Drinking Water

Only 16 of 207 water supply projects completed in Odisha: Minister Naik

Only sixteen of 207 approved mega piped water supply projects have been completed in Odisha and the rest are in progress, a minister informed the assembly on Tuesday. Replying to a question by BJD legislator Souvic Biswal, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Rabi Narayan Naik said the projects were targeted to be completed in two years after issuance of work orders. However, some projects got delayed due to various reasons, including delays in the conduct of detailed engineering surveys and investigations, identification of the source of water and approval of different departments, Naik said. Considering the prevailing issues and progress, steps are being taken to complete the ongoing 191 projects in three phases, he said. Fifty-six projects were targeted to be completed by March 2025, and an additional 54 would be to be completed by December 2025, the minister said. A target has been set to complete the remaining 81 piped water supply projects, which were started at the en

Bihar CM lays foundation stone for Rs 1,347 cr drinking water project

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday laid the foundation stone for a project valued at Rs 1,347 crore for supplying water from the Sone river for drinking purposes in Aurangabad, Dehri and Sasaram cities. The project will be completed in two years. Besides, the CM inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of a state industrial training institute, tech labs, installation of street lights projects and construction of Anganwadi centres at Dehri in Rohtas district. Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and others, Kuamr also gave a cheque of Rs 74.17 crore for the distribution among 1,864 self-help groups associated with the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project (BRLP), popularly known as JEEVIKA, in Bihar. The CM inaugurated the scheme for the supply of drinking water to the cities of Aurangabad, Dehri and Sasaram. In this scheme, the water of the Son river will be supplied to people. This will the dependence of these .

How quickly can the human body get dehydrated during severe heatwave?

Heatwave Dehydration: Scorching summer heat has shattered several records this year causing several illnesses, some of which can become life-threatening if not treated on time

Lack of drinking water facility main issue in Odisha's Koraput LS seat

Lack of drinking water facility, better price of agricultural produce of tribal farmers and good healthcare facilities are the main demands of the voters of Koraput Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha which will go to the polls on May 13. Koraput which is also called the Kashmir of Odisha for its hills, waterfalls and forests has more women voters than male. Out of total 14.80 lakh voters, 7,73, 885 are women and 7,06,777 are male. Farmers in Rayagada district, a part of which is under the Koraput Lok Sabha seat, are demanding regulation of cotton farming in the district as the farmers do not get fair price for their produce. They claim that they have to go for distress sale of cotton produce to the traders from Andhra Pradesh as there are no buyers of their cotton. They are demanding that the state government should come to the rescue of cotton growers who are hit by calamities. "While the paddy farmers get compensation over loss of their crop due to calamities, there is no such ...

Udupi second city in coastal Karnataka to announce water rationing

Udupi became the second city on the Karnataka coast after Mangaluru to launch water rationing, a senior official said on Tuesday. Commissioner of the Udupi City Municipal Corporation Rayappa told PTI that the rationing system will come into force from Wednesday and will continue till the water in the reservoir reaches comfortable levels. The dam built across the Swarna river at a place called Baje, which is the only source of water for Udupi city, recorded 3.25 meters of water as against the top level of 6.30 meters. The decision of water rationing will be reviewed periodically until the reservoir regains its fullest levels, the official said. The Mangaluru City Corporation resorted to water rationing on Saturday following declining water levels in the reservoir built across the Nethravati river at Thumbe.

'If B'luru stops saying yuck to treated wastewater, it'll never go thirsty'

Back in 2016, Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) of Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, figured a way for the IT hub to stay water surplus. On an average, 20.05 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water is required every year for domestic purposes, CES's technical report established. Of which about 16.04 TMC, about 80 percent, could be met just by treating sewage water, suggested the report. Add to this, the rain yield, which is about 14.80TMC a year and Bengaluru could easily meet its water needs, the report stated. Cut to 2023. Some apartment owners of Emmanuel Heights in Hosa Road, Sarjapur, proposed setting up a sewage treatment plant in October. Little did they know that it would take them almost six months to convince the others. They all agreed only after the firm setting up the sewage treatment equipment put it in the agreement that they will buy all the treated water. Many people were adamant that not a drop of the treated water should be used inside the complex. ...

