Dr. G.D. Agrawal’s Fast Successful!!
Posted on July 2, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, News, Volunteer, River Watch
Image Courtesy: People’s Science Institute, Blog
We have been keenly following Prof.G. D. Agrawal’s Satyagraha to To Save the Bhagirathi from its inception. The highs and lows were covered in updates to the blog.
Finally his valiant efforts have paid off as he received a letter from the Government of India stating “The Government of India commits itself to ensuring perennial environmental flows throughout the Bhagirathi river.”. The Government has also decided to establish a high-level experts committee to recommend how this will be done. The committee will submit its report in three months.
Read the Press Release
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Environmental Flows - A Perspective from the Government
Posted on July 2, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, River Watch
Parineeta Dandekar’s earlier post on environmental flows, triggered several responses and we have initiated a discussion forum post on the topic. Mr. Chetan Pandit of the National Water Academy, Pune, has a detailed note on it, critiquing the original post, and adding several new points to take the discussion forward.
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Apropos Ms. Parineeta Dandekar’s post on environmental flows I fully agree with her very last observation “where is the water” [for environmental flows]. Had she addressed that in the beginning of her post, then her post should have taken an entirely different direction, and this longish reply wouldn’t have been necessary.
Before I proceed, I must record my strong protest with her giving credence to WWF statement, “over-extraction for agriculture in the Ganga Basin has caused the reduction in surface water resources”. There is no agreed definition of what is “over extraction” and WWF is no one to define that. They themselves do not claim to be experts in basin management, irrigated agriculture, and development economics, and so we need not confer such expertise on them.
Another issue is, Ganga system is shared by more than one countries. You never find a citizen of any of these other countries admitting that their nation is using/demanding too much water from Ganga system, and certainly not on the say so of a foreign party. And the same holds true for more than a billion of ordinary Indians. Our environmentalists need to be a little more circumspect.
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The Daily Water Zen
Posted on June 26, 2008 | Filed Under Guest Posts, Audio-Video, Volunteer, River Watch
Videoblogging from S.Vishwanath of the Rainwater Club, www.rainwaterclub.org
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Subject: Rainwater Harvesting for Watershed Development
Duration: 2:18 mins
Continuing from the last post, This is the lake which finally receives the waters from the river Nanduwali.
Sambhav an organization based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat India works on water harvesting and revival of traditional sources. Adopting a community based approach it empowers individuals and organisations to take charge of their water bodies. Here the river Nanduwali flowing south of Sariska has now been made perennial principally by ensuring base flow. This has been done by a series of storage and recharge structures. Open wells have sprung back to life and agriculture is now annual.
River revival strategies- Nanduwali River by Sambhav
New! To watch related Water Shed Development Videos: India Water Portal on You Tube!
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The Daily Water Zen
Posted on June 25, 2008 | Filed Under Guest Posts, Audio-Video, RWH, Volunteer, River Watch
Videoblogging from S.Vishwanath of the Rainwater Club, www.rainwaterclub.org
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Subject: Rainwater Harvesting for Watershed Development
Duration: 2:18 mins
Sambhav an organization based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat India works on water harvesting and revival of traditional sources. Adopting a community based approach it empowers individuals and organisations to take charge of their water bodies. Here the river Nanduwali flowing south of Sariska has now been made perennial principally by ensuring base flow. This has been done by a series of storage and recharge structures. Open wells have sprung back to life and agriculture is now annual.
The process of how the community got engaged in the whole revival with the help of Sambhav is explained in this video.
River revival strategies- Nanduwali River by Sambhav
New! To watch related Water Shed Development Videos: India Water Portal on You Tube!
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Update on: Dr. Agrawal’s fast to save the Bhagirathi
Posted on June 24, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, News, Volunteer, River Watch
Image and News Courtesy: People’s Science Institute, Blog
Pained by the slow death of the Bhagirathi Dr. Agrawal has undertaken a fast-unto-death to oppose its continuing desecration. We had highlighted the same in an earlier post on the blog:To Save the Bhagirathi
Updates are available on a regular basis on the People’s Science Institute, Blog. With a blow by blow account of how the struggle is moving forward.
Updates on government efforts to dissuade the effort, more detailed explanations of the aims, goals of the current struggle are available online. Also available are the letters by Dr. Agrawal to leaders spelling out the need to expedite action on saving the Ganga. Support group details and letters supporting the cause can be viewed on the blog. Reports about Dr. Agrawal’s health and more, read here: Dr. Agrawal To Save the Bhagirathi
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Invitation for Ganga Workshop: 5th June 2008
Posted on May 23, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, News, Guest Posts, Volunteer, River Watch
Forwarded to the Portal by: Dr. Vandana Shiva & Cmdr. Sureshwar Sinha
As you may be aware, the Bhagirathi is disappearing as the flow gets imprisoned in more and more dam projects. The threat to the lifeline of India’s material and spiritual survival is a threat to our very future as a civilization. We feel this issue needs to be addressed collectively.
