Page 2 - Water

44% of rural households in ST areas yet to get tap water connection: Govt

About 44 per cent of the rural households in the Scheduled Tribe areas in the country are yet to get tap water connection, according to government data. Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel said 1.2 crore out of 2.17 crore (55.3 per cent) rural tribal households have tap water connection According to data, the states where more than half the rural tribal households are yet to get tap water connection are Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, the minister said. To enable every rural household in the country to have potable tap water supply by 2024, including those in tribal areas and areas, the government is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) Har Ghar Jal in partnership with the states. Responding to another question, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu said the Central Water Commission (CWC) monitors live storage status of 146 important reservoirs in the country on a weekly basis and ...

Paper firms cut water use by 80%, invest in sustainable processes: IPMA

The paper industry in the country has cut down water consumption by 80 per cent and looks to reduce it further as investments of Rs 25,000 crore have been made in sustainable production processes in the last few years, an industry body said on Monday. The Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) in a statement said that several industry players have taken environment-friendly measures to reduce their carbon and water footprint. The players have deployed modern technology solutions and captive power generation to achieve water and energy efficiency, it said in a statement. "Integrated paper mills have reduced water usage to 40 cubic meters to produce a tonne of paper from the earlier 200 cubic meters. There is a concerted effort to bring it down further," IPMA President Pawan Agarwal said. "Indian Paper Industry has invested to the tune of Rs 25000 crore in sustainable production processes and capacities in the last few years," Agarwal said. Agarwal said the paper industry has

S Korea endorses safety of Japan's plans to release Fukushima plant water

South Korea's government on Friday formally endorsed the safety of Japanese plans to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into sea as it tried to calm people's fears about food contamination. Seoul's assessment was based on a 22-month review by government-funded scientists and aligned with the International Atomic Energy Agency's views. The agency greenlit the Japanese discharge plans this week, saying the treated wastewater would meet international safety standards and that its environmental and health impact would be negligible. Even before Friday's announcement, South Korean officials have been actively campaigning to dissolve the public's unease about the wastewater release, holding daily briefings to address what they describe as excessive fears and tightening radiation tests on seafood imported from Japan. Conservative lawmakers from President Yoon Suk Yeol's ruling party have even toured seafood markets to drink sea water fetched from fish tanks i

Cauvery life issue, won't allow construction of Mekedatu dam: TN Minister

The Cauvery water sharing is not some ordinary matter but a 'life' issue and Tamil Nadu will not allow the construction of a dam across the inter-state river at Mekedatu by Karnataka, state minister Duraimurugan said here on Thursday. He was speaking to reporters early today upon his arrival from New Delhi after meeting Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat over the Cauvery issue. TN has flagged the lower realisation from the inter-state river with the Centre. The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister pointed out at his state receiving lesser quantum of water from the Cauvery river as of July 3 and said if the situation continues the short-term 'kuruvai crops' in the delta districts may be affected. To protect the crops in the Cauvery Delta districts in the state, Karnataka has to release water from the river and for this purpose, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) "has to hold talks with Karnataka or order it to do so," he said, adding this request was conveyed to .

Artificial lakes in Himachal to be developed as tourists destinations: CM

The Himachal Pradesh government is contemplating to develop artificial reservoirs as vibrant tourist destinations offering a range of adventure activities like water sports, angling, bird watching and eco-tourism, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Saturday. In a statement issued here, he said rules are being formulated to govern the operations of these activities with an objective to prolong the stay of tourists besides offering them a variety of memorable experiences. The hill state is endowed with bountiful lakes and reservoirs, mainly with glaciers as their source. The state government has plans to explore the possibility of giving a fillip to lake tourism to empower local community by promoting home stays, street food corners, restaurants, resorts and hotels in close proximity to these artificial water bodies, he said. The chief minister said the state also intends to promote water based attractions such as house boats, cruises, yachts as well as water sports in its