Lok Sabha polls: Drinking water to ORS, EC's advisory to tackle heatwave

Provide polling officials and voters with oral rehydration salts (ORS)

Karnataka govt's first priority is irrigation, water projects: Shivakumar

"The priority is the development of irrigation projects and filling up tanks. Other works, such as roads, will be taken up subsequently. We have already discussed this with the Chief Minister"

Kashmir Valley endures unusual, severe dry spell amid harsh winter

Reduced snowfall and precipitation levels have prompted worries about potential water scarcity and its far-reaching impacts on the environment and daily life

Drinking water access have reached 72% households in India: Union minister

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Sunday said drinking water facilities have reached 72 per cent households in the country and the remaining will be completed by December 2024. When the Jal Jeevan Mission started in 2019, a little over 16 per cent of the households had access to drinking water facilities, Singh told a group of visiting journalists from Assam here. He emphasised that the implementation of the scheme is the responsibility of the state governments, and each state faces different geographical challenges and availability of water resources ranges from surplus to scarce. "We had prepared a guideline in consultation with the state governments and implementation of the scheme was done according to it", he said. Despite the challenges faced during two years of COVID, "I can say with pride that drinking water facilities has reached 72 per cent of the households", the Union minister said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that each household will b

2023: NGT cracks whip to spur officials to strive for cleaner air, water

As large swathes of India gasped for breath, choking on air laden with contaminants, the National Green Tribunal grappled with a wide range of environmental issues, including pollution of the Ganga and quality and quantity of groundwater and air pollution in 2023. It went to the extent of imposing huge penalties on states like Delhi and Bihar for poor liquid and solid waste management. In February, the tribunal directed the Delhi government to pay Rs 2,232 crore as environmental compensation for improper management of solid and liquid waste, while in May it imposed a staggering Rs 4,000 crore compensation on Bihar. The green panel also passed orders to check over-exploitation of natural resources. It took suo motu (on its own) cognisance of industrial and environmental disasters, and awarded compensation to the victims. A highlight of the tribunal's directions involved restoring the pristine sanctity of rivers, many of which are venerated entities like the Ganga and Yamuna. Express

Parl panel alerts contamination of heavy metals in ground, drinking water

The report was considered and adopted by the Committee in its meeting held on December 12

As more of world thirsts, luxury water becomes fashionable among the elite

Monsoon rains have finally passed and floods blocking the lone dirt road have retreated enough for a small truck to climb these Himalayan foothills to a gurgling spring. It spews water so fresh that people here call it nectar. Workers inside a small plant ferry sleek glass bottles along a conveyer. The bottles, filled with a whoosh of this natural mineral water, are labelled, packed into cases and placed inside a truck for a long ride. Ganesh Iyer, who heads the operation, watches like a nervous dad, later pulling out his phone, as any proud parent might, to show the underground cavern the waters have formed in this pristine kingdom, the world's last Shangri-La. This is no ordinary water. It will travel hundreds of miles to some of India's luxury hotels, restaurants and richest families, who pay about USD 6 per bottle, roughly a day's wage for an Indian labourer. Millions of people worldwide don't have clean water to drink, even though the United Nations deemed water a basic human

New York sues PepsiCo for plastic pollution, alleging water contamination

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a lawsuit against PepsiCo Inc. on Wednesday, accusing the soda-and-snack food giant of polluting the environment and endangering public health after its single-use plastics were found along the Buffalo River. The lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court aims to require PepsiCo and its subsidiaries, Frito-Lay Inc. and Frito-Lay North America Inc., to clean up its mess, where its single-use plastic packaging including food wrappers and plastic bottles have found a way to the shores of the Buffalo River and watershed, contaminating drinking water supply for the city of Buffalo. No company is too big to ensure that their products do not damage our environment and public health. All New Yorkers have a basic right to clean water, yet PepsiCo's irresponsible packaging and marketing endanger Buffalo's water supply, environment, and public health, James said in a statement. PepsiCo is the single largest identifiable contributor to the plastic was

World Food Day 2023: We must not take water for granted

Freshwater is not infinite, and we need to stop taking it for granted, writes Dr QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization

