How does a city-state that has no natural water body, very little groundwater and even less land to store rainwater quench the thirst of its five million people? Singapore faces this question just as one of its 50-year water import agreement with Johor, now a part of Malaysia, expires in …
In August, western Odisha was shut down 13 times to protest the state government’s decision to build three barrages on the Mahanadi river. They are meant to dam surplus water downstream of the Hirakud reservoir to generate 320 MW power, and, as recently announced, to irrigate farms. Not a single …
THE three-year-old peaceful protest of Mavla taluka residents against the laying of a water pipeline turned violent on August 9 when three farmers were killed in police firing. Residents of 75 villages of the taluka in Pune are angry over the Maharashtra government’s decision to lay the pipeline from the …
ACTING on complaints of severe water shortage in Gurgaon, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on May 20 asked the Central Ground Water Authority, or CGWA, to provide the details of groundwater levels in the fast-expanding industrial and financial hub. It set August 5 as the deadline. In February, the …
As water gets scarce, the lendings in the sector by international financial institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are being looked into more critically. Most critics believe that with small investments, the banks have been able to dictate water policies in developing countries. These institutions …
RESIDENTS of Kelwan in Gujarat’s Dang district do not allow outsiders to enter their village, especially people who seem city dwellers. They take them to be government officials who would conduct surveys for a project that will submerge their land and take away the area’s water to benefit industry. Their …
The rich green fields of Darramuda village in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh were almost peaceful. A JCB backhoe loader whirred on as it dug in and pulled out lumps of wet brown earth. The crane inched along carving a neat road on the fertile fields. The people of Darramuda, in …
Chhattisgarh is industrialising fast: within 10 years of its creation, the state has 200 large industrial units and scores of small ones. More than 700 are on their way. A handful of units existed when this largely agricultural state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000. Known as central …
JANJGIR-CHAMPAWhere power kills Located on the banks of the Mahanadi, a predominantely agricultural district, Janjgir-Champa is poised to become a industrial hub as several mega projects are planned there. Four thermal power plants have got clearance and 13 are under process. Two biomass-based thermal power plants are also planned. The …
Of the 118 proposed projects, for which data is available, 33 plan to withdraw water from the Mahanadi, Chhattisgarh's main river. The water requirement of projects withdrawing water from the river stands at 1,500 mcm per year. If the water requirement of projects withdrawing from its tributaries—Lilagarh, Hasdeo and Seonath—are …
On an industrial roller-coaster, Chhattisgarh has not once stopped to take stock of the cumulative environmental impact of the many projects. On a spree to usher more and more, the government does not consider important an analysis of a project's incremental impact combined with the effects of other projects. The …
For years, the Amravati Thermal Power Project in Maharashtra has been facing public opposition. Farmers in the Vidarbha region fear the power plant will suck water from the irrigation project in Upper Wardha. On June 17, an unexpected breakthrough appeared. The state's water resources minister Ajit Pawar met people's representatives, …
MAHABUBNAGAR A Shekhar, 25, committed suicide a year ago. A resident of Burgupalle village in Andhra Pradesh’s Mahabub - nagar district, he had bought half a hectare (ha) for growing paddy. He borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh to sink three borewells but did not find groundwater. Shekhar could not repay the …
women in Bikhnatori village in Bihar are jubilant they no longer have to walk hours to fetch water. For the first time since Independence, the border village is getting potable water supply. The Bihar government started supplying 3,000 litres of water daily through a tanker from March 25. Down To …
Climate change and global warming pose serious problems for sustainability of a sound human life. There have been many natural disasters such as floods, droughts, glacier collapses, typhoons, etc. Though many general circulation models have been developed and provided for worldwide hydrological and meteorological estimations, detailed causes and countermeasures on …
The field of study and analysis of water governance in river basins is still in its infancy. There are no well developed research designs and survey methodologies for conducting such a study. Thus the present attempt to study water governance in the Man river basin is of an exploratory nature. …
China's water and energy price reform began in the late 1978 after running large-scale interventions in pricing system for long time then has a gradually deep influence on consumer's behaviors. The main objective of this paper is to empirically examine Chinese consumer reactions as a response to the introductions of …
Climate change, growing populations and political concerns are prompting governments and investors from California to China to take a fresh look at desalination. March 20, 2008
The water shortage that threatens humanity will have wide-ranging consequences for agriculture and energy production, requiring significant shifts in the way this precious resource is managed. (editorial) 20 March 2008
Global energy consumption is expected to grow by 50% by 2030, squeezing already scarce water resources. Mike Hightower and Suzanne A. Pierce recommend ways to integrate water and energy planning. March 20, 2008
