Rainfall and other forms of Precipitation

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Information may be out of date

Arghyam has supported a Campaign for popularizing Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) in a flood prone region in North Bihar. The second phase of the Abhiyan has been designed based on the experiences from the first phase.

The following map from South Asia Network on Dams Rivers & People gives a schematic sketch of the Bagmati Breach site near Tajpur in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district.   

Queries, request for information & additional clarifications can be sought via the comments section.

Download here: Rapid assessment report - Tilak Tajpur Panchayat

The google map at this URL shows Runi Sayedpur and Sitamarhi, along national highway 77: http://tinyurl.com/lxwfmj

1) A presentation from the Central Water Commission of the Government of India studying the flood problem on the Bagmati and making some recommendations:

flood-management-in-bagmati-basin

Meteorological data is essential for water resource planning and research. In India, this data is difficult to obtain for the average citizen. In this application, entire datasets for various meteorological indicators from 1901 to 2002, for any part of India, is made available for users, in a simple format.

The research study was published in Down to Earth in March 2009 issue. The study describes how climate change is leading to a rising trend of short but intense spells of rainfall, which is making usable water scarce in India.

Guest Post by: Himanshu Thakkar, SANDRP

You may recall that following an appeal by SANDRP before the Central Information Commission, CIC had in January 2009 asked India Met Dept to review their policy and put up district wise monthly rainfall data for at least five years on its website. The relevant order of CIC can be seen here: CIC to IMD Review Info Policy and relevant Press Release from SANDRP can be seen at: CIC Directs IMD to Review Information Policy Now, IMD has put up the requested data on its website, see: http://imd.gov.in/section/hydro/distrainfall/districtrain.html IMD tells us that they are still in the process of collecting, collating the data and data of more districts would be uploaded as they are ready. We have also suggested to IMD to also provide annual figures (total of the monthly data) so that people get quick picture about the same. We also notice that links for some of the districts (e.g. Nalgonda in AP) are not working. Let us know if you have other feedback. We would like to thank all those who have also submitted their comments on the India Water Portal, supporting our position, the comments were submitted to IMD and CIC.