PM inaugurates, lays foundation of projects worth 4,200 cr in Uttarakhand

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated and laid the foundation of multiple development projects in Uttarakhand worth nearly Rs 4,200 crore. The projects, numbering 23 in total, will give impetus to infrastructure, education, health, electricity, drinking water, sports, tourism, disaster mitigation and horticulture sectors in the hill state. The projects whose foundation stones were laid by the prime minister at an event in Pithoragarh included 21,398 poly-houses, cultivation of high density intensive apple orchards, five works of double-laning of roads and slope treatment of national highways and the construction of 32 bridges in the state. These also included strengthening of disaster management mechanism, expansion of education, health and sports facilities and development of temples in the Manaskhand area on the lines of Chardham. The projects inaugurated by Modi included various infrastructure development projects and those aimed at increasing availability of ...

Bisleri to scale up manufacturing, strategic distribution network

Packaged drinking water company Bisleri International is scaling up its manufacturing and strategic distribution network for easier and cost-effective placement of products and market gains, its Vice-Chairperson Jayanti Khan Chauhan said on Thursday. The company, currently, has 128 manufacturing plants and is looking to increase it to 150. The expansion would be through plants owned by Chauhan promoted company and its co-packers, which are exclusive to Bisleri. Bisleri is also expanding its offerings into CSD (carbonated soft drinks), premiumise through the brand Vedica Himalayan Spring Water, besides its mainstay of packaged drinking water business with an innovative approach. When asked about the outlook, Chauhan told PTI: "We are definitely going to increase our distribution, scale up on distribution and manufacturing for CSD for Bisleri. This strategic placement of manufacturing units and distribution networks will make it easier and cost-effective for us to get our products to

Odisha floods: Shortage of drinking water as inundated roads halt tankers

People affected by Odisha floods said they were facing an acute shortage of potable water and many were forced to drink floodwater after boiling it, while others feared consumption of it may cause water-borne diseases. The government, on the other hand, said it was sending water tankers to the flood-hit areas but those affected said the vehicles were not able to reach them as roads have been inundated in the deluge. Though the water levels in major rivers have come down, 75 more villages came under the grip of the deluge. A total of 6.24 lakh people have been affected in 11 districts, according to an official report on Sunday. The affected people have taken shelter in nearby schools which are surrounded by floodwaters. "My house and tube wells in our area remain submerged in floodwaters. We do not have access to potable drinking water. We are boiling floodwater and drinking it," said 68-year-old Kalandi Barik of Santhapada village in Rajnagar block of Kendrapara district. Like Ba

Yamuna level stabilises; Delhi likely to face drinking water shortage

Roads turned into rivers and water gushed into houses, crematoriums and shelter homes, impairing daily life in the national capital, even as the Yamuna's water level stabilised after reaching 208.62 metres, smashing the all-time record set 45 years ago by a significant margin. As the Yamuna waters inundated more areas of Delhi and rescue efforts intensified, the city stared at a drinking water shortage. The Delhi government has decided to cut down supply by 25 per cent following the closure of three water treatment plants -- Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited the Wazirabad water treatment plant, warned of rationalising water supply to deal with "acute shortage". He, however, said the water treatment plants will be resumed as soon as the situation turns to normal. Central Water Commission (CWC) Director Sharad Chandra said the rate of water flow rate at the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana dropped to 80,000 cusecs at 4 pm. "The water level has

CM Kejriwal warns of rationalising supply as Delhi stares at water shortage

The national capital is staring at a drinking water shortage as the Delhi government decided to cut down supply by 25 per cent following the closure of three water treatment plants due to the rising level of the Yamuna. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited the Wazirabad water treatment plant, warned of rationalising water supply to deal with "acute shortage". "Due to an increase in the Yamuna water level, many water treatment plants had to be closed. I visited the Wazirabad plant on the banks of the Yamuna. We will start it as soon as the situation turns to normalcy," he tweeted. In an earlier tweet, Kejriwal announced the closure of the Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla water treatment plants due to the rising Yamuna level. "The water treatment plants at Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla are being shut due to the rising Yamuna water level. "Due to this, there will be a problem of water supply in some areas. These plants will start functioning as soon as the Yamuna water recede