Biological Pollution

Featured Articles
August 11, 2022 This could lead to water quality crisis reinforcing the need for basin-specific management strategies
Around the world, more than a fifth of nitrogen released by human activity ends up in aquatic ecosystems (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
July 14, 2022 The river is faced with the dual problem of flood plain encroachment and growing levels of water pollution
Illegal transverse check dams (Badhals) built on Ichamati near a village in Basirhat (Image: Prithviraj Nath @ TheWaterChronicles)
May 25, 2022 A study develops a decision support tool to identify polluted river stretches
Ulhas river near Khandpe village (Image: Ganesh Dhamodkar, Wikimedia Commons)
November 12, 2021 Mass fish deaths can pose a challenge to the environment, biodiversity and fisherfolk who depend on them for their livelihoods. Why do they happen?
Algal blooms in a pond in Tamil Nadu (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
August 4, 2021 Detritivores, scavenger organisms inhabiting freshwater bodies such as streams are crucial for the survival of water bodies. However, anthropogenic changes are killing them!
View of a s stream in Kerala (Image Source: Firos AK via Wikimedia Commons)
June 24, 2021 Freshwater ecosystems in India are known to harbour rich biodiversity, but their health is being increasingly challenged in recent years. And the East Kolkata Wetlands are no exception!
Fishermen use wastewater from Kolkata to rear fish (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Spending a summer building scalable water access in rural India
A young college graduate shares his experience working with Tata Trusts in Assam on water issues. Posted on 25 Jul, 2019 04:08 PM

This summer I had the incredible opportunity, to work with the Tata Trusts and their Tata Water Mission (TWM) initiative, exploring avenues to provide scalable water access to stakeholders in rural communities.

Stream Network in Tezpur, Assam. Image credit: Rohit Sar
Combating water crisis needs people's participation: PM Modi
News this week Posted on 03 Jul, 2019 01:06 AM

Prime Minister Modi pitches for a collective effort to overcome water crisis in the country

A rainwater harvesting set up in a school in Chickmangalur district (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Twenty-six states under threat of desertification
News this week Posted on 18 Jun, 2019 08:23 PM

The threat of desertification increases in 26 of 29 states

Increasing desertification, a challenge India needs to tackle. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Understanding the Yamuna and life around it
A panel of experts and representatives of the riverine community discuss changes observed in the Yamuna and its relationship with people. Posted on 03 Jun, 2019 07:30 AM

Sarla Yadav, a resident of Yamuna Ghat 24 is a treasure trove of stories on the river Yamuna. She runs a boat business with her son Shyam who provides a nuanced personal account of living by the river and of eking out a meagre livelihood by plying boats. They are among a few families who have not sold their boats so far.

The Yamuna river and its people (Image: Shashwat Jain, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0)
Breaking period taboo
A sanitary pad manufacturing unit in a Rajasthan village brings women together and breaks taboo around menstruation. Posted on 06 May, 2019 11:18 AM

Leela Patel (19) explains how women at Wali, a tribal gram panchayat in Kurabad block, just 30 km away from Udaipur, manage menstruation by using old scraps of cloth. She’s aware of cases when women have had to use ash, dust and soil to soak up their periods. Buying a pack of sanitary pads is a luxury in this poverty-stricken belt.

Women at a manufacturing unit in Wali village that produces biodegradable sanitary pads at a low cost. (Image: India Water Portal)
Water level falls in India's major river basins: CWC
News this week Posted on 01 May, 2019 06:45 PM

Water level in India’s major reservoirs and river basins in a precarious state: CWC

Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Mapping pollution hotspots in Yamuna
A sensor network system is being used for mapping and monitoring the water quality of river Yamuna. Posted on 01 May, 2019 10:38 AM

The Yamuna was considered a nurturing and life-enhancing goddess in the past. Legend has it that bathing in the sacred waters of the Yamuna, the sister of Yama, the god of death, frees one from the ordeal of death. The 1376-km river is a tributary of the Ganga and originates in the Yamunotri glacier in the lower Himalayas.

A project, conceptualised by a team of researchers from the University of Chicago, US helps demonstrate that scalable water quality mapping systems can detect and predict water contamination (Image:India Water Portal)
Water management: Still a neglected electoral issue?
India is facing a major water crisis and a number of water sector challenges remain unaddressed even today. Posted on 25 Apr, 2019 12:04 PM

India is on the brink of a major water crisis. With drought looming over the southern and western parts of the country, the existing water resources are in peril. Rivers are getting more polluted, their catchments, water-holding and water-harvesting mechanisms are deteriorating and groundwater levels are depleting at an alarming rate.

India's water woes need urgent attention. (Image Source: India Water Portal)
An integrated approach to water quality management
Chemical contamination of drinking water is a significant health concern in India, one we haven’t realised the magnitude of. Practitioners across sectors must come together to tackle this issue. Posted on 18 Mar, 2019 03:58 PM

Fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, and other chemicals in drinking water pose significant health risks (such as fluorosis and arsenicosis) to o

Photo courtesy: Arjun Swaminathan
Pollution affects Ganga's riverbed sediment: Study
News this week Posted on 06 Mar, 2019 08:45 AM

Not just surface water, pollution leads to deficit in dissolved oxygen in Ganga's riverbed sediment: Study

The Ganga river (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
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