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August 21, 2022 Floods are not feared, but rather welcomed by the Mishing communities from Majuli island in Assam as they bring bountiful fish- a rich source of food, nutrition and livelihood for the community.
The Majuli island, a haven for fish (Image Source: Usha Dewani, India Water Portal)
January 13, 2022 The water structures constructed during the Gond period continue to survive the test of time and provide evidence of the water wisdom of our ancestors.
Kundeshwar lake, Kundam in Jabalpur (Image Source: K G Vyas)
September 1, 2021 The experience of the Foundation for Ecological Security in tribal Mandla, Madhya Pradesh
Fish harvesting by Changariya fishing cooperative, Mandla, Madhya Pradesh (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
August 19, 2021 Use of digital tools for implementing natural resources management at scale in rural India
Digital planning tools like CLART can go a long way in achieving better land-use outcomes (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
December 4, 2019 To adapt well & build resilience, climate change strategies need to factor in efforts towards water security, writes Vanita Suneja, Regional Advocacy Manager (South Asia), WaterAid.
Image credit: WaterAid/Prashanth Vishwanathan
December 2, 2019 Water stewardship is an approach predicated on the concept that water is a shared resource and so water risks are also shared risks that everyone in a catchment will face
Picture credit: Romit Sen
SC urges Karnataka to share water with TN
Policy matters this week Posted on 06 Sep, 2016 09:18 AM

Release water to Tamil Nadu: SC to Karnataka

Cauvery river at Hogenakal, Karnataka. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos via Claire Arni and Oriole Henri)
Training Workshop on Understanding and Resolving Water Conflicts in India
Organised by The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India, The Energy and Resources Institute and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment
Posted on 05 Sep, 2016 04:36 PM

Water Conflicts ForumATREE logoTERI logo

Staying afloat, one stepwell at a time
Jodhpur has a unique problem. Unlike other cities, it is dealing with excess groundwater. Reusing its traditional water structures is the way forward. Posted on 19 Aug, 2016 01:09 PM

"Jatene dekho utene bawri" (wherever you look, there’s a stepwell). This is how the woman standing on the threshold of her house, in the walled city of Jodhpur, told us when we asked where we could find stepwells in her neighbourhood. 

Toorji ka jhalra, one of the step ponds that attracts tourists in Jodhpur.
Art of Living guilty of damaging Yamuna floodplains
Policy matter this week Posted on 16 Aug, 2016 09:57 AM

World Culture Festival damaged Yamuna floodplains, concludes NGT

The front view of the giant stage under construction for the World Culture Festival. (Source: Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan)
Rejuvenating traditional water system in Maharashtra
Caught between Malguzaars and the state government, the Malguzari tanks were left to die many years ago. A lone man spearheaded their revival in 2008. Posted on 02 Aug, 2016 09:44 AM

Malguzari tanks were ponds made for water harvesting by the Malguzaars, who were zamindars or tenants in eastern Vidarbha, Maharashtra two centuries ago.These tanks provided water for irrigation and also increased the availability of fish for local consumption.

Janbhora Malguzari tank in Bhandara
Where the holy rivers meet
Millions of devotees travel to the Mahamaham tank every 12 years to wash away their sins in the holy rivers believed to converge in the tank. Posted on 01 Aug, 2016 07:53 PM

Temples in India have always had a water body near its premises. Whether it is a natural pond, a free-flowing river or a man-made tank, the water inside them seem to imbibe the sacredness associated with the temples, thereby becoming an integral part of the cultural, social and religious landscape of that area. 

Once every 12 years, pilgrims take a dip in the sacred tank where the holy rivers are believed to converge during the Mahamaham festival.
Rapar ends its long wait for water
How an arid, saline land where migration in search of water and jobs was a way of life, boasts of plenty of water now. Posted on 20 Jul, 2016 09:26 AM

Summer temperatures soar to a gruelling 50ocelsius in Rapar, a little known block in Gujarat’s Kutch district. Land here is dry, saline and arid; the monsoon is erratic. Many a times, the entire year’s rain falls in a short span of two or three days, doing more harm than good.

Rapar has many water structures now. (Source: Samerth Trust)
State does a Nero while Kharun weeps
Despite the pitiable state of a polluted Kharun, the government is keen on developing the riverfront to attract tourists. Posted on 18 Jul, 2016 09:30 AM

At sunrise, everything is luminous but not clear. 

― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

Kharun river at Mahadev Ghat, Raipur.
Pipara women realise pipe dream
Pipara village in the parched Bundelkhand region stands out for its uninterrupted water supply. The village has their women to thank for it. Posted on 01 Jul, 2016 12:03 PM

The cracks on the parched land of Bundelkhand are waiting for the monsoon to quench the thirst of its arid landscape. Despite the wide-spread drought here, Pipara, one of the villages in the region, stands apart as the only one that has not run completely dry. 

Women fill water from one of the taps at Pipara.
Farm ponds save village from drought
Tonk Khurd’s innovative farm ponds prove that when it comes to solving water crisis, one size does not fit all. Posted on 21 Jun, 2016 09:09 AM

Vikram Patel, a 71-year-old farmer in Chidavad village of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh is one of the first farmers to have embraced the idea of farm ponds to increase the groundwater level in his farm.

Vikram Patel near his farm pond in Chidavad.
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