Wastewater

Featured Articles
November 21, 2019
Jaipur’s wastewater conundrum
A report by NIUA brings to light the chinks in Jaipur's sewage system and suggests some solutions.
Routine check done by the sewage treatment plant staff in Delawas, Jaipur. The plant is part of the ADB best practices projects list. (Image: Asian Development Bank, Flickr Commons)
November 15, 2019
When the sewers get blocked: sanitation labour in urban India
On World Toilet Day, we bring to light the labour of India’s sewer workers - those who do the unclean work that a Clean India relies on.
Photo credit: Sharada Prasad
October 28, 2019
Unregulated e-waste hotspots operating in Delhi with no safeguards
Study identifies 5,000 illegal e-waste units in Delhi operating without health and environmental safeguards.
Most of the operations in these units were found to be manual and rudimentary (Image: Toxics Link)
October 25, 2019
Mapping Pune’s aquifers
Groundwater use has doubled in Pune. Comprehensive mapping of groundwater resources and better management and governance is the need of the hour.
Groundwater, an exploited resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
October 6, 2019
Deadly chemicals from detergents end up in rivers
India needs to come up with a regulation on use of toxic chemicals in detergents.
Nonylphenol, a toxic chemical found in detergents is known to enter the water bodies and even the food chain, where it bio-accumulates and can pose serious environmental and health risks (Image: Toxics Link)
October 1, 2019
From droughts to floods: India’s tryst with climate extremes
Deconstructing the traditional narrow engineering based policy discourses around floods and droughts and connecting them to social and cultural realities is the need of the hour in India.
Water talk Series at Mumbai (Image Source:Tata Insitute of Social Sciences)
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)
New groundwater guidelines prohibit industries and mining in over-exploited zones
Policy matters this week Swati Bansal posted 3 months 1 week ago

Revised guidelines for groundwater use notified
Centre issues revised guidelines for groundwater use (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
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)
The women sanitation champions of Angul
Residents confronted with poor sanitation conditions come together and organise for effective sanitation service delivery in crowded, low-income neighbourhoods in Angul, Odisha. Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 2 weeks ago

Sita Behera, the 35-year-old mother of two lives in the Radhamadhavapura unauthorised slum in Angul. She is the President of the Ward Sanitation Committee (WSC) that is leading the work on making the slum open defecation free. Driven by the desire to improve the living conditions for her children and the neighbourhood at large, she prompted 140 families to construct latrines over two years.
Women come together in multi-layered sanitation institutions in Angul set up under Project Nirmal to improve the sanitation chain. (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)
Improving city-wide sanitation service delivery in small towns of Odisha
Project Nirmal demonstrates appropriate, low-cost, decentralized, inclusive and sustainable sanitation service delivery solutions for two small towns (Angul and Dhenkanal) in Odisha. Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 4 weeks ago

Tucked away in the slums of Dhenkanal, a small community offers a glimpse of how sanitation solutions have changed hundreds of lives for the better. Till recently, post rains in the absence of proper drainage, the clogged lanes were causing a lot of inconvenience to the residents of Parhatiya Sahi slum.
Community meetings in the slums of Dhenkanal under Project Nirmal (Image: SCI-FI, CPR)
Empowering, involving local communities crucial for reviving Yamuna: Study
A user-friendly water quality index could be created to help riverine communities take informed decisions. Amita Bhaduri posted 4 months 1 week ago

There aren’t many studies on understanding the socio-economic impact of river pollution, and the handful of those available miss out on capturing the voices of the local communities who are most affected by river pollution.
To improve the participation of the riverine communities in river clean-up activities, a platform can be set up as a governance mechanism. (Image: Thommen Jose, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Next phase of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban to focus on water treatment
Policy matters this week Swati Bansal posted 4 months 3 weeks ago

Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban: Next phase to focus on water treatment and toilet waste disposal
Next phase of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban to focus on water treatment (Image source: India Water Portal)
Online Training: Design and Implementation of DEWATS
CDD Society is organising an 'Online Training on DEWAT' to impart the knowledge and skills required for planning, designing, implementing, and managing DEWATS. Swati Bansal posted 4 months 4 weeks ago

The Consortium for DEWATS™ Dissemination (CDD) Society is organising an "Online Training on DEWATS" to impart the knowledge and skills required for planning, designing, implementing, and managing DEWATS™ (Decentralised Wastewater Treatment System).
Building awareness to changing behaviour: A paradigm shift with digital technology
Use of online training has not only helped rural and urban residents and government in Maharashtra to become more aware, but also empowered them to take collective action to tackle the pandemic. aartikelkar posted 5 months ago

Urban India, in the grip of the pandemic
Rural training at the doorstep (Image Source: UNICEF)
A third of world’s children poisoned by lead: UNICEF
Urgent action needed to abolish dangerous practices including the informal recycling of lead acid batteries. Amita Bhaduri posted 5 months 1 week ago

Around 1 in 3 children – up to 800 million globally – have blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL), a level that the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have stated requires global and regional interventions.
Two girls recycle metal from used batteries at a workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Image: UNICEF/Naser Siddique)
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