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Water increases alertness, regulates BP
July 7, 2010 (ANI) : Water doesn’t just quench thirst – it can keep you alert and regulate
your blood pressure too, says a new study. David Robertson, and colleagues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
first observed this property about 10 years ago, in patients who had
lost their baroreflexes – the system that keeps blood pressure within a normal range.
Water increases the activity of the sympathetic – fight or flight –
nervous system, which raises alertness, blood pressure and energy expenditure.
American Red Cross found in a study, that drinking 16 ounces of water
before blood donation reduced the fainting response by 20 percent.
And because it raises sympathetic nervous system activity – and consequently energy expenditure – it does promote weight loss, Robertson said.
High prevalence of Hepatitis A and E viruses in the Mutha river
PUNE, June 23, 2010: The water flowing through the Mutha river has a high prevalence of
jaundice- causing viruses and is a potential health hazard to the city’s population.
A study conducted by National Institute of Virology (NIV) here has found
an alarming rise in the prevalence of the hepatitis A and hepatitis E
viruses in the Mutha river over the last eight years. The study also
documents the high prevalence of enteric viruses — human enteroviruses
(coxsackievirus, echo virus and others) — which cause a range of
infections as well as rota viruses which cause dysentery.
The findings are a result of a year-long survey carried out during
2008-09 and published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, a US-based
scientific research journal, in May 2010.
Water crisis in state to force migration, says study
JAIPUR, May 19, 2010: In a few years time, the per capita availability of water in Rajasthan
will reach the absolute scarcity level, triggering gradual migration of people
to other areas where usable water is available in sufficient quantity. This was
the conclusion of a study conducted by the state government and presented at a
national seminar on water auditing at Rajasthan University on Tuesday.
"Currently, the per capita water available in the state is around 650 cubic
metres. In few years, the availability will reach the absolute scarcity mark of
500 cubic metres. Previous studies have shown that migration begins at this
mark," said Ram Lubhaya, principal secretary, water resources, who presented the
study at the seminar.
"As per internationally accepted norms, a person needs 2,000 cubic metres of
water per year. However, life can go on even at 1,000 cubic metres. But in
Rajasthan we are already at 650 cubic metres mark," he said. In fact, the state has been overdependent on groundwater for the past three
years after the rains proved elusive. Though the state has recently framed a
water policy, it seems to be a case of too little, too late. "Currently, the
state has nearly 16.05 billion cubic metres (BCM) of surface water, while it
gets 17.89 BCM from inter-state agreements," Lubhaya said.
Source: The Times of India
India:Coca-Cola Shareholders Warned of Liabilities
Atlanta (April 21, 2010): It is only a matter of time before the Coca-Cola
company will be held financially and criminally liable for their operations in
water-stressed areas in India, Coca-Cola shareholders were told today at the
company’s shareholder meeting in Atlanta. Source: Press Release: India Resource Centre
UP to make a budget for water needs
LUCKNOW, September 12, 2009: The state took the first step towards introducing `water budgeting' on Friday to check fast depleting water resources. The newly formed UP Water Management and Regulation Commission (UPWMRC) in its first meeting decided to draw river basin-wise plans to identify availability of surface and ground water resources and regulate its distribution for domestic, irrigation and industrial use.
Presided by H L Birdi, chairperson, UPWMRC, all the departments related to water supply and its use took part in the meeting, which decided to collect data of water availability, demand and supply
within 15 days so that UPWMRC can formulate plans respectively for eight river basins in the state. The eight basins are Ganga, Yamuna,
Gomti, Ram Ganga, Rapti, Ghaghra, Soan and Gandak. Each river basin has its own surface and ground water source which is used for domestic, irrigation and industrial use. However, mismanagement, indiscriminate extraction and polluting has left UP's water
resources in a dire state.
Groundwater vanishing in North India, says NASA
BANGALORE, August 14, 2009: Groundwater levels in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi are
falling dramatically — by one foot a year — a trend that could lead to “extensive socio-economic stresses” for the region’s 114 million residents, says a scientific paper based on the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s satellite imagery. A staggering 109 cubic km of groundwater has been lost in just six years (2002-08) — a figure twice the capacity of India’s largest surface
reservoir Upper Wainganga and “much more” than the government’s estimation, says the paper published in the latest issue of international journal Nature.
The depletion is caused entirely by human activity such as irrigation, and not natural climatic
variability, concludes the study co-authored by Matthew Rodell, a hydrologist with NASA.
Groundwater is being pumped out faster than it is being replenished. The finding is based on images from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), a pair of satellites that sense changes in Earth’s gravity field and associated mass distribution, including water masses
stored above or below the Earth’s surface.
