Case Studies - Water Bodies
Water quality monitoring of lakes in and around Bangalore city - A report by KSPCB (2001)
This report by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) both in Kannada and English highlights the deteriorating condition of the lakes in and around Bangalore city and describes the efforts undertaken by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to launch a programme to monitor the water quality of some of the lakes in Bangalore so as to focus the attention of concerned governmental organisations to take up remedial measures to safe guard the water bodies of the "Garden City".
Read MoreDemocratisation of water management - The experience of Tamil Nadu with governance reforms
Through these three papers, the authors argue that the solutions to the global water crisis do not lie in investing more and more money into the water sector or in the introduction of better technology. Nor is the introduction of the private sector and the reduction in the role of the government going to help. Rather, the time has come to introduce changes at the basic or the fundamental level in the way in which the water sector functions.
There is an urgent need to bring about reforms in governance by moving towards decentralisation and democratisation, leading to involvement of people from all the sections of the society, who know and understand that they are responsible for the system and its functioning, as well as by introducing principles of equity and social justice. The papers demonstrate the successful implementation of this approach by describing the experience of Tamil Nadu at democratising water management through introduction of reforms at the level of governance, through involvement of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD).
Read MoreQualitative and quantitative water scarcity issues in Bihar - A presentation
This presentation highlights the grave water situation in Bihar in the context of the emerging water quality and quantity issues that the world and especially developing countries will be facing in the near future.
Read MoreLakes in Mumbai – A draft report by WWF India
This draft report on the study of lakes by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (India) documents the physical condition of the lakes in Mumbai. Apart from the three lakes - Tulsi, Powai and Vihar that used to provide water to Mumbai residents, there are many lakes in the Bombay Municipal Corporation jurisdiction that are either polluted by human sewage or industrial effluents and have remained neglected with increasing urbanization.
There is very little to no data available on the existence of lakes of Mumbai. Several RTI’s to the government bodies also revealed that there was a lacuna in terms of the availability of the data; as a result most of the water bodies are easily exploited. Under this study the baseline data was prepared with the help of Google Earth website. The areas appearing to be lakes were marked on the Google Earth Images. These were verified by the field staff through onsite visits. The survey was conducted during September and October, 2008 and March, 2009. The study considers only the fresh water lakes which were accessible and saline water impoundments have not been considered.
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Fisheries and livelihoods in Tungabhadra basin: Current status and future possibilities – A working paper by Institute for Social and Economic Change
This study by Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) aims at understanding the livelihood patterns of fishermen within the Tungabhadra sub basin, a tributary of river Krishna located in peninsular India. Lack of integrated approach in development initiatives and water management plans warrants the need for Integrated Water Resource Management to support livelihoods. The study focuses on fisheries as a source of livelihood, current status and institutional support available, people dependant on it, development initiatives and suggestions for improvements.
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Thirupporur and Vadakkuppattu: Eighteenth century locality accounts – A report by Centre for Policy Studies
This research monograph on Thirupporur and Vadakkuppatu: Eighteenth Century Locality Accounts, prepared jointly by the Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai and Tamil University, Thanjavur, presents a graphic picture of the society and polity of eighteenth century Tamil Nadu.
Read MoreDecentralized wastewater management – An overview of a community initiatives in New Delhi - Vigyan Vijay Foundation
This paper by Ajit Seshadri, Vigyan Vijay Foundation highlights the poor sanitation situation in India and argues that centralized approaches to wastewater treatment have had limited success and there is a need to make wastwater treatment people centric and effective through the use of decentralized systems such as DEWATS (Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems). DEWATS are locally organized and people driven systems that typically comprise a settler, anaerobic baffled tanks, filter beds of gravel and sand, and an open pond. The open pond or the polishing tank recreates a living environment for the wastewater to clean itself, naturally.
Read MoreFishing crafts and gear in river Krishna - Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge
This paper published in the Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge makes an attempt to record the fisheries related indigenous technological knowledge in terms of fishing crafts and gears used in river Krishna.
Application of crafts and gear in fishery is a result of experiences gained over a long period of time. Every water body has its unique pattern of crafts and gears. There is a well defined pattern and distribution of fishing techniques in the riperian sector based on topography, ecology and habitat of the resource available.
Read MoreJalyatra: Exploring India's traditional water management systems
Jalyatra - Exploring India's traditional water management systems, by Nitya Jacob is an ecological travelogue that looks at links between water, society and places. It places water resources in the local environmental and social context. It describes in detail what existed, how it fitted into the socio-cultural milieu and was appropriate for the local climate and geography. It then examines reasons for their decline, as indeed most have, in recent decades.
While recording the dismal state of traditional systems, the author stumbles upon small initiatives that have brought about significant transformation across regions. It refers to noisy hidrums and gharaats, the river-run flour mills of Uttaranchal, the technologies whose potential has yet to be fully realised. It looks at water harvesting structures of southern India—the eris and ooranis. However, it admits that the average person is singularly uninterested in protecting the environment.
Jalyatra captures the efforts of NGOs and enlightened individuals striving to revive these systems. It makes the case for a mass movement to revive traditional water management systems, especially village ponds, across the country as the way to ensure water security in India. In Chambal, the author meets Brij Mohan Gujjar, dacoit turned water conservationist, who is doing valuable work on the check dams designed to control the flow of water in the ravines; and in Shillong, Lan Potham shows him the uses of the easily available bamboo to construct the shyngiar which irrigates his areca nut plantation.
Read MoreStudy of ancient water storage systems on forts in Nashik district of Maharashtra - Paper presented at the National Seminar on Water and Culture (2007)
This paper studies the water supply, distribution, collection and storage in the forts around Nashik with the idea of testing the viability of implementing such systems in areas of similar topography. The history of forts in Maharashtra and the forts around Nashik and the water collection and distribution systems thereof are described.
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