Water programmeiswidely acknowledged as thought leader that mobilsed the country through a water literacy campaign calling for decentralized solutions to harvesting rainwater, control water pollution, urban sewage management in catalyzing policy changes at both national and state levels. Several publications that laid the reform agenda for water management in the country include - Dying Wisdom (1997) documenting the rise, fall and potential of India’s traditional water harvesting systems from different ecological contexts; Making Water Everybody’s Business (2001) followed with connecting the theory and practice of rainwater harvesting (RWH) targeting planners and policy-makers with a toolkit on Catch Water Where it Falls and focused research report Yamuna – sewage canal highlighting the needfor re-engineering the water and sewage management to address river pollution. CSE was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize in 2005 for promoting awareness on sustainable water management and community engagement, and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Water Award in 2008.
CSE has put together and submitted a report to the MoUD on “Urban Rainwater Harvesting: Case studies from different agro-climatic regions” as a part of its deliverable as a Centre for Comprehensive Capacity Building, under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (CCBP- JnNURM) for Sustainable Water Management.
A Public Service Advertisment on Rainwater Harvesting by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
Both surface and groundwater today in India and other South Asian cities is facing huge quantity and quality threat. Urban areas are facing water logging due to torrential rain. It is time to engineer the ferocious events of rain. Channelising and holding rain water must become the nation’s mission. Lakes, ponds, tanks which are built to hold water must be protected. These waterbodies not only provide drinking water, support livelihoods and biodiversity but also control the rate of runoff and subsequently control the runoff.
Tanjore in Tamil Nadu, Cambodia and Sri Lanka (dry zone) are the three civilisations in Asia which had well managed tank systems for rice production.
Wise Water Use in Gurgaon An action plan for HUDA, MCG and residents Download pdf
We open a tap for water. We push the flush handle to get rid of our excreta.
It was inevitable that Ganga, the largest river basin in India, constituting 26 per cent of the country’s landmass and supporting 43 per cent of its population, would be the starting point of any cleanup initiative of the Government of India.
Lakes and wetlands, whether man-made or natural, fresh water or brackish, play a vital role in maintaining the environmental sustainability of the urban areas.
In today’s world sewage treatment is a challenge for all practitioners.
This is a hands-on book based on exhaustive case studies on how rainwater harvesting (RWH) is being implemented, across India – in residential, institutional, and industrial/commercial segments. You will find cases that you can relate to, with all the details you would need, to implement RWH in your premises. Order now...
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) India and Work for Better Bangladesh trust (WBB) Bangladesh jointly organised a day long workshop on lake conservation in Dhaka on September 26, 2012. The workshop was attended by regulators, researchers, environmental lawyers and prominent NGOs from India and Bangladesh. The meeting was a second of its kind to influence the policy debate on lakes in South Asia. The first such meeting was organised in August 2011 by CSE and Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) in Dhaka.
“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India, to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures” (Article 51A –Constitution of India).