Groundwater

The availability of water, water requirement versus supply, water requirements for some major crops, groundwater exploitation, growth of population, and declining per capita water in the state of West Bengal are presented.

The groundwater related issues and problems the distrcit include:

"Gasping for Breath" is a study by Janhit Foundation on water pollution in the Hindon river of Western Uttar Pradesh. This substantial scientific report details the gross contamination of the Hindon River with heavy metals and pesticides, and the subsequent contamination of the underlying groundwater water aquifer that his has caused. Consumption of this contaminated groundwater as a drinking water source is shown to be having a devastating effect on the health of the local population. 

The School of Environmental Studies of Jadavpur University has studied the arsenic contamination for the last 19 years. Their website gives some of the details of their work -

Click here

This paper on Bundelkhand from their Water and Sanitation Perspective series of WaterAid presents how ecological degradation and faulty policies make drinking water scarce and less accessible.

Information may be out of date

A visual directory of some rainwater harvesting installations in Bangalore is attached below. There are links to descriptions and photos of many of the structures. You are welcome to submit more entries to this map, and start similar maps for other cities in the country.

These guidelines by the Bureau of Indian Standards (1994) deal with the location, operation and maintenance of tube and borewells. Proper tubewell and borewell design, its construction and development considerably improves the long-term performance of the tubewell and reduces the chances of clogging of screen, sand content in water, contamination of water and other failures.

The Borewell FAQ, Part I & II, are meant to provide a primer on the basics related to all aspects of borewells. A well compiled document, it also give links to relevant queries and provides a much needed starting point for all those contemplating a borewell !