Urban Water

Featured Articles
November 6, 2022
Decentralised urban water management in Chhattisgarh
A film that focuses on importance of communitarian in situ water management
People are struggling to get the quantity and quality of water in urban areas (Image: Makarand Purohit)
October 15, 2022
Evaluating WaSH conditions spatially at the panchayat level
Synthesis of water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) spatial pattern in rural India: an integrated interpretation of WaSH practices
People in rural areas lack potable water, and use unsafe sanitation and hygiene facilities (Image: Sebastian Dahl)
September 13, 2022
Chaos in a concrete jungle
Heavy rains and floods have battered Bengaluru yet again. Uncontrolled and unregulated development and concretisation of the city that pays no heed to the ecology and hydrology of the region needs to stop!
Urban flooding in Bangalore (Image Source: Thejas via Wikimedia Commons)
July 7, 2022
Slum land rights: A necessity for success of PMAY
PMAY needs policy commitment to rehabilitate slums in small and medium cities of Gujarat
Need for legal framework for land rights in small and medium cities of Gujarat under PMAY (Image: Homes in the City)
December 11, 2021
Counted, but not served?
Water remains inaccessible to the urban poor in the city of Mumbai as it continues to focus on developing new infrastructure to meet its very high per capita water needs. Why is this so?
Thirsty cities and the invisible poor (Image Source: Aathavan Jaffna via Wikimedia Commons)
July 19, 2021
Will urban India gain respite from its water woes?
Urban India is hurtling towards a major water crisis. What are the important considerations that the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) should take into account to meet the water needs in urban areas?
Will urban India get respite from its water woes? (Image Source: Aathavan Jaffna via Wikimedia Commons)
Riverbed off limits, farmers fume
With the sewage-fed vegetable cultivation on Yamuna riverbed banned, the farmers are worried about their livelihood.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 01 Aug, 2016 08:23 PM

Champa Devi has been working as a sharecropper on a two-acre farm at Nilothi village in west Delhi. Until a few years ago, the water she used for irrigation came from the Najafgarh drain that empties into the Yamuna river. This form of cultivation using waste water was a norm in the area till sometime ago.
Thousands of farmers like Champa Devi (in pic) who were growing edible crops or doing fodder cultivation on the riverbed and its floodplains took the brunt of the court’s decision.
State does a Nero while Kharun weeps
Despite the pitiable state of a polluted Kharun, the government is keen on developing the riverfront to attract tourists.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 18 Jul, 2016 09:30 AM

At sunrise, everything is luminous but not clear. 

― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
Kharun river at Mahadev Ghat, Raipur.
Once a drain, now a sewer
Barapullah drain, which was once a major drain in Delhi, is being clogged with human waste, thanks to the rapid growth the city is undergoing.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 05 Jul, 2016 09:33 PM

Originally a darya (creek), locally known as Nizammuddin darya, Barapullah is a key drain of Delhi today. Barapullah gets its name from a pul (bridge) built across it by the then emperor Jahangir's chief eunuch, Mihir Banu Agha.
Construction debris of the Barapullah flyover project chokes the nallah.
Centre releases draft of new National Forest Policy
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 25 Jun, 2016 08:50 AM

Environment ministry releases the draft of India’s new National Forest Policy
A forest area in Sikkim (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Delhi water tanker scam: Sheila Dixit to be probed
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 18 Jun, 2016 10:19 AM

Former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit to be probed in water tanker scam
Water tankers fill in water (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu fight over Cauvery water sharing
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 18 Jun, 2016 10:04 AM

Karnataka and TN at cross roads over Mekedatu river project
Cauvery river at Hogenakal, Karnataka (Source: IWP Flickr Photos via Claire Arni and Oriole Henri)
Art of Living pays NGT compensation
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 12 Jun, 2016 08:43 PM

Art of Living pays environment compensation
Front view of the giant stage at the World Culture Festival under construction in February, 2016 (Source: Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan)
Simhastha leaves farmers fuming
The festival has hordes of Ujjain farmers broke and the mighty Kshipra river troubled. Swift government action is needed to set things right.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 12 Jun, 2016 07:38 PM

Ramesh Mali, a farmer in his late thirties, looks at his farmland nervously. It has been 13 days since the Simhastha Maha Kumbh festival, 2016, concluded. The district administration had acquired his four bigha land (approximately 0.64 hectares) for the festival. The barricades and the concrete left on his land give us the idea that the land is not fit for farming this season.
Kshipra at Mangalnath Ghat, Ujjain
At Simhastha, govt fishes in Kshipra’s troubled waters
The state machinery’s face-saving measures during Simhastha saw Kshipra river carrying more muck in her than ever. While the river yearns for revival, the government seems keen on interlinking rivers.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 05 Jun, 2016 07:05 AM

The Madhya Simhastha Maha Kumbh festival, the religious extravaganza that happens once in every 12 years, was held in Ujjain from April 22-May 21, 2016.
Kshipra before Shahi Snan
Subarnarekha is dying. Who’s responsible?
The pitiful state of Subarnarekha stands testimony to the changing times. The river is being slowly killed by the greed of the rich and the apathy of the powerful.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 28 May, 2016 05:46 PM

It would not be an exaggeration to say Subarnarekha (Line of gold) is a film that left an indelible mark on Indian cinema. The film, by Ritwik Ghatak, is inspired by a river by the same name and narrates the reality around the river which flows through the present day Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, before draining into the Bay of Bengal.
India’s steel city dumps its waste into Subarnarekha, the river of gold
Subscribe to Urban Water
×