Between August 2002 and October 2008, the region lost 109 cubic km of
groundwater, almost triple the capacity of the largest man-made reservoir in the U.S., Lake Mead. If measures are not taken to ensure sustainable groundwater use, consequences may include collapse of agricultural output and severe shortages of potable water, said Professor
Rodell. Depletion is likely to continue until effective measures are taken to curb groundwater demand which could propel severe shortages of potable water, reduced agricultural productivity, conflict and suffering, the research paper added. Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi are semi-arid or arid. The region has benefited from the Green Revolution “fuelled largely by increased production of groundwater for irrigation.”
Monsoon 25% down, food, water crises loom
New Delhi, August 8, 2009: With three consecutive phases of monsoon failure, the UPA Government has decided to take up the issue of emerging crisis-like situation in food scenario with Chief Ministers and top State Government officials.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Earth Sciences on the basis of India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin on Friday, there has been a trend of weakening of monsoon, which has witnessed a departure
of 25 per cent (deficient) from long period average (LPA) prediction. The deficiency is spread over four broad homogeneous regions in the country over a period calculated from June 1 to August 5.
The IMD bulletin has shown that from July 30 to August 5 the country as a whole recorded minus 64 per cent rainfall. This, coupled with shooting prices of essential commodities, has brought bad tidings for the Government, despite Agriculture Ministry’s claim of a comfort situation as last year there was a bumper crop.
Bihar to formulate water management policy
PATNA, June 29, 2009: Bihar PHED minister Ashwini Kumar Chaubey has returned from Singapore with plans for water management in the state. Hugely impressed with the experiments in Singapore, which was dependent on other countries for its water requirement, Chaubey said that he has
conceived some plans and would solicit cooperation from Singapore.
Chaubey, who was one of the six government representatives from India to participate in the Singapore International Water Week which
concluded on June 26, on Sunday said that Bihar will soon formulate its water policy.
The PHED minister said that he has been promised that a team of experts of Public Utility Board (PUB) of Singapore will come here and after studying the situation will suggest solution to overcome
drinking water problem in Patna, Bhagalpur, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and other big cities. Also, the engineers and experts from Bihar will go to Singapore and study the new water techniques
developed there.
Source: The Times of India
Rain-fed reservoirs run dry to cause power shortage
NEW DELHI, June 25, 2009: The extended dry spell is going to cause power shortage in the north if it continues much longer. The Tehri hydel plant, which supplies substantial power to Delhi, is
doddering on the verge of closure as the water level in its reservoir has sunk to dangerously low levels. In case the plant has to be shut down, the northern supply pool will lose about 1,000MW and come under pressure as states rush to draw more than their legitimate share.
The water level in Tehri has come down to 741 metres against a level of 830 metres during the
monsoon. It is producing just 3.5 million units per day against 10-12 million units it did normally. The plant will have to be shut down if the water level sinks to 740
metres.
The Bhakra dam, the biggest hydel project in the north, reservoir level remains lower than what it was at this time last year. The Central Water Commission has said that in 80% of the reservoirs, the water level is below the 10-year average for the season. About 25-30% of the nearly 178,000MW of India’s installed capacity is
hydel
Packaged water manufacturers up against herbal water
CHENNAI, June 19, 2009: More than 1,000 members of the Tamil Nadu Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers Association (TPDWMA) went on a daylong hunger strike on Thursday, demanding action against unauthorised' herbal water units in the state. The strike was held to condemn
government inaction in the matter.
According to V Murali, founder, TPDWMA, there are more than 450 packaged drinking water units in Tamil Nadu, with 270 units being run in Chennai city alone. The units are functioning with licences
issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), a government of India body. Instead of targetting unauthorised herbal units,
BIS-licensed units were often targetted for no reason, he said. TPDWMA members also protested against the health wing in various municipal corporations seizing water sachets without valid reason. The water sachets were treated like arrack pouches and smashed by
bulldozers on public roads, they said, adding that no local body tested the packaged water before seizing the products. Also, rumours were spread by government agencies about the water packed being of poor quality and unfit for consumption.
"They (local bodies) should focus on closing down unauthorised herbal units, preventing the public from consuming spurious products. The units have caused a 20% loss to the Rs 100 crore water
manufacturing industry," Murali said. In Tamil Nadu alone, there are 100 unlicensed water production units. BIS, itself, has sent complaints to the state government seeking stern action against herbal units. The annual turnover of the licensed industry in Tamil Nadu is estimated at Rs 400
crore. According to unofficial estimates, three lakh cans of 20 litres capacity and 30 lakh 250 ml sachets of
ISI-certified brands are sold in Chennai alone, and 35,000 cans are
sold as herbal water' without authorisation. There was no one to check the menace, TPDWMA members alleged.