Water in Ukrainian regions affected by dam collapse highly contaminated

Ukraine's Health Ministry said that water in the regions that were affected by the collapse of the Russia-controlled Nova Kakhovka dam on June 6, remains highly contaminated

Monitoring dam safety

Decommissioning should be a policy option

Earth lost one-fifth of its wetlands since 1700, most could still be saved

Earth has lost one-fifth of its wetlands since 1700 but most could still be saved

IIT Guwahati, Bombay, European partners building water quality sensor

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati and Bombay in collaboration with European universities are working towards building a low-cost technology to check the quality of potable and other water in India. The LOTUS Indo-European project, an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and the European Commission, is aimed at providing solutions for issues related to the quality of water supplied across Indian households and elsewhere. A core element of the LOTUS project is a novel water quality sensor that builds on previous work done at Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France. The sensor was further developed during the project by researchers at Universit Gustave Eiffel in collaboration with IIT Guwahati and the SME EGM, Sophia Antipolis, France. According to S Senthilmurugan, Chairperson, Technology Incubation Centre, IIT Guwahati, LOTUS water quality sensor requirements were established after collecting information from Indian water utility owners, operators, end users

NASA launches first-ever mission SWOT to observe nearly all water on Earth

SWOT will cover the entire Earth's surface between 78 degrees south and 78 degrees north latitude at least once every 21 days

AWS to return more water to communities than it uses by 2030: CEO

The Amazon company has committed to be water positive by 2030 and so far, AWS-funded replenishment projects have returned nearly 2.4 billion litres of water to communities and the environment

Eight out of 11 major dams in Maharashtra reached maximum storage capacity

Marathwada has already received 840 millimetres of rain this monsoon, or 123.62 per cent of the region's annual average rainfall of 679 millimetre

Water begins receding in Pakistan's worst flood-hit southern Sindh province

Floodwaters are receding in Pakistan's worst-hit southern Sindh province, officials said Friday, a potentially bright sign in an ongoing crisis that has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless in the impoverished South Asian country. The Indus River, which remained swollen until earlier this month, was now rushing at normal levels towards the Arabian Sea, according to Mohammad Irfan, an irrigation official in hard-hit Sindh. The water level in the past 48 hours receded as much as three feet in some of the inundated areas nearby, including the Khairpur and Johi towns, where waist-high water damaged crops and homes earlier this month. A day earlier, engineers had opened a key highway in the southwestern Baluchistan province, allowing rescue workers to speed aid to those suffering in a race against the spread of waterborne diseases and dengue fever. Still, hundreds of thousands of people in Sindh are living in makeshift homes and tents. Authorities say it will take months to ...

Planet Scuba India ropes in CREST to manufacture dive equipment in India

The company will introduce CREST Diving to DRDO's DEBEL and will aim to make India an alternative to China as a manufacturer of dive equipment

Water-wisdom for climate change

We need to scale up our work to invest in local water systems to capture every drop of rain so that we can build local resilience against drought

Water-from-air tech: Israel's Watergen inks JV with SMV Jaipuria Group

Israel-based company Watergen on Wednesday announced a strategic joint venture with SMV Jaipuria Group with a planned investment of more than $50 million (over Rs 387 crore) in the next 2-3 years

Rising temperatures can put our water security in serious jeopardy: CSE

What does this intense heat wave that has hit large parts of India so early this summer really mean?

India's water storage tops last years' level and 10-yr avg as heat rises

Govt data on 140 reservoirs shows 7.3 per cent higher levels than previous year

Very few recycling units, can't send water to Marathwada: Maha Minister

Maharashtra minister Jayant Patil on Tuesday informed the state Legislative Council that BMC had not undertaken enough water recycling projects

Rs 2.5-crore prize announced for innovators of drinking water solutions

The/Nudge Foundation has partnered Ashirvad Pipes and principal scientific adviser's office for the 18-month challenge