Courses - Water Bodies
Groundwater - Understanding the basics - A comprehensive FAQ manual by Dr Mihir Kumar Maitra
The India Water Portal is pleased to announce to its users, that a comprehensive FAQ Manual on Groundwater authored by Dr Mihir Kumar Maitra is now available on the portal. The objective of this document is to narrow down the existing knowledge gaps amongst the common groundwater users.
The document has been prepared in a simple question and answer format as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). In order to keep the subject easy to comprehend, many technical concepts have been explained in simple language.
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Environmental Pollution and 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 Environmental Pollution and 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. The broad group of Environmental Pollution and Management is structured into modules on the following topics:
Manual on sewage and sewerage treatment - CPHEEO (MoUD)
This manual has been prepared by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), a department under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and aims at meeting the professional needs of practising engineers dealing with the sanitation sector in the country, that focuses on achieving the goal of 'sanitation for all' within a reasonable timeframe.
The manual is a revised version of the earlier one, which was developed in 1977 and was widely used by field engineers engaged in sewerage and sewage treatment. However, a need was felt to revise and update the earlier manual taking into consideration the advancement in technology.
River Fish Monitoring Programme - Manual of Methodology by Kerala State Biodiversity Board
Measurement of riverine biota, particularly benthic macroinvertebrates (such as crustaceans and aquatic insects) and fish, has become a widely accepted method of identifying the structural or functional integrity and the overall health of a riverine system. This manual from the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB), describes in detail the field procedures to be followed in such fish monitoring/measurement surveys, conducted for riverine ecological systems.
KSBB has taken up this manual publication effort, in the conxtet of a state-wide fish monitoring programme, that aims to survey all the 44 rivers of Kerala with the involvement of resource persons from local colleges, research institutes, experts and fisherpeople community.
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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.
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 MoreThe Wisdom That Was ! - A Talk by Anupam Mishra on traditional water harvesting systems of the Rajasthan desert
The Wisdom That Was !, captures a very interesting and informative talk, by Anupam Mishra, on traditional water harvesting systems of the Rajasthan desert. This course is part of a multimedia course series developed by Arghyam for the India Water Portal in collaboration with IT and domain experts. The talk is in Hindi, with some subtitles in English. Read More
How to construct a Recharge Well
Open wells have a major role to play in the artificial recharge of groundwater. Rooftop rainwater and surface water flowing in storm water drains can be filtered; the silt removed and allowed to recharge the open wells.
If you are building on a new site do not forget to consider digging an open well. No, It need not be like the magnificent stone structure shown alongside. It can be of RCC rings, only a metre in diameter and about 6 metres deep.
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Filtering rainwater before storage
Overview
Rainwater is amongst the purest water one can get distilled as it is by the sun. However, in a rainwater harvesting system, the water comes in contact with several surfaces, such as the roof or gutters. Its flow becomes possibly mixed with leaves or dust.
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Run off Calculator
Run off Calculator
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