Contamination, Pollution and Quality

Featured Articles
December 16, 2022 In this article, we will understand how the WQM course is continuing to influence the needs of learners that come from diverse backgrounds. The course model also offers core insights to many others who would like to engage in a virtual training program.
During a WQM course, a field team member from INREM facilitating a demonstration
September 9, 2022 Highlights from a new report released by iFOREST
An old coal-fired power plant has been dumping vast quantities of ash out in the open for many years. (Image: Lundrim Aliu/ World Bank; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
September 5, 2022 In an attempt to present a perspective on how rivers are used and abused, a map of the Bengaluru rivers illustrate how waste flows through natural river corridors, polluting the rivers and altering their status.
Vrishabhavathi river flow at Thagachguppe Bridge, Kumbalgodu (Image Source: Paani.Earth)
August 27, 2022 Study looks at microplastic types in lakes of Ladakh
(Vinay Goel, Wikimedia Commons)
August 19, 2022 Better access to clean water coupled with health education to bring about changes in behaviour are critical to prevent exposure to dangerous cholera bacteria that lurk in untreated waters.
The hidden threat of cholera in India (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
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)
River Sharavathi - under siege from microplastics
A study finds that microplastic pollution in the river Sharavathi originating in the Western Ghats is growing. Urgent efforts to protect this biodiversity hotspot are needed. Posted on 16 Dec, 2022 01:32 PM

Rivers worldover are choking on plastic and transferring more than two million tonnes per year of microplastics (MPs) into the marine environment informs this paper titled 'Assessment of pollution and risks associated with microplastics in the riverine sediments of the Western Ghats: a heritage site in southern I

The pristine river Sharavathi (Image Source: Ashwin Kumar via Wikimedia Commons)
Water Quality Management Course - Not just a training program
In this article, we will understand how the WQM course is continuing to influence the needs of learners that come from diverse backgrounds. The course model also offers core insights to many others who would like to engage in a virtual training program. Posted on 16 Dec, 2022 01:05 PM

The journey of the Water Quality Management (WQM) Course into a movement with over 1500 WaterQualityChampions’ (WQC) across the country is curious and exciting. The course is enabling participants into “Water Quality champions” that even the course creators did not anticipate. Hence, it demands a closer introspection - into what went behind.

During a WQM course, a field team member from INREM facilitating a demonstration
Assessing the health of river Ganga
How are dams affecting the river Ganga? What are phytoplankton and how can they help assess health of rivers? What is the connection between dams, barrages, river flows and phytoplankton growth? Read this recent study to know more. Posted on 08 Dec, 2022 07:07 PM

Dams can bind and gag rivers 

Structures such as locks, dams, barrages, and weirs are known to drastically reduce the longitudinal connectivity of rivers, impact downstream flow, and alter riverine ecosystems.

The polluted Ganges (Image Source: Lane Rasberry via Wikimedia Commons)
Groundwater policy affects stubble burning in the north west
Shifting from monoculture to diversified crop pattern a solution to stubble burning Posted on 29 Oct, 2022 10:33 AM

An estimated 620 million tons of crop residue is generated annually in India, of which 16% is burnt in field.

Burning of rice residues in south east Punjab, prior to the wheat season(Image: CIAT/NeilPalmer via Flickr Commons)
Workshop: Biosand Water Filter (JalKalp) Technology
Posted on 13 Oct, 2022 06:39 PM

About the workshop

Workshop to build capacities on the biosand filter (Image source: Sehgal Foundation)
Pyrolysis-based decentralized biorefinery can reduce residue open burning
Biochar use as carbon sink or coal substitute determines the environmental impacts, as per the study Posted on 13 Oct, 2022 09:43 AM

Crop residues are an abundantly available lignocellulosic feedstock that can provide multiple value-added products in a biorefinery (Kamm, 2007). However, approximately 24% of the generated residue is burned in the fields in India (Ravindra et al., 2019). 

It was environmentally beneficial to treat biomass locally rather than in a centralized unit. (Image: Zack Dowell)
India's plastic ban fails to curb plastic pollution
News this fortnight Posted on 09 Oct, 2022 07:17 PM

Experts call India’s single use plastic ban weak, argue that it targets the most vulnerable

Plastic menace in Kufri, Himachal Pradesh (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
While floods occur, states fail to enforce floodplain zoning laws
Policy matters this fortnight Posted on 15 Sep, 2022 12:26 AM

Floodplain zoning law: Only three states and one UT enacted the law to mitigate floods

Monsoon in Trivandrum. Photo for representation only (Image source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Creating jobs while managing air quality
Highlights from a new report released by iFOREST Posted on 09 Sep, 2022 02:10 PM

On the occasion of the third International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST), hosted an event to highlight the importance of building capacity in India for air quality management.

An old coal-fired power plant has been dumping vast quantities of ash out in the open for many years. (Image: Lundrim Aliu/ World Bank; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Rivers of Bengaluru: A map-infographic reflects the rivers’ state
In an attempt to present a perspective on how rivers are used and abused, a map of the Bengaluru rivers illustrate how waste flows through natural river corridors, polluting the rivers and altering their status. Posted on 05 Sep, 2022 10:59 AM

Bengaluru rivers illustrated in a simple yet spatial way

Vrishabhavathi river flow at Thagachguppe Bridge, Kumbalgodu (Image Source: Paani.Earth)
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