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)
Farmer suicide cases decrease: Govt data
News this week Posted on 20 Dec, 2017 11:22 AM

Government data shows decreasing suicide trend among farmers for the second consecutive year

A farmer in his field. (Source: India Water Portal)
India faces superbugs
Superbugs can not only render antibiotics useless but lead to prolonged suffering and death in humans. Focus on better sanitation and public awareness is the need of the hour. Posted on 20 Dec, 2017 10:53 AM

There is a huge dearth of cleanliness in India--open defecation is rampant; garbage management in most cities is in shambles; toxic hospital and industrial wastes and sewage are allowed to drain into water sources and food products are laced with chemicals.

Highly polluted rivers such as the Yamuna can breed superbugs. (Source: IWP Flickr Photo)
Is it worth the salt?
Unregulated salt production near Sambhar lake is not just causing health problems among salt workers, it is also depleting groundwater and ruining the ecosystem of the wetland. Posted on 12 Dec, 2017 12:22 PM

The fields are silvery white with raw salt crusts in the vicinity of Nawa, a small town on the northwestern banks of Sambhar lake, India’s largest inland lake. Nawa lies about 90 kilometres east of Jaipur. Also an extensive saline wetland and a Ramsar site, the blinding white salt flats stretch as far as one can see.

Ramachander Singh, a salt worker who has been raking salt for decades now at this salt pan or kyari dotting the lake bed of Sambhar, Rajasthan.
World Culture Festival ruined Yamuna floodplains: NGT
Policy matters this week Posted on 12 Dec, 2017 11:54 AM

Art of Living responsible for destroying the Yamuna floodplains: NGT

The front view of the giant stage under construction for the World Culture Festival. (Source: Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan)
Soil health is declining in India: Report
News this week Posted on 12 Dec, 2017 11:24 AM

Carbon content in India's soil decreases

India's soil health needs attention. (Source: IWP Flickr photo)
Saving Chorao through its people
A new project tries to save the ecologically diverse Chorao island by including the inhabitants of the island in conservation efforts. Posted on 10 Dec, 2017 12:37 PM

Located just 5 km away from the capital city of Panaji, Chorao island, along the Mandovi river, is one of the largest islands in Goa. The island has a unique ecosystem that is different from the other sanctuaries in the state.

Chorao island (Source:GIZ)
Cyclone Ockhi hits south-west India
News this week Posted on 05 Dec, 2017 03:51 PM

Cyclone Ockhi makes landfall, affects Lakshadweep islands, Kerala and Tamil Nadu

A severe cyclonic storm in progress. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Does sanitation really matter to us?
Complete sanitation is important for everyone. A collective effort is needed to make it happen. Posted on 04 Dec, 2017 04:05 PM

Social media has brought the world to our desktop where information is available at the click of a button. The issues now are not just related to a particular community, region, state, or country; they are global. We get attached to them directly or indirectly and share our opinions on them, which is an easy and powerful way to contribute towards addressing issues we care about.

An initiative to prepare women to be sanitation ambassadors to provide strength to sanitation drives in their villages.
For a better Bandi
Mahaveer Singh Sukarlai was awarded the Bhagirath Prayas Samman at the India Rivers Day 2017 for his valiant effort to safeguard the integrity of the Bandi river in Pali. Posted on 01 Dec, 2017 05:12 PM

A seasonal river in Pali, Rajasthan, the Bandi is nothing short of a sewer. The textile town has witnessed rampant industrial growth, raw sewage discharges and toxic contamination of its waters. The river, which is devoid of lean season flow, is polluted up to 55 km downstream. The river water is unfit for drinking as well as irrigation.

Mahaveer Singh Sukarlai speaks at the India Rivers Day.
Palk Bay: Trawled and damaged
In the last of a two-part series on the importance of conserving the Palk Bay, a video shows how trawling is spelling doom to the ecology of the bay. Posted on 28 Nov, 2017 04:05 PM

The Palk Bay is an ecological paradise located between the island nation of Sri Lanka and the South East Peninsula India. The region separates the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu from the northern parts of Sri Lanka.

The Palk Bay (Source: GIZ)
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