Urban Water

The fast disappearing traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan

Lack of community ownership and local governance are spelling doom for the once royal and resilient traditional water harvesting structures of Rajasthan. aartikelkar posted 1 week 6 days ago

It has been four years since Anupam Mishra Ji, the stalwart environmentalist who had worked his entire life promoting the water harvesting techniques of Rajasthan, left. In his book, Anupam Ji extensively talks about how the water tankas (structures) were historically valued by the communities and were maintained regularly and governed through community participation.

Toorji Ka Jhalara, Jodhpur (Image Source: Rituja Mitra)

Digital water infrastructure to help India become water independent

Digital water infrastructure has a great potential in solving India's water crisis by preventing wastage and encouraging optimum use of water. aartikelkar posted 2 weeks 2 days ago

The rising water crisis in India

Smart water meters for efficient use of scarce water resources (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Challenges to India’s urban water security and future growth patterns

Water resources in most Indian cities are overworked and overused, and not adequately replenished. Amita Bhaduri posted 2 weeks 3 days ago

Linkages between water security and socio-economic growth

Cities in India are marked by unequal distribution of water, lack of access, outdated infrastructure and minimal enforcement of rainwater harvesting and other means of supply. (Image: Anish Roy, Pixabay)

Reviving traditional tanks to control floods in Chennai

A study finds that desilting and reviving traditional tanks in Chennai can greatly help in mitigating the impacts of frequent floods in the city. aartikelkar posted 1 month 2 weeks ago

Climate change is leading to rise in extreme events world over, and developing countries such as India have been experiencing not only higher death rates but also greater economic impacts due to natural hazards.

A small tank near Thalambedu in Kanchipuram (Image Source: India Water Portal)

Increasing water security for the urban underserved

A pilot study with Composite Water Vulnerability Index tool designed for ranking of slums shows that 30% households are Beyond the Pipe (BtP). Amita Bhaduri posted 1 month 2 weeks ago

Piramal Sarvajal, the safe drinking water initiative of Piramal Foundation launched a tool named Composite Water Vulnerability Index (CWVI) at its recent webinar on ‘Sustainable water security for urban underserved’ hosted in association with Center for Water and Sanitation (CWAS) and Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT).

Piramal Sarvajal and Center for Water and Sanitation launch the Composite Water Vulnerability Index Tool (Image: Piramal Sarvajal)

Generating demand for sanitation infrastructure

How to steer conversations and processes that help boost the motivation of community leaders to encourage better sanitation behaviour? Amita Bhaduri posted 2 months 3 weeks ago

Radharamanpada is an unauthorised slum in Angul with 300 houses. The president of the slum sanitation committee Janaki Sahu, a 28-year-old mother of four, runs a street food stall on the main road. There are seven women in the committee of eleven, working on sanitation solution for populations that remain underserved.

Project Nirmal uses appropriate communication inputs that help generate awareness about the impact of poor containment, collection, transportation and treatment systems on the environment among all stakeholders. (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)

Data, data everywhere, but where?

Involving the community in a data framework with the right incentives will have the second-order benefit of the community becoming decision makers with respect to water use. Amita Bhaduri posted 2 months 4 weeks ago

A few of us did an exercise where we closed our eyes and thought of the first four words that came to our minds when we thought of water data in India. Here is what we came up with:

The seamless flow of data from one program to another can be enabled if a few principles are kept in mind (Image: José Manuel Suárez, Wikimedia Commons)

Dhenkanal gears up for better waste management

Odisha reiterates commitment to urban sanitation by launching pioneering state-wide initiative on solid and liquid waste management. Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 2 weeks ago

The UNICEF and the Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI) initiative at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) in collaboration with the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department (PR&DW), Government of Odisha (GoO), and the District Administration, Dhenkanal are making strides towards instituting district wide approach for Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM).

Odisha continues with its transformative journey in urban sanitation in areas of solid and liquid waste management. (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)

Data, a reusable asset

Can we design capabilities to ingest, protect and use water data in ways that amplify value for its users? Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 2 weeks ago

A quick search for the word data on India Water Portal results in a flood of queries - people are looking for water data - for specific villages, cities or for the entire country.

Water data needs to be liberated from the custody of one set of users and a single programme making it a reusable asset that each programme and actor builds on. (Image: Needpix)

Where does the water in a well come from?

In the water sector, the focus on fixing demand and supply is taking us away from the real problem - the unnoticed groundwater dependencies in ever-expanding urban India. aartikelkar posted 3 months 2 weeks ago

The environment versus development debate has increasingly become more polarised, with discussions in the public domain revealing a stark contrast of views. Development has increasingly come to symbolise ‘doing something’ and ensuring ‘visible outputs’, largely in the form of infrastructure.