aspects Posted on 01 Jul, 2010 02:01 PM

The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM), Govt of India was launched to cover all households with water and sanitation facilities and promote hygiene behaviour for overall improvement of health of the rural population. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were involved in scaling up the TSC to promote large scale social mobilisation to bring about behavioural change.

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