Source: The Times of India
Water crisis mainly result of mismanagement rather than of scarcity: Experts
Chandigarh, June 14, 2009 : Experts in a seminar on ‘Water, community and Media’ today agreed
that water crisis in India is mainly a result of mismanagement rather than of
scarcity. In a seminar on ‘Water, Community and Media’ organised by Chandigarh
Chapter of Indian Media Centre and N-W Regional Centre of ICSSR, Panjab
University jointly, these experts said the best way to avoid the problem from
becoming a nightmare is to conserve water, use it wisely and reclaim used water
for reuse. Mr RK Srinivasan, from Centre for Science and Environment News Delhi, Prof KP
Singh of Geology Department, Panjab University, Dr Nirmal Singh of Jalandhar
based organisation Punjabi Satth, and well known Journalist Mr Bajinder Pal
Singh, discussed the issue of ‘Water Crisis and role of media in creating a
people’s movement’ in the seminar. They agreed that media must play a bigger
role in spreading information about need for sensible and sensitive approach to
water both at personal and community level.
Bajinder Pal Singh an Erasmus scholar on environment and a journalist with 15
years in India’s top media houses said Punjab exports “virtual water” worth 20.9
trillion litres every year. The state is closely followed by Uttar Pradesh which
exports 20.8 trillion litres, and by Haryana which exports 14.2 trillion litres
of virtual water annually. Explaining the concept of “virtual water” which
calculates the water embedded in any food item he said International
organizations now estimate that every kilo of wheat requires around 1000 litres
of water for production. Water used for production of any product is known as
virtual water, this concept is used by Food and Agriculture Organisation and the
UN. He said Punjab, UP and Haryana which contribute the maximum amount for the
national food pool, are indirectly exporting water used to grow these
foodgrains. The export of virtual water is ‘surprising’ as North West India is
regarded as a water stressed region. FAO estimates that to produce 1 tomato, 13
litres of water is used, for an orange amount of virtual water is 50
litres. India, along with US and Canada are regarded as the largest virtual water
exporters in the world, while China is a net virtual water importer.
A new way to clean up the rivers, lakes
Bangalore, May 25, 2009: Bangalore-based NuAlgi Nanobiotech has devised a way to treat sewage and effluents through a patented product, called NuAlgi, which not only cleans a
polluted water body without affecting its ecology, but also adds nutrients to
it, increasing the food content for fish. MintNuAlgi, which can be used to clean a pond, a lake or a river, is available
in powder form which needs to be dissolved in water in a container before
draining into the water body. Chief executive T. Sampath Kumar recommends using
1-2kg of NuAlgi per four million litres of water. A 1kg pack of NuAlgi is priced
at Rs275.
Within 15 minutes of dissolving NuAlgi in the water, diatom algae is released.
These growing algae absorb nutrients and carbon dioxide from the water and
produce oxygen by photosynthesis. The oxygen released helps aerobic bacteria
break down the organics and convert the pollutants to base constituents, all
this minus the stink that anaerobic decomposition generates. The diatoms are
eaten by zooplanktons that are, in turn, consumed by fish. The ecosystem of the
water body is maintained and observed by the presence of healthy fish, which are
fit for human consumption. “With the use of NuAlgi, all polluted lakes and rivers can be restored without
harming the water life,” says Kumar, who invented NuAlgi over eight years, from
1996 to 2004, and has since been marketing it mainly to fishermen in and around
Bangalore.
Water needs higher priority on development agenda: UNESCO
New York, March 19, 2008 (PTI): Stressing that the problems faced by the world with regard to water are enormous, a top UN official has said that the precious resource must be given a higher priority on the global development agenda.
"Chronic underinvestment and poor governance in many parts of the world has left hundreds of millions of people deprived of their right to safe water and basic sanitation, vulnerable to disease and
extreme hunger, and exposed to the risks of water-related disasters, environmental degradation and conflict," UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said.
"Developing countries themselves need to increase investment in water and systematically integrate water in poverty reduction strategies," Mr. Matsuura said yesterday during the opening of the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul.
"The international community must also dramatically scale up its support...I urge leaders in all sectors to use this report as a guide and impetus for bold and sustained action to meet the world's
water needs," he told the meeting, whose theme is "Bridging Divides for Water."
"After decades of inaction, the problems we face are enormous. If left unattended, they may become insurmountable," he added.
