Ecology and Environment

Report of steering committee on drinking water supply and sanitation for tenth five year plan

The ninth compendium of environment statistics 2007, brought out by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), provides data on five core parameters - land/soil, water, bio-diversity, atmosphere and human settlements. These statistics can be used to understand various aspects of the environment, and to explain the impact of economic activities on sustainable development as a whole and the environment in particular.

This site by the Ministry of Environment and Forests provides the list of legislations on environment, forests, and wildlife

Water quality standard sectiion

The water quality standards section on the site of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), contains data on limits/standards of various indicative water quality parameters, such as coliform, pH, dissolved solids, bod etc, for each designated water use (drinking, bathing etc).

Read the standards and also view this file for water quality and drinking water quality standards from www.groundwatertnpwd.org.in

Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic Resource: This article on the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) website, contains graphs indicating the water-source wise national water quality monitoring network data, water quality trend across different parameters (bod, coliform etc), and water quality trend (measured in terms of bod) in various rivers of India.

View the graphs

Environmental standards section

The environmental standards section of the Central Pollution Control Board website, contains more than 40 industry–specific effluent standards, ranging from battery manufacturing to thermal power plants.
Read the industry–specific standards
Under the same section, read through some of the more recently–notified industry– specific standards and some proposed industry–specific standards here
The CPCB is a national body formed to promote cleanliness of streams and wells in the country by prevention, control and abatement of water pollution, and to improve the quality of air and to prevent, control or abate air pollution in the country.
For more info, click here

17 most polluting industries in India

This site provides information on the list of 17 most polluting industries, identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (Ministry of Environment and Forests). The site provides information on the following sections:

Forwarded to the Portal by: Birke Otto

Image and Content Courtesy: Water Integrity Network 

The Water Integrity Network is seeking information on initiatives addressing corruption related to water and climate change for the Water Integrity Case Information Sheet series.

Case studies should address questions such as 

What obstacles are rendering water-related climate change adaptation strategies inadequate or inequitable?; What types of initiatives have been put in place to avoid or address climate-related water integrity issues (regulation, policy, monitoring, advocacy, project design, etc.)?; How do local, national, and international groups and organisations tackle such problems?; and What other special problems is climate change implicating for water integrity?

The deadline is 1 June 2009.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Himanshu Thakkar, SANDRP

Submission Sent to Prime Minister, DJB, Ministry of Water Resources & HP Govt.

A memorandum demanding the scrapping of the proposed Renuka Dam Project in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh was sent to the Prime Minister, Union Minister of Water Resources, the Delhi Jal Board, the Central Water Commission and the Ministry of Social Justice today by concerned environment groups as well as representatives of the dam affected communities. The 5 page detailed submission has made this demand on three basic grounds - technical/conceptual issues, environment implications and the social impacts of the project. Attacking the very root and concept of the project the memorandum highlights the point that the agreement that was signed in May 1994 is no longer valid, as per the opinion of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, since Rajasthan, one of the parties, did not sign the agreement. The Delhi Jal Board has admitted in response to an RTI application that no options assessment has been done to arrive at the least cost option before taking up the Renuka dam proposal. Without such an assessment, taking up a proposal like the Renuka dam would be completely wrong and inappropriate use of public resources. Moreover, several Studies have proved that Delhi itself is thirsty not because there is shortage of water but actually due to mismanagement and misappropriation of water. According to the Performance Audit report of the Delhi Jal Board for 2008, Delhi has distribution losses of 40 per cent of total water supply which is abnormal and significantly higher than the acceptable norms of 15 per cent prescribed by the Ministry of Urban Development.

This report in two parts titled "Feasibility of Payments for Watershed Services" is an outcome of a literature review taken up as part of the India PES Project, a collaborative initiative of CISED and NIVA.

Image and Content Courtesy: Central Himalayan Rural Action Group

Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG) is a non-profit grass roots development organisation registered under Societies Act (1860). CHIRAG is dedicated to empowerment of rural communities through their integrated development and has been working in the Indian Central Himalayas since 1986.

CHIRAG & the Ford Foundation offers an opportunity to work with a rural development agency in India for a year in the following areas: 1. Primary education 2. Primary healthcare 3. Rural livelihoods 4. Environmental regeneration Eligibility:

Anyone between the ages of 21 and 28, with a graduate degree or a diploma (after 12th standard) and 2 years of work experience. Individuals who are likely to have examinations between July 2009 and June 2010 are not eligible. Leave will not be granted to take examinations during the year.

Water Initiatives Orissa(WIO) and the Indian River Network (IRN) organsied the Odisha River Conference during 18 - 20 April 2009 at Sambalpur, Odisha. Attended by about 75 participants which included activists, environmentalists, journalists, academicians, researchers and civil society representatives from across the country, the Conference has just concluded with a "Sambalpur Declaration" that calls for saving the rivers from the current fate of high rate of degradation and giving communities their traditional rights over the rivers, among other strong resolutions.