Latest happenings

Capturing Rainwater

A way to augment Chandigarh’s water resources

CSE has submitted a report on city wide rainwater harvesting for Chandigarh as a part of its work as Centre Of Excellence under the Ministry of Urban Development. Chandigarh does not have any surface water source and there is a steep decline in the groundwater levels in the city. The city has very few options for sourcing water, recharging the confined aquifers from where water is being tapped becomes a necessity. Every summer, newspaper reports quote residents residing on the second and third floors in the southern sectors of the city complaining about the shortage of drinking water.

Old Mirrors Traditional Ponds of Kolkata

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has come up with a book on ponds of  Kolkata called "Old Mirrors-Traditional ponds of Kolkata" in the begining of this year. The author of the book is Mohit Ray. Ray is the founder director of a Kolkata based non profit organization, Vasundhara. He has documented 48 ponds of Kolkata. The age of some ponds is 250 years and 24 of them are 200-300 years old.  He had studies all the 48 ponds in details. He gave an elaborate history of the ponds and along with that he researched out the present conditions of these water bodies.

Environmentalists fighting to save the Ousteri lake

Ousteri lake (Osudu lake) is one of the examples in the history of deterioration of wetlands where a long wait for the final judgment is taking the lake towards a slow death process.

Sustainability Index Program

The Sustainability Index Programme is supported by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Tata uses nano technology for water purifier

Recently, chairman of Tata group, Ratan Tata, unveiled a water filter called 'Swach' which uses nano technology to purify water. Tata Research, Development and Design Centre (TRDDC) and Tata Chemicals have jointly developed the core technology.

Sanjay lake -- dying silently

Nine years have passed since Vinod Kumar Jain had filed a public interest litigation to save the water bodies of Delhi. The case is still in the court but meanwhile some lakes in Delhi, have actually turned into cesspools. One such lake is the Sanjay lake of east Delhi.

Lake under scanner

Construction of a new housing project adjacent to the Khurpa tal by the Army Welfare Housing Organization (AWHO) has caused afresh hue and cry among the villagers in the surrounding area when Dr. Ajay S. Rawat, Professor of History in Kumaon University filed a PIL against the illegal boring of groundwater in the area this January.

Where is the lake?

The Bellandur Lake is in the news nowadays because the Lake which once acted as a major source of water to the city of Bangalore, Karnataka has now been converted to a sewage drain completely. The dumping started in the late 90’s when the people of the region started depending on river Cauvery for their water requirements.