We have, therefore, decided to dedicate this year’s World Environment Day – 5th June to the Ganga. We are organizing a workshop to take stock of the status of the river and to evolve an action plan to stop its disappearance and, thereby, protect our people and our civilization.
We hope you will join us for this important reflection and strategy workshop on 5th June at 10 am at Lecture Hall, India International Centre (Annexe), Lodhi Road, New Delhi.
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Listing of online communities - your input required !
Posted on May 18, 2008 | Filed Under Software, River Watch
We are starting a listing of water online groups / mailing lists. The first few are below, we request you to add comments with more listings, so that we can have a comprehensive listing.
=== On an earlier blog posting, C.P.Kumar of the National Institute of Hydrology posted an extensive collection of links and egroups on Hydrology:
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/blog/index.php/2007/11/15/hydrology-links/
=== “Ecological Sanitation in South Asia” is a recently started group for Ecosan adopters in South Asia
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ecosan-share-sa/
===”Ecosanres” : An international community on Ecological Sanitation. Quoting from the description:
Discussion and news within the Sida-sponsored EcoSanRes Programme managed by the Stockholm Environment Institute. Topical discussions dealing with various aspects of sustainable sanitation, the ecosan loop - hygiene, agriculture, sanitation, environment, policy, methodology, training, knowledge networks, regional activities, social acceptance, etc.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ecosanres/
=== Solution Exchange is a UN initiative for peer sharing of experience and resources. There are various communities, including a water community
http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in
=== WaterWatch: Large audience high traffic group following water issues primarily in India and South Asia:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WaterWatch
=== WES-Net is a network of water and sanitation professionals in India
http://www.wesnetindia.org
=== Network of Indian River Basin Initiatives
http://groups.google.com/group/NIRBI
==== Uttarakhand River Action Network, recently formed as part of the Uttarakhand Nadi Bachao Andolan
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Invitation For Joining URAN
Posted on May 18, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, Volunteer, River Watch
Guest Post from Salil Das of People’s Science Institte
Several threats have emerged in recent years to the pristine Himalayan rivers of Uttarakhand. These include:
(i) the proposed construction of 220 dams
(ii) the drying up of rain fed rivers due to deforestation and deforestation of their catchments (iii) release of untreated sewage from river side towns and habitations and
(iv) illegal sand mining of river beds.
Even sacred rivers like the Ganga and Yamuna have not been spared. The construction of tunnels at 173 locations will convert most rivers into a series of lakes connected by pipes (tunnels) through which most of the rivers will flow. Dams in cascades in highly seismic regions are a hazard to the riverside communities.
In 2007, activists and concerned citizens of Uttarakhand decided to launch the Uttarakhand Nadi Bachao Abhiyan to campaign for saving the rivers. A net-group –Uttarakhand Rivers Action Network (uran_psi) has been initiated as a part of this campaign. This a a discussion forum on the above issue. We will keep on posting the updates on activities of Uttarakhand Nadi Bachao Abhiyan. Your support is welcome.
Please join this group by logging in here: URAN PSI Group
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To Save the Bhagirathi: Prof.G. D. Agrawal’s Satyagraha
Posted on May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, News, Guest Posts, Volunteer, River Watch
Guest Post by: Ravi Chopra of People’s Science Institute
I am writing to inform you of the radical decision taken by Dr G.D. Agrawal, India’s pre-eminent environmental quality scientist and a legendary Professor (and HoD) of Civil & Environmental Engineering at IIT-Kanpur. Access:Biography Sketch Here
Pained by the unrelenting destruction of the Ganga river, especially by a series of dams in its upper reaches, Dr Agrawal has decided to go on a fast-unto-death to oppose its continuing desecration. His conviction that we are staring at an unprecedented ecological and cultural catastrophe comes from his powerfully logical mind. Critique on proposed dams on Bhagirathi River. Access here: Critique on Dams
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The Economist: On Water Conflicts
Posted on May 8, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, River Watch
News & Image courtesy : The Economist
Is the thirst for fresh water still an urban issue, or has it spread to perpetrating international conflicts as sovereign nations race to stake their claim to shared water resources and flex their military muscle to enforce their claims? The Economist takes a look at the various flashpoints around the world related to water issues. From the Indus water treaty between India and Pakistan, to water sharing in the Saharan riparian states Egypt, Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia the report looks into the past and future offering a thorough analysis. Read more here: Rivers and Conflict
Interesting Links:
The International Peace Research Institute in Oslo has conducted research on water and conflict.
Waternet runs a blog on the subject
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