Wastewater

This paper published in the Economic and Political Weekly argues that the transformation of human settlements over time can affect the relationship between communities and commons when, for example, social geographies change from rural to urban, or from traditional systems of management to modern bureaucratic systems. Communities that were dependent on particular commons could become less dependent, or abandon those commons. New communities of interest might emerge. Read More

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 More

The reports titled 'Status of groundwater quality in India (Part I and Part II) present the results of a detailed survey of groundwater quality in metropolitan areas (population >100,000) in India. The report recognises that most groundwater quality problems are anthropogenic in origin, caused by a combination of over-exploitation and infiltration of wastes. Inadequate infrastructure and resources mean that waste generated by cities and industrial areas is not properly collected, treated and disposed, thus leading to grondwater contamination.Read More