People of Markhera village had been facing increasing difficulties due to water shortages. Water table was declining and water level in wells was going down too. Hand pumps were often reduced to just a trickle. As women here bear most water related responsibilities, their drudgery in fetching water from more distant places increased. Many of them had back ache from[Read More…]
Water is a finite resource on our planet. We can only rely on what we have, which translates to about 2.5 percent of drinkable fresh water. Of that amount, only 0.4 percent currently exists in lakes, rivers, and moisture in the atmosphere. The strain of this limited supply grows by the day and as this continues, the detrimental impact will continue to[Read More…]
Thousands of people in U.S. cities have been left without access to clean water. Communities say institutional racism is to blame. The United Nations General Assembly recognized “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights” on July 28, 2010. Yet, 12 years later,[Read More…]
This being the first Monday in October means the Supreme Court is now back in a new session along with its newest member and the first Black woman Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Among its many cases the first to be reviewed is Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, pitting landowners Michael and Chantell Sackett of Idaho against the Environmental Protection Agency’s[Read More…]
To Dr Suman Bery Vice-Chairmam Niti Ayog Dear Dr Bery, For quite some time, I have been requesting both Niti Ayog and the Jal Shakti Ministry to take a long-term view of groundwater management and its implications for electricity subsidies and food security. In particular, I invite your attention to my letter dated 15-9-2020 addressed to the Prime Minister and[Read More…]
Water is more than a commodity to the Indigenous peoples in the U.S. Tribes say water is life itself for the people, plants, animal life and the land itself. But many tribes people in Arizona are facing water crisis. A report by AZCentral | The Arizona Republic — Arizona tribal water settlements stall in courtrooms, agency offices (Aug. 10, 2022,[Read More…]
Scorching heat has again been accompanied this year by reports of acute drinking water shortages in many villages. The situation was supposed to be different this time because of an unprecedentedly high increase in the budget for drinking water supply in villages announced about 15 months back, but clearly the actual improvement has fallen far short of the high expectations[Read More…]
As India is troubled increasingly by more scorching heat waves than ever before, its water worries are also increasing. With 18% of the world’s population and 15% of its livestock but only 4% of the its fresh water resources, India is a water-stressed country whose water woes are further increasing in the times of climate change with more frequent droughts,[Read More…]
The planet is wheezing, coughing and sputtering because of vicious attacks by worldwide droughts aided and abetted by global warming at only 1.2C above baseline. Some major metropolises are rationing water. What’ll happen at 1.5C? It’s not as if droughts are not a normal feature of the climate system. They are, but the problem nowadays is highlighted by reports from[Read More…]
“The water is back,” one family member would announce in a mix of excitement and panic, often very late at night. The moment such an announcement was made, my whole family would start running in all directions to fill every tank, container or bottle that could possibly be filled. Quite often, the water would last for a few minutes, leaving[Read More…]
Think of it this way: what we don’t know will hurt us. And water — yes, water — is an example of just that. Even at a time of such angry political disputes, you might imagine that, in a wealthy country like the United States, it would still be possible to agree that clean water should be not just a right, but[Read More…]
by Kumi Naidoo and Richard von Weizsäcker The most outrageous injustice is that the same people who lack access to water and sanitation are usually the ones most vulnerable to the effects of climate change—and the least responsible for causing it in the first place. As the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) is swiftly moving to its conclusion on Friday, climate[Read More…]
About half of the world’s population will suffer from water insecurity by 2050, found The State of Climate Services 2021: Water , a new report from the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report said: More than 2 billion people are living in countries under water stress and 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water at least one month per[Read More…]
A recent report by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) reveals that uranium contamination of groundwater is on the rise with Punjab and Haryana being the most affected. Groundwater continues to be extracted at frightening proportions in India and the fear of severe depletion of groundwater resources in the coming years is real. As if this is not enough, the available[Read More…]
All powers to Centre… and all responsibilities or liabilities are thrust on the heads of the states. The Centre has usurped all the powers of the State Governments over all the irrigation projects (35 on Krishna basin and 71 on Godavari). How can Union take over the complete ownership of two rivers and impose entire liabilities on two states? It[Read More…]
In conditions of high land inequalities, how can benefits of irrigation be taken to weaker sections? Generally the biggest, more powerful and resourceful landowners also try to grab more water. Even if due care is taken to ensure that the smaller farmers are not left out, not much can be done if most of the village households are landless workers.[Read More…]
Traditional Wisdom and Community Involvement Contribute Best to Saving Precious Drops of Water While the need for rainwater harvesting is now very widely recognized, the results achieved at many places are not very good. Hence there is much to learn from the experience of those organizations which have achieved high levels of success and repute in such efforts. Quite often[Read More…]
The union government has stated that it will be giving very high priority to its schemes to provide tap water to all homes. It has been claimed that this work has been progressing well in the middle of all the recent problems at record levels. In addition the government has stated that this will be supported by increase in adequate[Read More…]
Several regions of acute water-scarcity have emerged in India and during summer these expend to a much wider area. Droughts are also becoming more frequent and this has added to water scarcity, sometimes for very prolonged periods. While the creation of new sanitation facilities in villages is less than what is often claimed, still to the extent that these[Read More…]
And out again, I curve and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever. The famous lines of the poem, ‘The Brook’ remind us of the beautiful river with sparkling water reflecting the rays of the sun on the bright sunny day and of our innocent childhood when we[Read More…]
A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book, which discusses the relationships between water and life. The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link: http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Water-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf The United Nations’ World Water Day On its home-page for World Water Day the United Nations points out the following facts: “Today, 1 in[Read More…]
Valuing Water is the theme of the 29th World Water Day this year. Valuing Water and Enabling Change also happened to be the theme of the Annual Report of the World Economic Forum’s 2030 Water Resources Group (now hosted by the World Bank) last year. Clearly, no one who ever had to go without a glass of water for a few hours on a hot summer day needs to[Read More…]
Even though so many mighty rivers flow in Himalyan region which take water to such vast plains , it is a fact that many Himalayan villages face increasing and acute water problems. While generally these become more acute in the summer season, this year water shortages started being reported from earlier days in Himachal Pradesh, reflecting a wider trend. A[Read More…]
Water might become the most sought-after commodity in the world and the most traded resource on the exchanges if the depletion and mismanagement of water resources continue at the present rate. Several cities around the globe have become ground zero, and many are on the verge of falling into this category. India is a land where water resources are revered[Read More…]
Letter to the Prime Minister E.A.S.Sarma Maharanipeta Visakhapatnam To Shri Narendra D Modi Prime Minister Dear Shri Modiji, India’s groundwater resources have come under severe stress as a result of increasing pressure on the same for urban water needs in cities and towns and from irrigation requirements in the rural areas. In many parts of the country, the rate of[Read More…]
On the ten year anniversary of the United Nations historic vote to recognize water as a basic human right, Barlow reflects on where we go from here. A demonstrator holds a sign during a Detroit water shutoffs rally in 2014. (Photo: uusc4all/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Ten years ago today, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution affirming that water and sanitation[Read More…]
A few years ago I saw a film of a weak and hungry mother leopard hunting day after day to try to find food for herself and her teenager, a son less adept at hunting than she was due to his being young. It was impossible since drought created water deficits indirectly caused in part by climate change impacts.[Read More…]
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Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
