Water across Northern Railways highly contaminated, says report

The Indian Railways' report has observed that the tap water across the Northern Railways is highly polluted, putting over 50 lakh passengers at risk. All the samples taken from the Lucknow division were contaminated with coliform bacteria while 94% samples in the Ambala division and 59% samples in the Moradabad division were contaminated. The reports claims that the cause for the polluted water is either the absence or the unsatisfactory working of the treatment plants.

Metal industry poisons Chittoor's groundwater

The Kerala Minerals and Metal Limited is contaminating the groundwater of Chittoor village in Kollam, Kerala with toxic industrial waste for almost a decade. Authorities have taken no action against the company, which has posed danger to nearly 300 families in the region. It has even ruined the agricultural lands there. A study reveals that the groundwater contamination has spread to 500 metres from the plant's boundary while the company claims that the contamination is limited to 125 metres.

Allahabad's water table depleting by 62 cm every year

The groundwater level of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh is decreasing by 62 cm every year according to a recent report. Unabated overexploitation of groundwater through handpumps is the reason for this. The district had 2.23 lakh handpumps in 2011 against 28,517 handpumps in 2001. Authorities forsee a grim future for the district, if immediate corrective measures are not taken.

Villagers join techies in reviving Kumudvathi

Technical experts from Bangalore along with villagers from 278 villages, rejuvenated a 54 km stretch of the Kumudvathi river. During the past one year, the joint venture has desilted the river bed and wells near the river, constructed 78 boulder checks and planted 6000 saplings. The success of the rejuvenation drive was celebrated with a unique festival 'Kumudvathi Utsava and Farmers Convention' in Mahimapura where the techies and villagers revealed their plans to revive the entire river bed. 

Kerala gets its largest rainwater harvesting system

A rainwater harvesting system, worth Rs. 27.90 lakh has been installed at Borstal School and District Jail compound at Kakkanad, Kerala. The system has the potential to store upto 10 lakh litres of rainwater and is the largest such system in the state. The water from the system will be collected in a collection tank that will cater to the needs of Borstal School, the prison and staff quarters.

This is a weekly roundup of important news from February 23- March 2, 2014. Also read last week's policy matters updates.