Rainwater Harvesting

In this presentation Debadutta Parida and Shivani Satpathy of CET Bhubaneshwar have taken up a 8.3 acre existing site in Rourkela with housing and residential use and an artificial pond to preserve groundwater, increase the water table level, prevent soil erosion and flooding.

A portable bicycle pump reduces the drudgery of transporting water to these homes. They also plan to implement grey and black water treatment systems with the assistance of industries in the vicinity that can use that water, or use the sewage waste to generate biogas.

The national seminar on “Changing geohydrological scenario in the hard rock terrain in India”, was jointly organised by the Geological Society of India, Department of Mines and Geology, Central Ground Water Board, Karnataka Jal Biradari and Karnataka Institute of Cooperative Management.

"Innovations in Microfinance" Series

A debate on Private Sector approaches to Water Management for the poor provides a unique opportunity to learn about private sectro microfinance approaches to water management that have been used for a range of purposes from purchasing household water connections and clean water storage units, like rainwater harvesting tanks to the construction of household latrines.

The debate sponsored by the Citi Foundation & Arc Finance is to be held at the New York Asia Society and Museum. The event can also be accessed via a free live video webcast. More details below the fold.

Approximately 1.1 billion people lack clean water supplies and 2.7 billion have no access to proper sanitation. To combat conditions that lead to sickness and disease, low income families across Asia are asking for clean water and improved sanitation to keep their families healthy and productive. Sophisticated modern piped water networks are too expensive for most developing countries and poor people living in the slums often pay 5 to 10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city. Sensing a business opportunity, microfinance organizations are beginning to explore the market for making water more accessible to the poor.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Nitya Jacob, UN

Dr Kurien Baby, District Collector of Trissur, Kerala, and Solution Exchange Water Community are organizing a regional meeting to discuss the effects of the Mazhapolima program. The dates are 16-17 June 2009, and it will be held in Trissur.

Background

Kerala has among the highest well densities in India, and 71% of the population depends on them for drinking water. The aggregate household investment in the state on wells is pegged at Rs 1800 crore and they have a combined yield potential of 6.6 million cu m per day. That works out to a water availability of 197 litres of water per capita per day (lpcd), well above the government's prescribed norm of 140 lpcd. These wells are threatened. Despite an annual rainfall of 3,000 mm, 70% go dry in summer. The surface runoff is heavy, and therefore groundwater levels in several blocks have fallen sharply, and coupled with saline intrusion at an accelerated pace, have led to water quality problems.

Mr. S.S. Ranganathan, author of this guest post, is a retired senior executive of Ion Exchange and currently a consultant based in Bangalore.

He can be reached at: ss.ranganathan@gmail.com , +91-9343734229

WATER SECURITY FOR THE RESIDENTS OF APARTMENTS & GATED COMMUNITIES -  S.S.Ranganathan

This presentation describes the efforts made by Carrier Aircon, Gurgaon at water conservation. This paper and board manufacturer has brought about a reduction in specific water consumption from 173 cu m/MT of paper (2003-04) to 130 cu m/MT of paper (2006-07), while waste water discharge over the same period has come down from 169 cu m/MT to 103 cu m/MT.

Mr. P. Ganesh of Ayyappa Aqua Solutions has invented a technique of lowering a camera with a flashlight down a borewell hole in order to understand what is going on inside. (Mr. Ganesh specializes in hydrofracturing which is a process of using high pressure water to crumble rock and open up fissures in order to rejuvenate borewells that have gone dry).

This presentation describes Hindalco's Renukoot operations, which included a watershed management project aimed at benefiting farmers of 30 villages in this hilly area where around 65% of the population lives below the poverty line.

This page provides information on the Jala Samvardhane Yojana Sangha (JSYS) site developed by Ministry of Water Resources, Government of Karnataka.