This guide by the Water and Sanitation Program and the Ministry of Urban Development, is meant to enable municipalities and urban local bodies make informed decisions on sanitation technologies.

Poor sanitation facilities and the lack of sanitation facilities are a health hazard and exact a human toll on human health. Realising the magnitude of the problem and the resulting fallout, the Government of India has been increasing the funding for sanitation infrastructure via the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). However, money alone cannot solve the problem. Urban local bodies and municipalities need sound advice on technological options, planning and implementation to ensure that the money is well spent and the sanitation projects cater to the need of the target audience.

This study provides interventions to solving the sanitation crisis in the holy town of Pandharpur, situated on the banks of the Chandrabagha/Bhima river, in the state of Maharashtra, which receives more than 1.5 crore devotees annually. On any given day there are approximately 20,000 pilgrims in this Class B town. This vast floating population creates massive sanitation problems leading to environmental and hygiene issues.  The study forms part of the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board's 'Environmental Improvement Programme at Religious Places in Maharashtra' project.

This naturally results in two ill effects : (i) Increasing Pollution with untreated sewage and (ii) wasting of water, specially if it can be better treated and reused to an extent.

 Utility value of world’s freshwater resources like lakes and rivers are diminishing rapidly due to over exploitation & pollution. Groundwater, an alternative to surface water is also a natural victim. The rate of ground water drawing versus its re-charge has already disturbed the natural aquifer equations.

Ministry of Earth Sciences, the nodal agency for promotion of Earth Sciences related studies in the country, plans to launch i) a major programme in Andaman & Nicobar Island to understand the geodynamics of the region and ii) to develop damage scenarios for various Urban centers that lie in the vicinity of Himalaya.

• Proposals are solicited from scientists/academicians working in relevant areas at different institutions in the country.  Proposals may be submitted to address any of the following issues:
  
  1. Crustal structure studies: delineation of deep structures by seismological (including ocean bottom seismometer), seismic, heat flow and gravity methods, and surface or shallow subsurface structures using GPR, shallow seismic, resistivity, geological methods, etc.