Rainfall and other forms of Precipitation

These guidelines by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on management of landslides and snow avalanches aim to reduce the enormous destructive potential of landslides and minimize the consequential losses by institutionalizing the landslide hazard mitigation efforts. 

It is necessary that the hazard must first be recognized, the risk analyzed and an appropriate strategy developed at the national level to mitigate its impact. To achieve this objective, the NDMA initiated a series of consultations for drafting the national guidelines on landslides and snow avalanches to guide the activities envisaged for mitigating the risk emanating from landslides at all levels. The guidelines include regulatory and non-regulatory frameworks with defined time schedules for all activities. It is envisioned that all national and state disaster management plans and policies for landslides will be formulated and implemented keeping in view the overall framework of the guidelines.

This draft report on the study of lakes by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (India) documents the physical condition of the lakes in Mumbai. Apart from the three lakes - Tulsi, Powai and Vihar that used to provide water to Mumbai residents, there are many lakes in the Bombay Municipal Corporation jurisdiction that are either polluted by human sewage or industrial effluents and have remained neglected with increasing urbanization.

There is very little to no data available on the existence of lakes of Mumbai. Several RTI’s to the government bodies also revealed that there was a lacuna in terms of the availability of the data; as a result most of the water bodies are easily exploited. Under this study the baseline data was prepared with the help of Google Earth website. The areas appearing to be lakes were marked on the Google Earth Images. These were verified by the field staff through onsite visits. The survey was conducted during September and October, 2008 and March, 2009. The study considers only the fresh water lakes which were accessible and saline water impoundments have not been considered.

This paper by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reviews the success of zero-tillage wheat in the rice-wheat systems of the Indo-Gange

The MoEF discussion paper on Himalayan glaciers studies the phenomenon of glaciations and glacier dynamics, a phenomenon that has attained significant attention in recent years, on account of the general belief that global warming and climate change is leading to fast degeneration of glaciers in the Himalayas. It is argued that this would, in the long run, have an adverse effect on the environment, climate and the water.

Author: Jayanta Bandyopadhyay

This article published in the Seminar 626, October 2011 argues that our current state of knowledge of water systems and ecological modelling related to flows of water, which includes projecting a single quantitative figure of water requirements, is inadequate. Such a unilateral prescription of environmental flows or water requirements of aquatic systems as a method for the resolution of water conflicts may actually become the source of many new conflicts.

This report comprising a set of case studies by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) presents how environmental flows is dealt with in water resources policies, plans, and projects. It focuses on the integration of environmental water allocation into integrated water resources management (IWRM) and so fills a major gap in knowledge on IWRM.

This study by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) examines the global patterns and impacts of droughts through the mapping of several drought-related characteristics – either at a country level or at regular grid scales. Characteristics cover various aspects of droughts – from global distribution of meteorological and hydrological drought risks to social vulnerability and indices related to water infrastructure.

It takes apple as an indicator crop to investigate the positive and negative effects of climate change on farm economy. The research is a field study to determine the agricultural and socioeconomic impact of climate change on the farmers apple economy of the Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Article Courtesy : Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO)

Author : Ranjan Panda

These large structural engineering solutions not only are obsolete but undermine the importance of ‘integrated flood management’. Time we grow up and design ways to live with floods again.

The work of repair and rehabilitation begins now. Assessments are being done of the assistance –and funds- needed in these two states.

Sikkim is beginning to assess the full extent of the damage caused by the 18th September earthquake. In addition to the loss of life, livelihoods have been severely impacted. The earthquake is also raising questions about the safety of the many dams planned on the Teesta.