Wells and Step-wells

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February 24, 2021
Baravas - Unique water harvesting structures of Maharashtra
Baravas, the unique water harvesting structures of Maharashtra continue to stand the test of time. Urgent efforts need to be made to conserve them and learn from them!
A barav from Limb village in Satara district, Maharashtra (Image Source: Aarti Kelkar Khambete)
November 18, 2019
BWSSB’s workforce woefully inadequate, says Chairman Tushar Girinath
Bangalore's water utility is understaffed, under financed and unable to service the city's water needs.
Image credit: Citizen Matters
November 13, 2019
Cyclone Bulbul devastates West Bengal and Odisha
News this week
A cyclonic storm that hit India in 2016. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
November 4, 2019
India has a groundwater problem
Despite being the lifeline of India’s water supplies, groundwater is overlooked by policy makers and users alike.
An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra. Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr. Image used for representational purposes only.
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)
September 26, 2019
Water wisdom in times of a climate crisis
New report documents India’s rich traditions of water harvesting and sustainable use.
Bandhara (in Nashik, Maharashtra), a low masonry weir of 1.2 to 4.5 m height, which is constructed across a small stream for diverting the water into a small main canal taking off from its upstream side (Image: Shailendra Yashwant, Oxfam India)
Baravas - Unique water harvesting structures of Maharashtra
Baravas, the unique water harvesting structures of Maharashtra continue to stand the test of time. Urgent efforts need to be made to conserve them and learn from them! aartikelkar posted 1 week 4 days ago

Traditional groundwater storage structures such as cisterns, stepwells, tanks, and wells in India are well known and had cultural, religious, social, and utilitarian significance in olden times.
A barav from Limb village in Satara district, Maharashtra (Image Source: Aarti Kelkar Khambete)
New groundwater guidelines prohibit industries and mining in over-exploited zones
Policy matters this week Swati Bansal posted 4 months 4 weeks ago

Revised guidelines for groundwater use notified
Centre issues revised guidelines for groundwater use (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Water wisdom of the Gonds of Garha Mandla
A peek into history shows how the Gonds of Garha Mandla managed their water needs with great ingenuity and wisdom by constructing and maintaining water tanks . aartikelkar posted 5 months ago

The Gond dynasties mainly flourished in the Central highlands of India. This region includes Sagar, Bhopal, and nearly half of Narmada valley, including the flanks of Vindhya and the Satpuda mountain ranges of southern Madhya Pradesh. The principal states of the Gonds were Garha-Mandla (1300 to 1789), Devgarh, Kherla and Chanda.
Kolatal, a traditional tank in Garha region of Jabalpur (Image Source: K. G. Vyas)
A reflection on multi-faceted droughts in Bundelkhand region
Alternatives have to be re-adapted to the understanding of droughts in the wake of climate change. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 months ago

Drought conditions are not new to Bundelkhand. The acute situation now is a convergence of three types of droughts – meteorological, agricultural and hydrological - cumulatively coinciding as witnessed in Nunagar village in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh. We saw hundreds of vessels queuing up at the panchayat well.
Child walks through the parched field for kilometers to fetch water in peak summer in village Banjari (Image: Reshma Sahoo)
Fire in Assam to have catastrophic effect on ecozones: Experts
News this week Swati Bansal posted 8 months 3 weeks ago

Fire breaks at an oil well in Assam damaging ecozones around the site
Migratory birds flock Maguri Beel, which is 500 m away from the incident site (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Need to protect the unique geological features in the Upper Ken basin
An attempt to document the geological features, water potential, and traditional wisdom around them in the Upper Ken basin. Amita Bhaduri posted 9 months ago

Kathayi, a scheduled tribe (ST) dominated village in the midst of the forested stretches of Shahnagar block in Panna district faces acute water scarcity during the 3-4 summer months. Through the government schemes, three wells and two hand pumps were installed in this 75 household village in the last 10-15 years, but most of them are dysfunctional now.
Panghata Kund in village Aloni, Panna (June 2014, after initial monsoon) (Image: Seema Ravandale)
Centre approves JJM funds to Odisha and Chhattisgarh for this financial year
Policy matters this week Swati Bansal posted 9 months ago

Government approves Jal Jeevan Mission funds for Odisha and Chhattisgarh
Child drinks water from a tap (Image: Imal Hashemi/Taimani Films/World Bank, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Managing commons: Need and challenges
How can technology, knowledge and capacity creation help in management of commons? Amita Bhaduri posted 1 year 1 month ago

Common pool resources, popularly known as “commons”, are those resources which are accessible to the whole community or village and to which no individual has exclusive ownership or property rights. Commons have two essential characteristics: non-excludability and high-subtractability.
Plantation in Gomala (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
Perils, politics and prospects of groundwater in India
How can India change the game on groundwater management to deal with its overexploited aquifers? Amita Bhaduri posted 1 year 1 month ago

After independence, India was largely food insecure but post Green Revolution around the 1970s, foodgrain production increased manifold consequently reducing food insecurity and poverty in the country, in spite of rapid population growth. Its ability to achieve targeted results was largely dependent on the explosion of groundwater abstraction mechanisms like tubewells.
An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra. (Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr)
Micropollutants in groundwater, a grave concern
A study finds that a number of locations in the country have high concentrations of micropollutants in groundwater posing a risk to health and environment. aartikelkar posted 1 year 1 month ago

Groundwater pollution due to organic micropollutants is becoming a major cause of concern in many parts of the world, where water resources are on the decline. India is the largest user of groundwater and the presence of micropollutants in groundwater has been a growing concern. What do studies on micropollutants in groundwater in India show?
Groundwater contamination, a serious concern (Image Source: India Water Portal)
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