Success Stories and Case Studies

Extreme water logging and flood situation in channelized areas in Pune - A report
Nallahs and rainwater is good news. Not for Pune. 10 people lose their lives while the city administration neglects the maintenance of the near-natural channel system Pune enjoys. Posted on 13 Oct, 2010 04:32 PM

Guest post by Parineeta Dandekar


While this news item was about to be published, Pune received heavy rains on the 4th of October (highest in the last 118 years, 104 mm in 40 minutes and 181.3 mm in 24 hours). While the city administration stressed that this was a cloud burst, this claim was quashed by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). This was said to a rare event, which was experienced in many places in Maharashtra.

10 people lost their lives to these rains, including three young children and a 25 year old Ph D researcher, Agnimitra Bannerjee, from National Chemical Laboratory, who was washed away in a channelised nallah stretch. Channels prove to be much more dangerous as the velocity of water is high and there is nothing to hold on to, in case a person falls in one of these fast-flowing nallah channels.

Seeds of Hope – Forestry - A Lokayan and Planning Commission study
Experiences and stories on agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water Posted on 10 Sep, 2010 11:50 PM

This set of case studies is a part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covering themes of agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water. The case studies related to forestry are summarized below:

Environmental flows in river basins: A case study of river Bhadra - Current Science
This paper explains the concept and the technique of environmental flows and the advantages and relevance of using this technique to maintain the ecology of the rivers. Posted on 26 Aug, 2010 12:50 PM

The quantity and seasonality of water flow in a river may greatly change from its normal condition between a major storage and downstream, thus paving the way for drastic changes in the riverine ecosystem. ‘Environmental flow’ refers to the amount of water considered sufficient for protecting the structure and function of an ecosystem and its dependent species.

The paper goes on to describe the case of river Bhadra, which is the site of a dam that has significantly altered the natural flow of the river and describes the study that aimed at conducting the environment flow analysis of the river.

Augmenting groundwater resources by artificial recharge: A case study of Kolwan valley by ACWADAM
Rise in groundwater resources by artificial recharge- a study of Kolwan Valley Posted on 24 Aug, 2010 04:19 PM

The presentation by ACWADAM deals with a case study of augmenting groundwater resources by artificial recharge in Kolwan valley, Mulshi taluka, Pune. The DfID funded project was undertaken by the British Geological Survey in collaboration with its partners in India from 2002–2005. The objectives of the study were:

  • Improved knowledge of the impacts of managed aquifer recharge in different physical and socio-economic settings.
  • Guidance on scope and effectiveness of managed aquifer recharge for implementers, funders and policy makers.
  • Dissemination of knowledge.

Leh cloud-burst: A first-hand account
Climate change and its impact on Leh-Ladak: an account by Linkesh Diwan Posted on 16 Aug, 2010 11:44 AM

Midnight, August 6, 2010: "Link, wake up!  Water is coming in from the roof!"  My mother and I were in Leh, Ladakh, staying at "Eco-Homestay," the house of Mr. Sonam Gyatso and family, in Lower Sankar.  The house was made in a hybrid of traditional and modern construction techniques: the main hall in the house was concrete, while rooms surrounding it were made of sun-dried mud bricks, and roofed with Poplar beams, a mesh of willow branches, and a thick pad of fine clay-like mud.  The house incorporated passive solar building techniques, such as a direct-gain room, and a Trombe wall, and had solar-powered lighting.  It had been raining since evening, and by midnight the clay roof was saturated and began to leak.  

We were in Leh for the express purpose of meeting with Helena Norberg-Hodge, the founder of the International Society for Ecology and Culture, co-founder of the International Forum on Globalization, founder of the Ladakh Ecological Development Group, and founder of the Women's Alliance, Ladakh.  We had learned of her online, seeing an article of hers in CounterCurrents.org, and watching her video "Ancient Futures."  She is the only person who has critically witnessed the "development" of Ladakh, from complete self-sufficiency in an exceedingly fragile eco-system, to the disaster under which it writhes today.  She has seen how "development" pulls people into a money economy, increases the distance between production and consumption,  brings reliance on fossil fuels (especially apparent in Leh where fuel and commodities are trucked in over a hazardous two-day journey from lower altitudes), results in urbanization and rural-urban migration, and brings psychological impoverishment to the people it is inflicted upon.  For 35 years, she has been working to bring safe, stable, and ecologically sound development to the region through her organizations.  Her work today, no longer limited to Ladakh, is focussed on spreading economic literacy among people throughout the planet, educating about the deeper impacts of globalization and today's consumer mono-culture.  Garnered from her years of observation and research, she has an important message for humanity today, which is what prompted us to go and meet her.

Research reports of the National Institute of Hydrology (1996-2001) - Highlights
150 research reports of National Institute of Hydrology are now accessible at the India water portal Posted on 12 Aug, 2010 10:29 PM

National Institute of Hydrology

The India Water Portal is pleased to announce to its users, that a comprehensive archive of over two hundred and fifty technical research reports of the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee, have now been made available on the portal, and in the public domain for the first time.

Power finance: Financial institutions in India's hydropower sector - A report by SANDRP, Urgewald and IRN
What is really at stake in the two most important power projects of India? A background into India's power and financial sectors Posted on 12 Aug, 2010 05:01 PM

This report published by SANDRP, Urgewald and International Rivers Network (IRN) provides a brief background on India's power and financial sectors and illustrates the issues at stake by giving examples of two important power projects in India, the Dabhol project and the Maheshwar project.

The next part of the report describes the role that the domestic and international financial institutions have played and continue to play and the controversies that have been associated with the functioning of these institutions in the implementation of the hydropower projects in India.

The report emphasises the importance of the role of NGOs and civil society movements in making these institutions accountable to the common people whose lives are affected by the projects/ interventions.

A turning point in water saving technologies in north Gujarat’s groundwater socio-ecology – a report by Carewater INREM foundation
The study looks at water saving technologies such as micro-irrigation through drip and sprinkler irrigation in north Gujarat and the changes that its introduction has brought about in rural society Posted on 08 Aug, 2010 10:13 PM

carewaterThe study analyses the changes in farming system and socio-economic impacts at the household level through “before-and-after” (longitudinal) comparison of adopters an

Inland culture fisheries in village tanks and ponds - A multi-location study in India - CAREWATER
This multi-location study on inland fisheries in village tanks and ponds attempts to map the changing institutional structure of the aquaculture sector in India Posted on 07 Aug, 2010 03:53 PM

carewaterThis multi-location study by

Reverse Osmosis plants for rural water treatment in Gujarat - A study by CAREWATER
Rural Gujarat's solution for drinking water: Reverse Osmosis technology Posted on 03 Aug, 2010 10:21 PM

carewaterThe report by Carewater INREM Foundation deals with Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology, which is emerging as an important solution for drinking water treatment in rural Gujarat. RO plants with capacity ranging from 10 litres per hour (lph) to 6000 lph are now supplying drinking water in several hundred villages of the State. Small sized plants with capacity < 20 lph are used by individual families whereas medium to large sized plants (>100 lph) are being used for public consumption.