Mr. Matsuura also presented the latest UN World Water Development Report, compiled by over 20 UN agencies, which states that as the world's population has swollen to over 6 billion, some countries have already reached the limits of their water resources.
Water pyramid opened in Rajasthan village
Jodhpur , February 24,2009: A water pyramid, which can distill saline water and also harvest rain water, was today dedicated to the people of Roopji Raja Beri village in Barmer district by an NGO.
The NGO, Jal Bhagirathi Foundation (JBF), claimed it to be the country&aposs first and world&aposs second pyramid. It said one such structure is functional in Gambia and another is about to start in Gujarat.
Project director of JBF, Kanupriya, said it is a uniquely designed inflated foil structure with 30 meter diameter and 9 meter height, which utilizes solar energy to evaporate brackish ground water and condenses it into a distilled drinking water. This distilled water is collected in channels inside the pyramid and directed to a ground tank from where it is pumped into the distribution tank, with a capacity of 10000 litres.
On the other hand, during monsoon, the rain water falling on the pyramid and nearby area will be collected, filtered and then directed to the rain water collection tank, which has a capacity of 6 lakhs litres. The harvested water can be pumped to the rain water distribution tank whenever required. Kanupriya said a Jal Sabha formed by the Roopji Raja Beri villagers with the help of the Gram
Panchayat provided with the land and the JBF facilitated completion of the project.
IFC to lend USD 15 mn for clean drinking water
New Delhi, February 17,2009: International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of World Bank, will provide a loan of USD 15 million to help expand access to clean drinking water in the rural areas of the country.IFC will give the loan to WaterHealth India Private Ltd, a subsidiary of WaterHealth
International, to help expand the availability of affordable, clean drinking water to about three million people in rural India.
WaterHealth India, provider of water services to Indian villages, will install more than 600 systems in villages in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
" This project, IFC&aposs first in India&aposs distributed water services sector, will provide access to clean drinking water for rural households. Increasing access to affordable, safe water will have positive impacts on health and education,"said Paolo Martelli, IFC Director for South Asia.
Supreme Court judge warns of social unrest over water shortage
New Delhi, February 8, 2009 (PTI): Water shortage could cause great suffering and social unrest, the Supreme Court has said and directed the Centre to immediately constitute a high-powered committee of scientists to evolve ways to overcome any crisis. "In my opinion the Central Government should constitute such a body of scientists immediately and give them all the help failing which the hardships of the people of India will further increase causing great suffering and social unrest everywhere," Justice Katju observed.
Writing his separate views in a judgement directing the Centre to constitute a Special Water Tribunal to solve an inter-state water dispute between Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, Justice Markandeya Katju
said the high-powered committee should take up the job immediately on a "war footing". "This body of scientists should be given all financial, technical and administrative help by the Central and state governments for this purpose," he said.
Is there water-ice on the Moon?
BANGALORE, January 30, 2009: Do the permanently shadowed polar regions of the Moon contain
water-ice? This is one of the many questions that a group of 70 scientists — from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) — aim to resolve at a two-day meeting that began here on Thursday.
The meeting, which was held at the ISRO Satellite Centre, marks the 100 days since the launch of Chandrayaan-I and will unravel the data that the lunar craft has gathered during its space voyage.
Scientists will now focus their attention on identifying “areas of interest” on the lunar terrain for further exploration — including exploring the possibility of finding water-ice, said ISRO Chairman, G. Madhavan
Nair. “We will now identify areas on the Moon which need to be looked at closer for substances like water-ice. These areas will then be studied with a range instruments such as the Moon Mineralogy Mapper, Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar and Hyper-spectral Imager,” he said.
Orissa farmers protest use of dam water for industry
BHUBANESWAR, January 14, 2009 (Reuters): Thousands of farmers protested over the use of water
from a major dam by factories in Orissa on Tuesday, in what is seen as the
latest face-off between farmers and industry over land and natural resources.
Farmers marched near the Hirakud dam in mineral- rich Orissa, police and
witnesses said. Many held placards saying "Hirakud water for farmers".
The 25.8-km long dam was built in 1956, the first big project India undertook
after independence. Millions of farmers in Orissa depend on Hirakud dam water to irrigate farmland
and they believe that diverting water for industry will hurt them.
The main purpose of the dam was to stop floods, generate electricity and provide
employment, but not provide water to industries, the farmers have alleged."The government has given permission to some companies recently to build wells
in the reservoir area to draw water, but we are here to stop any such plan,"
said Lingaraj, a protest leader who goes by one name.
The demonstration reflects a larger standoff between industry and farmers
unwilling to give up land and water in India, where two-thirds of the population
depend on agriculture for a living. For the last few years, violent protests have forced authorities to cancel key
industrial projects planned on farmland.
