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September 1, 2021 Best practices for holistic urban water management in Chennai Metropolitan Area
These bright plastic jugs are ubiquitous in Chennai and Tamil Nadu. (Image: McKay Savage, Flickr Commons; CC BY 2.0)
December 26, 2019 Policy matters this week
The Mandovi river disputed between Karnataka and Goa (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
December 6, 2019 A report by the India Rivers Forum highlights the need to focus further than the main stem of the Ganga river.
Distant snow clad mountains, the smaller hills and the Ganga river (Image: Srimoyee Banerjee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
December 4, 2019 To adapt well & build resilience, climate change strategies need to factor in efforts towards water security, writes Vanita Suneja, Regional Advocacy Manager (South Asia), WaterAid.
Image credit: WaterAid/Prashanth Vishwanathan
December 2, 2019 A study highlights the barriers to harnessing India's potential for wind energy.
Windmills in Karnataka, India. Picture credit: India Water Portal
Piped water scheme changes the lives of Odisha villagers
Bandhabhuin village went from having 1 handpump for 400 people to 7, toilet facilities in 55% of the houses and had an overall improvement in its social and economic fabric. Posted on 19 Sep, 2015 05:55 PM

In India, about Rs.70,000 crore 

Anup Munda showing his functional toilet at Bandha Bhuin
Bisalpur revisited--10 years after protesters were shot, killing 5
Despite many plans, neither rural nor urban are water secure thanks to the Bisalpur Dam since it was constructed in 2007. Posted on 10 Sep, 2015 01:20 PM

Ten years ago five farmers were shot protesting the diversion of waters from Bisalpur dam to Jaipur city, located about 130 kms away.

Kisan Sewa Samiti, Chaksu struggling for drinking water allocation from Bisalpur dam (Source: CECODECON)
Water problems with quality and access plague Sambalpur, Odisha
Groundwater in Talabeda village in Sambalpur, Odisha has high concentrations of iron but more urgently, its water supply system is dysfunctional for the last 2 weeks due to electricity issues. Posted on 27 Aug, 2015 04:00 PM

It's been more than 15 days and the drinking water crisis in Talabeda village in Sambalpur, Odisha is yet to be addressed. The water supply system of the village collapsed due to a fault in the transformer located within the premises of the Talabeda pump house, and no one has the time to fix this and restart the water supply system. 

The colour of the tiles around the public stand-post at Talabeda, Odisha have changed from white to red due to iron contamination.
The curious case of Kolkata's missing water bodies
The city which has close to 5000 water bodies has lost 44% in the last two decades, says Mohit Ray of Vasundhara, a group working on environmental and human rights issues in an interview. Posted on 25 Aug, 2015 12:26 PM

Mohit Ray of Vasundhara has written two books--"Five Thousand Mirrors: The Water Bodies of Kolkata”

Bhukailash - a water body in Kolkata; Image: Mohit Ray
Colourful fabrics lead to murky waters
The textile printing cluster at Sanganer near Jaipur presents a Catch-22 situation on the right to pollution free water versus the right to livelihoods. Posted on 17 Aug, 2015 09:55 PM

Amanishah nallah flowing through Sanganer, a town located 15 kms from Jaipur, is getting murkier by the day as the the textile hand printing industry in the area is getting more prosperous.

Bleaching, dyeing and printing of cottons causes water pollution at Sanganer
Delhi’s Bhalaswa landfill contaminates groundwater
The landfill, which was supposed to be shut down in 2010 once the trash reached a height of 22m still remains functional at a height of 41m, polluting groundwater and areas around it. Posted on 17 Aug, 2015 09:51 PM

With more than 8360 tons of trash created daily in Delhi, the city has three trash pile sites at Bhalaswa, Ghazipur and Okhla. In these sites technically known as landfills, garbage is buried between layers of earth to build up low-lying lands.

Pushpa has been leading the struggle of Bhalaswa residents to clean water
Nagpur Municipal Corporation in troubled waters
Nagpur's woes due to water privatisation aren't unique. More than 54 private sector participation projects across the globe are in the same boat. Posted on 05 Aug, 2015 09:41 AM

The Maharashtra State Accountant General (AG) recently exposed the hidden agenda of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and its so-called best Public-Private Partnership model with regards to Nagpur's water supply.

No 24x7 water supply for Nagpur
Why did Urmila have to suffer?
Although fluoride contamination was identified in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh a decade ago. children of some villages still continue to fall victim to skeletal and dental fluorosis causing bone deformities. Posted on 27 Jul, 2015 08:11 PM

Urmila can neither walk upright, nor run about, nor do her chores easily. She is loved in her parents' house and they do not grudge her the extra care she requires. In rural India, this state of affairs does not last long for a girl, especially since she's only six years old. 

Children dance during the inaugration of the safe water supply system in Kalapani, Madhya Pradesh
Flawed embankment strategy converts Bihar into a watery grave
The engineering solutions put in place to tackle the issue of floods has created more problems than solutions in Bihar, says Dinesh Mishra in an interview. Posted on 27 Jul, 2015 02:31 PM

Dr. Dinesh Kumar Mishra of Barh Mukti Abhiyaan, an authority on the river network of North Bihar speaks to India Water Portal about the flood problems, the skewed flood control policy of the Government, the Kosi breach of 2008 and the gargantuan interlinking of rivers project.

Floods in Bihar (Source: Usha Dewani, IWP)
Hindon clean-up, a prerequisite to cleaning the Ganga
The pollution rates of the river Hindon are alarming. Despite work by conservation groups, the efforts on the part of the government to fix the problem remain uncertain. Posted on 22 Jul, 2015 11:17 AM

Come monsoon and the situation in the Hindon river is truly troubling. Large stretches of the river continue to suffer toxic contamination.

The polluted Hindon (Source: Hindi Water Portal)
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