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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
The great Indian toilet tracker!
Does rural India have enough toilets? Which state has built the most toilets and which state is still backed up? Our visualisations of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan's data demystify it all! Posted on 16 Feb, 2014 10:57 PM

Women patiently wait for the sun to go down, to squat in open fields. Young children do so unabashedly on the roads under the open skies. Well into our 67th year of independence, the sanitation situation hasn't changed much in villages and towns across the nation.

Rural sanitation scheme - Progress & Performance
New crop insurance scheme for Pudukottai, TN
Policy matters this week: Crop scheme for Pudukottai gets govt. approval; Delhi govt. plans to revive defunct RWH system in schools; NGT orders vigil against illegal coastal sand mining. Posted on 10 Feb, 2014 07:06 PM

Pudukottai gets crop insurance scheme to mitigate nature's fury

Villagers planting paddy crops (Source: Wikipedia)
Mapping land and water resources in India
With rare maps of India including 'Annual Rainfall' map, 'Water Balance' map and 'Land Use' map, the land and the water resource development atlases are excellent sources of information. Posted on 27 Jan, 2014 01:18 PM

India’s mapping activity dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2500–1900 BCE) as per the famous geographer, Joseph E. Schwartzberg. His work is based on a couple of surveying instruments and measuring rods that were excavated from the Indus valley sites. Our mapping traditions were influenced by Vedic, Tibetan, Islamic and more recently, British cartography.

Water resources development in Gujarat (NATMO)
More people power equals more progress
Cuttack, in Odisha, overcame the bane of open defecation, dirty water and unclean surroundings thanks to participation and involvement by the locals. The 'Silver City' is now truer to its name. Posted on 20 Jan, 2014 09:42 AM

Clean surroundings, clean water and a clean toilet – as much as Cuttack, in Odisha is a thriving centre of trade and commerce, it lacked these three basic necessities. An exploratory survey was conducted in 2009 to understand why the city hadn't reached a better state of cleanliness.

Community based management (Source: NFI)
No 'paani' for the 'aam aadmi'?
The Delhi government has promised free water for those with piped, metered connections in the city, up to a certain level of usage. Is this new scheme sustainable and equitable? Posted on 17 Jan, 2014 12:50 AM

As one of his first orders of business, Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced a new water policy for Delhi-ites.

Water coming soon
Which way will the water flow?
The 12th Five Year Plan recognises that our current methods of water management have led to inequity. It suggests an approach that involves more input from non-government sources. Posted on 15 Jan, 2014 11:07 PM

In the 60-odd years since we began managing our own resources, we have managed to throttle and poison all our rivers, suck our groundwater resources nearly dry and shave our forests bald. This is despite a great deal of effort, time, thought and resources that have gone into this 'management'.

Ramaswamy Iyer, former Secretary Water Resources
Improved sanitation can reduce diarrhoea cases by 47%
Policy matters this week: Diarrhoea cases can come down with improved sanitation, SC tells Centre to appoint Regulator for environment matters and new water scheme for rural areas. Posted on 14 Jan, 2014 06:41 PM

Improved sanitation can reduce diarrhoea cases by 47%: World Bank

Sanitation means good health (www.thinkaboutit.eu)
Sikkim's citizens say NO! to dams
90% of people living around dams in Sikkim testify to environmental damage, increased hazards and decreased resources. Can their situation be changed? Posted on 13 Jan, 2014 02:18 PM

Hydropower is considered as 'green' power and the Sikkim Government's policy has been to synchronize development imperatives with conscious efforts on environment sustainability. This paper presents the results of a survey carried out among communities living along a 54-km long project affected stretch of the Teesta river.

Dams intensify the impact of earthquakes
Free water for the Capital
Policy Matters this week: AAP government in Delhi announces free water, nuclear plant in Haryana and hydel projects in Arunachal get green nod. Posted on 08 Jan, 2014 12:04 PM

Two days into power, AAP announced free water

Free water but for how long? (Source: Wikipedia)
Water News: 2013 in review
Beginning with the Kumbh Mela and moving on to natural disasters like the floods in Uttarakhand and the cyclone in eastern India, water made big news throughout 2013. Posted on 06 Jan, 2014 12:16 PM

Kumbh Mela left its trash behind

Shiva statue, Kedarnath (Source: ibtimes.co.uk)
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