Access to water is a fundamental human right.
The community of Mehdiganj and Coca-Cola affected communities in India are working with communities, elected officials, local, state and national government officials, people’s movements, non-governmental organizations and international groups to challenge the eroding right to water and asserting the fundamental human right to water.
The conference on the right to water will be held on March 28 and 29, which will be followed by a march and demonstration against the Coca-Cola bottling plant on March 30. Access to water is a fundamental human right. Water is sacred, and without water, life is not sustainable. Over one billion people around the world still lack access to clean drinking water. Communities across the world, particularly the poor and the vulnerable, are finding it increasingly difficult to access water to meet their basic needs.
PROJECT SARASWATI
by ONGC
As part of its social responsibility, the ONGC has embarked on a project called “ONGC Project Saraswati” to provide water in drought-prone areas of India. The river Saraswati, which had made the Thar one of the greenest areas of the subcontinent several thousand years ago,
disappeared with the desertification of north-western India. Rajagopala Rao said the project aimed at finding the possibility of the existence of deep aquifers, similar to conditions that obtained in the Great Man-Made River Project of Libya. The search for oil that began in 1953 in the vast desert of southern Libya not only led to the discovery of huge oilfields but great quantities of fresh water.
A study was initiated in western Rajasthan, covering 13 districts, under a memorandum of
understanding signed with Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Limited, or WAPCOS, to identify broad areas for deeper groundwater exploration. Similarly, deep-seated fresh groundwater
under artesian conditions was discovered in the Thar desert in Pakistan in a village called Jumman Samoo, about 75 km east of Umerkot city. A 12-inch bore encountered an aquifer between 1,000 feet (300 m) and 1,200 ft (360 m). The well produced 200 gallons (378 l) a minute, making water available without any operational costs.
In a Demonstration of ONGC Ptoject Saraswati the villagers could not believe their eyes when clear water gushed out from a pump in the Thar desert, 6 km from Jaisalmer in
Rajasthan. The well, dug up to 400 metres, produced 76,000 litres of water an hour during a pumping test.
Rajagopala Rao said a preliminary study had identified
Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Barmer, Ganganagar, Nagaur and Hanumangarh districts for detailed investigation.
Nuclear energy
may be more efficient for the production of freshwater
Scientists are developing new ways to desalt seawater to bring clean drinking
water supplies to communities all over the world to avert vast shortages
of clean water due to global climate change and overpopulation. But desalination technologies are still remain costly. Several methods were invented to purify saltwater that include solar power and fossil fuels, but nuclear energy might be a more efficient method of removing contamination and saltwater. Meenakshi Jain of CDM & Environmental Services and Positive Climate Care in India says, "fossil fuel reserves are finite and must be conserved for other essential uses, whereas demands for desalted water would continue to increase. Nuclear energy seawater desalination has a tremendous potential for the production of freshwater."
Jain emphasizes that renewable energy sources could help ease water shortages. Wind, solar, and wave power may be used to generate electricity while also carrying out desalination. That, in turn, could have a significant impact on reducing potential increased greenhouse gas emissions. Nearly 40 million cubic meters of desalted water are produced worldwide each day, says the
International Atomic Energy Agency. Most of the facilities to do so are located in the Middle East and North Africa and they use fossil fuels to draw the steam or electricity they need to facilitate the process.
Floating nuclear power plants
may be a new source of
clean water
A nuclear power plants
which have a lot of excess heat may be used to make fresh
water, the idea of S.S. Verma, with the Department of Physics at the Sont
Longowal Institute in Punjab, India. If located offshore near large population
centers, the plants could provide cheap electricity as well as fresh water to
mega cities like Mumbai. Some companies are already looking at developing
desalination platforms that can be attached to nuclear plants, he said, according to the Indo-Asian News Service.
Nuclear plants do produce a lot of waste heat. Many believe that hydrogen could become economical if the waste heat
from these plants could be used to crack water molecules to produce the gas.
Some companies in Canada are contemplating installing nuclear power plants near
the tar sands deposits in Alberta to produce hydrogen, a necessary ingredient
for turning the goopy tar into usable liquid fuel.
In many large cities in India, people wait in line to get water from roving trucks. Droughts and crop failures are expected
to increase as global temperatures rise. And it's not just in the emerging
world. Australia is suffering through a prolonged shortage of water.
Desalination provides an avenue out of it, but conventional methods are
expensive and somewhat time consuming. Other water purification ideas out there include better membranes (from start-up
Nano H20) better purification ponds (a la Aqwise) and simulated evaporation and
condensation from Altela. Source: CNET News.com
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