Demand and Consumption

Featured Articles
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)
Ice stupas, the contested water towers of Ladakh
While ice stupas have been hailed as sustainable solutions to the water problems of Ladakh’s villages, the locals think otherwise. Posted on 24 Oct, 2019 04:38 PM

Ladakh, the arid Himalayan desert, is a high elevation borderland located close to the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir, in India. Water here originates from glaciers in the high altitude mountains that tower over Ladakh’s villages. Simple earthwork irrigation channels tap meltwater from streams that originate from these glaciers.

Ice Stupas near Phyang monastery (Image Courtsey: Sumita Roy Dutta, Wikimedia Commons)
How farm ponds in Madhya Pradesh are building agricultural resilience
An intern with Watershed Organisation Trust narrates his field experience from the villages of Madhya Pradesh, where farmers are using farm ponds to conserve water. Posted on 24 Oct, 2019 12:33 PM

Madhya Pradesh, promoted as 'The Heart of India' by the state's tourism board is aptly named so because of its central location. The campaign made me keen to visit the state, for the last many years.

A farm pond constructed by Sheshrao Dhurve in Karaghat Kamti village of Madhya Pradesh
In conversation with K. J. Joy of SOPPECOM
In this interview, Joy talks about his work as an activist working in rural Maharashtra, and how he came to work on water conflicts in India. Posted on 21 Oct, 2019 10:41 AM

To many in the water sector, K. J. Joy needs no introduction. An activist at heart, Joy is known for his untiring rights based work in mobilising communities in rural Maharashtra, and for his research work on water and water related conflicts including inter-state riparian water conflicts.

KJ Joy speaks at a felicitation for the late Professor Ramaswamy Iyer.
From droughts to floods: India’s tryst with climate extremes
Deconstructing the traditional narrow engineering based policy discourses around floods and droughts and connecting them to social and cultural realities is the need of the hour in India. Posted on 01 Oct, 2019 11:54 AM

India has witnessed extreme weather conditions this year. While parts of the north and south have battled drought like conditions this summer, the northeast and western coastal areas witnessed heavy rains and floods.

Water talk Series at Mumbai (Image Source:Tata Insitute of Social Sciences)
Solving the energy conundrum
Some lessons for transition to small scale solar energy in rural areas from the work of MAJLIS, a collective of dalit and adivasi women in Madhya Pradesh. Posted on 30 Sep, 2019 08:10 PM

Access to electricity is a key metric in development. In rural areas, getting on to the grid is a major step forward, improving literacy rates, agricultural productivity and overall household income. However, providing access to power derived from traditional sources like coal, diesel and hydropower, are proving unsustainable in the short and long term.

There has to be a policy shift for decentralised off grid or distributed generation catering to small communities. (Image: MAJLIS)
The Water Future Conference in Bangalore: Towards a Sustainable Water Future
The recently concluded 4 day conference in Bangalore looked at the current state of global water resource challenges & future pathways to achieve the SDGs, while ensuring equity in access to all. Posted on 30 Sep, 2019 12:38 PM

The Water Future Conference in Bangalore last week, saw many from the scientific community, academia, research, civil society and the media come together to discuss the state of water resources across the world and in India, as well as future pathways and scenarios, and different technological a

Charles Vorosmarty, Chair, COMPASS Initiative, Water Future at the opening plenary on advanced water system assessments to address water security challenges of the 21st century.
India’s deepening water crisis
Making false doomsday claims of a water crisis could support problematic mega solutions, which could lead to more problems. Posted on 25 Sep, 2019 02:50 PM

The last few months have seen much debate and discussion on the fast approaching Day Zero, with claims that taps in 21 major Indian cities will dry up.

India's demand for water will exceed supply by a factor of two by 2030, as per a NITI Aayog report (Image: Vinoth Chandar, Flickr Commons (CC BY 2.0))
Farm ponds change farmers’ fortunes
While farm ponds in Jharkhand have helped farmers increase yields, they have also exposed them to the risk of price fluctuations, highlighting the need for ‘beyond the farm’ interventions. Posted on 13 Sep, 2019 01:09 PM

While enhanced irrigation coverage has been hailed as an important way to improve agricultural productivity, it continues to lag behind in India and agriculture continues to be rainfed, subject to the vagaries of the monsoon.

Farm ponds are one way to deal with water scarcity (Image Source: India Water Portal Flickr photos)
How to restrict crops to geographically sustainable areas: The case of arecanut in Tumkur
Arecanut farmers in Karnataka are reeling from dipping groundwater levels and infrequent water supply for irrigation. In this article, some solutions are proposed. Posted on 13 Sep, 2019 12:19 PM

Arecanut is generally grown in the Malnad area of Karnataka, which receives high rainfall. However, it is also grown in dry land areas of Tumkur district, also in Karnataka, using groundwater.

Young arecanut trees grown in drylands of Tumkur region (Gubbi Taluk, Hodalur Village) Pic Credit: Chandana Eswar
How local democracy is solving water issues in southern Rajasthan
People come together to dig community ponds in Dungarpur, to fight water scarcity. Posted on 09 Sep, 2019 09:48 AM

While most parts of the country are facing a water crisis, here’s a case from the arid state of Rajasthan, where decentralized initiatives are solving water issues. Dungarpur in southern Rajasthan has exemplified how community participation with local level planning processes are working towards improving rainwater harvesting and recharge of groundwater.

Community pond in Doja after the first pre-monsoon rain. Pic credit: Rajat Kumar
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