Urban Water

Featured Articles
November 6, 2022 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 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 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 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 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 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)
Providing safe drinking water, in difficult times!
How does Piramal Sarvajal plan to deal with the water crisis in the country? Posted on 24 Apr, 2020 03:36 PM

Piramal Sarvajal, seeded by the Piramal Foundation in 2008, is a mission driven social enterprise which designs and deploys innovative solutions for creating affordable access to safe drinking water in underserved areas.

Safe drinking water, in difficult times (Image Source: PIramal Sarvajal)
Facing up to the water crisis
Conservation measures such as rainwater harvesting and recharging of groundwater need to be generally well established in both rural and urban areas. Posted on 24 Apr, 2020 11:58 AM

The conventional freshwater sources available in India are being currently overexploited, leading to widespread environmental degradation and depletion of freshwater resources especially groundwater. To sustain the needs of an increasing population and ecology, our consumption of water far exceeds the rate at which we are recharging water sources.

Water conservation measures invariably have a positive effect on water quality and the environment (Image: Joel Bassuk / Oxfam; Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
WASH in the times of COVID-19
Government of Maharashtra and UNICEF Mumbai are training frontline workers to tackle the spread of COVID-19. Posted on 17 Apr, 2020 10:08 PM

Maharashtra has the highest COVID-19 cases in the country and the government is taking a slew of measures to flatten the curve. We speak to Mr.

Students handwashing with soap (Image: World Bank, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Lockdown to cause severe water stress in summers
News this week Posted on 16 Apr, 2020 11:27 AM

Summer of 2020 could suffer from severe water stress due to lockdown

Women bringing water from distance sources in summers (Source: IWP Flickr photos))
From policy to practice: Can National Water Policy 2020 bridge the gap?
The new policy needs to build context specificity and have enabling mechanisms for equitable resource allocation. Posted on 11 Apr, 2020 07:46 PM

The way water as a resource has been viewed in the policies of India has evolved significantly over the years. Reduction in per capita availability over the years (5177 to 1463 cubic metres between 1950-2015) has forced every new policy to change the way it has approached its management. It was considered an economic commodity in the second National Water Policy (NWP) drafted in 2002.

Women extracting water from the riverbed, Gaya (Image: ICIMOD/ Prasanta Biswas; Flickr Commons)
Guidelines to handle COVID-19 biomedical waste are out
Policy matters this week Posted on 08 Apr, 2020 01:10 PM

CPCB releases guidelines to handle COVID-19 biomedical waste

Biomedical waste. Image for representation only (Source: Vivien Rolfe via Flickr)
A national action plan to ensure sustainable and responsible business on the anvil
Policy matters this week Posted on 23 Mar, 2020 12:19 PM

Centre to finalise National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights

An industrial area in Chhattisgarh (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Clean water, a crucial weapon to combat COVID -19
The recent COVID -19 pandemic highlights the important role that access to clean water can play in dealing with such diseases in the future. Posted on 21 Mar, 2020 04:32 PM

This month has been seeing a different kind of a scare world over, that of the deadly corona virus pandemic that has been spreading rapidly, infecting people and leading to a rising number of deaths in numerous countries.

Is our tap water really safe? (Image Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Groundwater in 30 districts in Delhi-NCR contaminated, reveals 2019 data
News this week Posted on 12 Mar, 2020 02:31 PM

30 districts in Delhi-NCR had contaminated groundwater in 2019: Water Minister

A resident in Delhi with her extracted groundwater (Source: IWP FLickr photos)
Women lead the way in water quality surveillance
Why women need to be trained and engaged in monitoring and surveillance of water quality at the community level in rural India? Posted on 06 Mar, 2020 01:45 PM

Historically, water is a gendered burden, with women being the primary caregivers responsible for cooking, washing and cleaning chores in the house and in modern times in institutions (teachers, anganwadi and healthcare workers). Women have traditionally been associated with various water related tasks - be it collecting, fetching, or purifying water.

Organised under WaterAid India’s partnership with GAP, water testing workshop (2019) held in Indore district aimed at training women and youth to lead the entire process of community water management – from planning to supply, operations and maintenance and to educate communities on water-quality issues. (Image: WaterAid India/Ashima Narain)
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