Restoring Chennai’s water bodies
Twenty-seven-year-old Chandra, a house help in Chennai, does not know much about deficient rainfall, rainwater harvesting or the city's degraded water bodies. All she knows is that once in two…
Ludhiana attempts to come clean, again
In August this year, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) filed a criminal case against the mayor, commissioner and four other officials of the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana, a large…
[Commentary] The invisible bond: Wastewater management and water for all
In 2014, India launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) – one of the world’s largest drives for sanitation – which aimed to make the country open defecation free by 2019.…
As the Brahmaputra swells, erosion-affected families await revised policy
Sixty-year-old Ente Basumatary, a resident of Dungar Guri village in the Morigaon district of Assam, in northeast India, expresses both surprise and frustration when asked if he is aware of…
Gangetic dolphins struggle to communicate as their underwater homes get noisy
India’s Ganga is a noisy river. There’s the churning of sediment, the hums, grunts and growls of fishes and turtles. There are the cacophonous stretches of cities and industries breathing…
Birds vs hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh: Who will win?
The proposal for 3,097-megawatt Etalin hydropower project in Dibang valley of Arunachal Pradesh in India’s northeast region has been pushed back yet again as questions regarding the project’s impact on…
[Commentary] Feni river agreement offers hope, but water sharing remains contentious
In the first transboundary river water sharing agreement in decades in South Asia, Bangladesh allowed India to withdraw 1.82 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water from the Feni river.…
Farmers demand water in return for land in Yettinahole river diversion project
Four years ago, Vasant Kumar’s wholly organic farm in Bommalapura village in Tumakuru district of Karnataka came under the media spotlight as a positive story in an otherwise grim, drought-stricken landscape. His…
Demand for freshwater poses a threat to Chambal river
Once known for harbouring dacoits, the Chambal badlands in central India, have another, and not so notorious, reason for their fame – the river Chambal and its wildlife. The region…
Unstoppable rivers: Bhutan’s quest for energy security and development in a changing climate
The rush of water ripped through the valley like an excavator. On August 6, 2019, unusually heavy monsoon rain drenched the mountainside above the Punatsangchhu river in Bhutan, causing an…
