Demand and Consumption

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November 8, 2020 The National Hydrology Project has created a national platform for water data and is working to enhance the technical capacities of agencies dealing with water resources management.
Breakthrough cloud computing facilities and remote sensing applications have helped showthe filling pattern of a water body (tank or reservoir) through freely available satellite imagery at an interval of five days.  (Image: Maithan dam, Wikimedia Commons)
December 13, 2019 A study highlights the need to scale down the export of rice, maize, buffalo meat and other items to conserve groundwater in India.
A farmer uses a hosepipe to irrigate crops at her farm in Nilgiris mountains, Tamil Nadu (Image: Hamish John Appleby for IWMI, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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
November 18, 2019 Bangalore's water utility is understaffed, under financed and unable to service the city's water needs.
Image credit: Citizen Matters
October 25, 2019 Groundwater use has doubled in Pune. Comprehensive mapping of groundwater resources and better management and governance is the need of the hour.
Groundwater, an exploited resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
October 24, 2019 While ice stupas have been hailed as sustainable solutions to the water problems of Ladakh’s villages, the locals think otherwise.
Ice Stupas near Phyang monastery (Image Courtsey: Sumita Roy Dutta, Wikimedia Commons)
Alwar homes, farms and factories fight for water
Water conflict in Rajasthan’s Alwar district is not just between upstream and downstream users; it is also between users with domestic, agricultural and industrial needs. Posted on 07 Jun, 2018 11:46 AM

Lewari, a village located around 17 km from Alwar in Rajasthan, is the site of a water conflict these days. “The production of Jayanti jaljeera, haazme ka lalantop drink (a digestive drink) has left our village parched,” says Nanak Singh, a resident.

Operation of sluice outlet of Siliserh lake is marked by chaos and conflict among various interest groups.
Not enough water, villagers look for solution
Chhattisgarh’s Bemetara district has been facing severe water shortage for a while now. Rainwater harvesting could be a solution to this. Posted on 25 May, 2018 06:03 PM

There seems to be no end to the drinking water crisis in the Bemetara district in Chhattisgarh. It is only becoming worse with every passing day. More than 40 percent of all the hand pumps installed in the district have run dry due to the depletion of groundwater level.  

Women of Bagledi struggle to get a pot of drinking water from one of the four stand posts.(Pics: India Water Portal)
Where the mind is without fear
Phoolbasan Yadav’s journey towards empowering women in Chhattisgarh is an inspiring one. Posted on 09 May, 2018 08:49 PM

Phoolbasan Yadav from the remote Sukaldaihan village in the Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh shot to fame for her untiring effort in empowering the women of her village. "Since my childhood, I had experienced extreme poverty and hunger, and I feel that similar is the plight of lakhs of women in the country.

Phoolbasan Yadav (right) receives Padmshree from President Pratibha Patil in 2012.
Call for Admissions for Graduate Program of Water Science and Policy 2018 at Shiv Nadar University
A first of its kind academic program offering a multi-disciplinary perspective on water with a special focus on policy and practical solutions.
Posted on 08 May, 2018 03:59 PM

Entering its second year, the Graduate Program of Water Science and Policy 2018 at Shiv Nadar University envisages a multi-disciplinary classroom, engagement and content delivered by some of the best minds globally – experts on water who have worked on ground realities, made policies and initiated change.

Anicuts affect Mahanadi's flow
While the three anicuts on the Mahanadi are hampering its free flow, another one is being planned by the government. Posted on 26 Apr, 2018 01:02 PM

Gopal Nishad, a fisherman in his early 40s, is frustrated that there is hardly any fish left in the Mahanadi’s basin at Pitaibandh due to the lack of water in the basin. This basin is located near Rajim-Nawapara in Chhattisgarh, the proposed site for the fourth anicut on the Mahanadi.

Anicut on the Mahanadi basin at Rajim-Nawapara (Source: India Water Portal)
Uttarakhand braces itself for dry days
More than 1000 villages of the state are expected to be affected by a severe water crisis. Posted on 20 Apr, 2018 08:09 PM

Lokesh Verma, a farmer from Nainital’s Chanfi village, says this is the third year in a row that he is bearing losses in agriculture. “I have lost around Rs 2 lakh and there’s a debt of Rs 70,000 to pay off. I grow strawberries, guavas and peas in my 15 bighas of land, but there is not enough water in the hills to irrigate crops properly,” he says.

Lokesh Verma at his farm. (Pic courtesy: 101Reporters)
Sharing water, reaping benefits
This study finds that smallholder farmers who undertake group micro irrigation through pooling of land and water resources greatly benefit through increase in productivity and profit margins. Posted on 14 Apr, 2018 05:06 PM

Agriculture is of central importance to India’s economy with more than half of the workforce in the country depending on it for their livelihoods. However, it is increasingly being threatened due to climate-change-induced changing rainfall patterns and water scarcity having a negative impact on production.

Sprinkler irrigation in Narayanganj block, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh (Image Source: WOTR)
Power play chokes Korba
The video tells the story of residents of Korba and nearby villages who are affected by the fly ash from power plants which makes Korba the fifth critically polluted area in the country. Posted on 11 Apr, 2018 02:05 PM

Korba in Chhattisgarh is an industrial area which has a significant number of coal mines and thermal power plants. Fly ash is a byproduct of the thermal power plants and has become a significant problem for the residents of Korba now.

Fly-ash dust at CSEB thermal power plant in Korba.
Seven reasons why Bengaluru can still run out of water
Citizen Matters looks at what the city should do to manage its water better. Posted on 05 Apr, 2018 03:20 PM

A recent BBC report projected that Bengaluru will run out of water soon.

Image courtesy bwssb.org
New technique to monitor coastal landforms
Better surveillance systems will help to keep a check on the excessive exploitation of coastal resources. Posted on 05 Apr, 2018 01:43 PM

Indian scientists have developed a remote sensing technique that uses satellite data to delineate between various coastal landforms like beaches, mangroves and marshes. This method can help monitor and understand impacts of natural disasters as well as human activities on coastal ecosystem.

The new system will help monitor and understand impacts of natural disasters as well as human activities on coastal ecosystem. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
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