Surface Water

The Bagmati Calling : I am reporting from the south bank of the Bagmati near Benipur in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar.

The latest issue of SANDRP's newsletter contains the following: Solar Power Boom Bihar Floods 2007: Some lessons for everyone Power Options: New Look Required 11th Five Year Plan: Why it may not a

How polluted are our rivers? Assessments vary, but all point to serious contamination.

Sri. Dinesh Kr. Mishra reviews the relief efforts following the severe flooding of Bihar earlier this year. We have several earlier blog posts regarding the floods: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/blog/index.php/category/bihar-floods/

There is good news from the relief front from Bihar this year and that is definitely a healthy sign for future. It is there because for many years in the past, the relief scene used to be chaotic and 2004 flood relief scandal was the logical end of the goings on in relief distribution. A slight change for the better is greeted with cheers from all quarters. Providing relief is a state subject and the Central Government helps the states in some ways in managing relief to the flood victims. Twelfth Finance Commission has revised the standards set for relief under Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and recommended it to be effective from June this year (2007). It is intended to glance through the relief operations in Bihar in the backdrop of standards and recommendations set by the Government. Government of Bihar submitted a memorandum for assistance to the Central Government on 28th August 2007. By that time 9939 villages in 225 blocks of 20 districts with a population of 20.4 million was hit by floods. GoB anticipated that by the time the floods are over, some 25 million people would be hit by the current floods. Some 515 persons were killed in the floods (projected 600), 512,000 houses were destroyed (projected 6 lakhs) and standing crops over 16.4 lakh hectares was submerged till then. Besides, there was an extensive damage to National and State Highways, breaches in embankments, damage to health infrastructure, industries, fisheries, energy and cattle. GoB had put its losses at Rs 8000 Crores and requested the Government of India GoI for immediate help. Of the requested amount, over half the demand (Rs. 4,130 Crores) was from the Disaster Management Department (DMD) of the state to cover the costs of food assistance ( @ one quintal wheat/ rice for estimated 6 lakh families), house rebuilding grant, distribution of polythene sheets, emergency cooked food and deployment of helicopters etc. The other departments of the state have put their demands separately.

Madhu Ramaswamy follows up after several people expressed their appreciation of this series on the blog https://www.indiawaterportal.org/blog/index.php/2007/10/28/ganges-three-part-series-on-the-discovery-channel/ Our posting about Discovery Channel's television series 'Ganges' has attracted several responses from readers, some of whom are under the mistaken impression that we are associated with the series. We would like to clarify that India Water Portal was merely drawing viewers' attention to this highly interesting series. We are not (alas!) involved in its production. We'd like to hear from blog readers their thoughts about the series. We're also trying to contact Discovery ourselves. Viewers who wish to send in their comments on the series could also get in touch with Discovery Channel directly at this link: (http://www.discoverychannel.co.in/india/contact.htm) For an understanding of our role and activities in the water sector, please see our weblink: https://www.indiawaterportal.org/about/ According to the Discovery Channel website, the series will continue to air on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday next week.

Due to the heat from the Sun the water in the rivers, lakes and Oceans becomes water vapour. As this hot moist air rises into the sky the temperature gets reduced at 7oC per km height in the sky.

There isn't a lot of humour we have come across so far, in the water sector. Here is something though, from WASSAN (www.wassan.org) WASSAN has a set of cartoons on their site, based on their watershed project experiences.

(Image taken from the NASA page mentioned below) Several African basins, such as the Congo, Zambezi and Nile, show significant drying over the past five years. In the United States, the Mississippi and Colorado River basins show water storage increases during that time.

Following an 18-year legal battle, a great California river once given up for dead is on the verge of a comeback. For more on this inspirational example of river restoration through civil society efforts, see the Natural Resources Defense Council site. The example may be from America, but the inspiration is universal.

Ordering and other information about the book is here