Courses - Rainwater Harvesting
Introduction to Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) - Open courseware from the United Nations University (UNU)
This introductory course on Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), from the United Nations University (UNU), provides a brief historical background and overview of IWRM and gives an overview of the various aspects of IWRM, from integration, capacity building to applications and case studies.
IWRM has been defined by the Global Water Partnership (2000) as a process, which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. An important aspect of any IWRM program is therefore, research, planning and action at the river basin level. Read More
Watershed Management - A Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning
This Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) on the broad subject of Watershed Management is being carried out by Indian Institute of Technology’s and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a collaborative project supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) to enhance the quality of engineering education in the country, by developing curriculum based video and web courses. In these web based lectures, the authors have developed the subject in detail and in stages in a student-friendly manner.
Ensuring safe drinking water through innovative technologies to eradicate fluorosis - Sachetana Project - Information manual by BIRDK and Govt of Karnataka
This manual produced by BIRD-K and DRDPR (GoK) provides the details of the Sachetana project that aims to provide safe drinking water to fluorosis affected populations through the adoption of innovative technologies for rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge.
The project is being implemented through the Gram Panchayats of 60 villages from 4 taluks among three districts of Karnataka state over a period of five years (2006-11).
The objectives of the project include:
- Provision of safe drinking water through innovative rain harvesting structures
- Recharge of groundwater through excavation of percolation ponds
- Recharge of existing bore wells and direct recharge of aquifers
- Awareness generation activities to promote sustainable management and management of water resources and water harvesting structures.
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Local catchment management in cities - A guidebook by UN-HABITAT
This guidebook by UN-HABITAT, provides an overview of the principles and practices required for sustainable urban water catchment management. It deals with the principles and practices for better management of water resources which, in turn, will lead to general improvement in the health of the local population, food security, environmental protection and sustainable development. It states that it is necessary to develop enduring partnerships among the participating institutions and organizations in the catchment area.
Along side, policies, laws and regulations should be geared to provide an enabling framework as needed for formulation and implementation of action plans at the local level. The guidebook also comprises case studies from Australia, India, Latin America and South Africa to showcase the prospects of local action for water resources management.
Best practices for water management at a household and residential layout-level in Bangalore - A note by Biome
These two documents enlist best practices in urban water management, based on the experiences of Biome Solutions, and are relevant for households in a gated layout/group housing complex, where the water sourcing, supply and management is in the hands of the layout and there is no connection to the the local water supply authority. Read More
Calculating production cost of water in an urban residential layout setting - A spreadsheet-based toolkit by Biome
Based on the annual costs of imported (purchased) water, pumping (energy), water supply infrastructure and borewell maintenance, wastewater treatment, human resources, rainwater harvesting maintenance, sinking fund (cost of replacement of infrastructure), this spreadsheet-based toolkit by Biome Solutions, helps calculate the total cost (in Rs/KL) of water. Read More
An ecological framework for water management in a domestic context - A spreadsheet-based toolkit by Biome
Based on user-entered data on domestic water demand, waste water discharge, rainfall availability and recharge, extent of reuse of treated waste water, this spreadsheet-based toolkit developed by Biome Solutions allows you to juggle around with the relevant data fields, and figure out various ways in which you can bring down your overall groundwater draft (and hence ecological footprint) as low as possible, and gives a snapshot result of your overall household-level water input and output situation. Read More
Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein by Anupam Mishra
In Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein, Shri Anupam Mishra documents the myriad, well-organised ways in which the people of Western Rajasthan have harvested and managed water over centuries, through work of the utmost dedication, painstaking detail and community-led action. These systems have survived the test of time, and are present in most villages and towns of the desert state even today.
This path-breaking work in the harsh water-scarce conditions of the desert, was completely managed by the local communities, and serves as a guide to the rest of us, in organising to face and tackle the water crisis, that we face across the world today.
Shri Anupam Mishra has worked in the field of environment and water conservation for many decades, and is currently with the Gandhi Peace Foundation New Delhi. His books on the work of people/society organising themselves, to harvest and manage water - Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab and Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein, are considered landmark works in the field, and continue to inspire several individuals even today, to take up work on setting up and reviving such time-tested water harvesting systems.
Shri Anupam Mishra does not hold any copy right over books written by him. Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab has thus been translated through the initiatives of several inspired readers, into 19 languages including Braille. It is one of the only books after Gandhiji's autobiography "My Experiments with Truth", to be available in Braille. The total number of prints of Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab, has crossed 100,000 copies as of 2009.
Readers are thus welcome to further reprint, digitise, store, extract, copy, translate, transmit or use the books in any form they wish. Please do tell us about any such efforts you make or feedback you have on the books, at contact@indiawaterportal.org, and we will forward your mail to the author.
India Water Portal acknowledges the support of Sambhaav Trust and Anand Kumar Naidu Bangalore, in making this publication available in an electronic form. We are also grateful to the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology, for making the english translation available, to publish on the Portal.
Related Content
The Radiant Raindrops of Rajasthan, is an english translation of the book, done by Ms. Maya Jani of the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology.
Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab (in Hindi) is available on the India Water Portal here.
"The Wisdom That Was!", a talk (in Hindi) by Anupam Mishra can be viewed on the India Water Portal here.
His talk at the TED India 2009 Conference, can be viewed here.
Other articles, interviews and booklets edited / authored by him are available here.
Read MoreWatershed Scale Planning
The following are two examples of a watershed scale application of rainwater harvesting techniques. The first project was conducted by the BAIF Development Research Foundation in the Hassan District of Karnataka. They created a linked network of 350 farm ponds covering 700 hectares of the watershed. Read More
The ACT Water Efficiency Calculator: A tool to help save water
Rain Water Calculator
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