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   Water crisis looms over Kanpur

   KANPUR, April 18, 2013: The declining water level in Ganga has rung the alarm bells for Jal Sansthan authorities who depend on the river for ensuring water supply in the city. If the water level continues to decline in a similar fashion in next 20 days, a major water crisis may crop up in the month of May.
  The water scarcity is already being felt in some localities in Kanpur South. These include Karhai, Gopal Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, and Barra to name a few. One solution to the problem lies in releasing water into Ganga from dams like Narora. At present, three dredging machines are functional at Bhairaoghat pumping station fetching water from the river. The staff of Jal Sansthan at the pumping station requesting anonymity informed that the situation will soon become precarious if the water level goes down further.
  They said it has become tough to pump water out from the river and if water is not released from Narora Dam soon, the water crisis would deepen in the city. It is worth mentioning here that nearly 20 crore litres of water is pumped out of Ganga from Bhairavghat alone. The city's total demand for water is nearly 55 crore litres. The remaining water is fetched from lower Ganga canal, Gujjaini water works, and Ganga Barrage. A section of denizens fetch water on their own from handpumps and boring in their homes. Still, a deficit of nearly 15 crore remains, for which Jal Sansthan has to struggle hard. The river has majorly drifted away from city ghats like Massacre ghat.
  The decline in water level can also be witnessed at Ganga Barrage from where normally three crore litres of water is fetched. The water decline can be gauged from the fact that the riverbed is visible in several places. The water pipes of Bhairaoghat pumping station that used to remain fully submerged under water are now clearly visible. The bottom end of the dredging machines can also be seen. Source: The Times of India



   

  Groundwater of 18 districts in Bihar contaminated

  PATNA, March 31, 2013: The problem of groundwater contamination in 18 out of the 38 districts has reached alarming proportions since arsenic in groundwater was first reported in June 2002 in Semaria Ojha Patti village under Shahpurpolice station area in Bhojpurdistrict.Groundwater experts say that test of soil sediments in the plains of the
Ganga has revealed presence of arsenic in high concentration. This arsenic continuously seeps into the aquifers, contaminating the groundwater.
  Testing of groundwater in all these districts reveals concentrations of arsenic that is way above the maximum limit of 10 parts per billion (ppb) as recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO). Water and environment management head of A N College, Patna, A K Ghosh, who has tested water samples of more than 36,000 hand pumps and tube wells used both for drinking and irrigational purposes and found 30% of them having higher concentration of arsenic, says the maximum concentration of arsenic has been observed at Pandey Tola, Bhojpur (1861 ppb), Maner, Patna (724 ppb), Bhagalpur (608 ppb) and Bidupur, Vaishali (360 ppb).
  The districts affected by arsenic poisoning include Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Buxar, Darbhanga, Katihar, Khagaria, Lakhisarai, Munger, Patna, Samastipur, Saran, Vaishali, Supaul, West Champaran, Kishanganj, Purnia and Madhubani. Though the groundwater in Patna town is still free of arsenic, contamination has been detected in its suburbs like Danapur in the west and Fatuha in the east.
  Ghosh says that arsenic has not only contaminated the groundwater but has also entered into the food chain. Recent test of samples of rice, maize and sugarcane collected from Bhagalpur and Bhojpur districts has revealed higher concentration of arsenic. While the rice of Bhojpur region showed the presence of 36 micrograms/gram arsenic, the sugarcane juice of Bhagalpur was found having 22 ppb of arsenic. This is, indeed, a very dangerous symptom, he added.
 The Central Ground Water Board scientists say that people who have been consuming arsenic contaminated water for the last several years are now suffering from various skin ailments, including cancer. Source: The Times of India

   'Water credits' for India Inc on cards

  March 22, 2013: The concept of water credit to India Inc companies adopting water-conservation measures coupled with the introduction of water-efficiency tags on home appliances like washing machine, dishwasher or buildings/homes is expected to get a mention in the coming Budget.
  The government is also expected to outline a water regulatory body —National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency (NBWUE) — and tax incentives/benefits for industries that subject themselves to water audit in a time-bound manner soon.
  “The ground work and the base studies on water usage by various industries is getting finalised. There is a strong possibility of its mention in the Budget,” said a senior functionary of the joint industry task force looking at enforcing efficient usage of water resources. The water credit can be defined as a certificate showing that a government department, company, individual or industry has saved certain amount of water during particular activity or production process or domestic use. Under the system of water credit, industries will get the permit to use additional 1,000 liters of water (or quantities finalised by NBWUE) that can also be “traded in the international market at their current market price”.
  The idea of water credit comes at a time when there's increasing awareness of the need to control water wastage. According to an internal note, industries or consumers that have not used up their quota of water can sell their unused allowances as water credits, while businesses that are about to exceed their quota can buy the extra allowances as credits. Source: Financial Express

  Indian scientists develop arsenic detection tool

  KOLKATA, February 27, 2013 (IANS): Scientists in Kolkata have developed a new high-precision technique to detect arsenic in water, a toxic substance widespread in the groundwater of India and Bangladesh that on long-term exposure is capable of causing skin cancer. According to the WHO ,natural arsenic contamination is a cause for concern in many countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, China, India, Mexico, Thailand and the US. The new method developed by the scientists enables high-precision detection of arsenic through tiny gold clusters that signal its presence in water by emitting light (a phenomenon called fluorescence). 
  "The ultra-sensitive sensors synthesised by us were in the form of gold clusters that signal the presence of arsenic in water by emitting more light or fluorescence when in contact with the toxic arsenic in water. "It even detected arsenic in presence of other toxic metal ions," Arindam Banerjee of the Department of Biological Chemistry of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, told IANS. Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, said arsenic poisoning in India is a widespread phenomenon which needs monitoring techniques as well as methods for removal of the toxic substance.
  "Scientific studies in monitoring techniques as well as methods to remove the arsenic from water are necessary," Chandra Bhushan told IANS. The unique feature of the new monitoring technique is that it can roughly indicate the extent of arsenic contamination. "The more the light emitted, the greater the quantity of arsenic present," Banerjee added.Unlike other sensors, these gold clusters are particularly sensitive for detection of arsenic in water that contains other metal contaminants as well.
  "The fluorescence intensity of the gold cluster almost remains same in the presence of different metal ions such as magnesium, manganese, iron and zinc. In fact, these clusters are so sensitive and precise that they can detect or sense arsenic ions in water even if they are diluted to 40 times their original concentration," Banerjee added.

   India can direct water from Kishanganga hydroelectric project, rules The Hague Court
   New Delhi, February 19, 2013 (PTI): An International Court of Arbitration at the Hague has ruled in favour of India on the Kishanganga hydroelectric project and upheld India's right to divert water from the hydroelectric project to Kashmir. Pakistan had moved for arbitration in May 2010, claiming India was trying to divert the Jhelum river and the project would rob it of 15 per cent of its share of river waters.
  India had claimed the Indus Waters Treaty gave it the right to transfer waters between the Jhelum's tributaries to generate hydro power. Reacting to the development, official spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs said, "The award of the Court of Arbitration at The Hague today reaffirmed validity of India's position regarding KHEP by allowing diversion of water from the KHEP as envisaged by India." He said, "It highlights once again that India is adhering to all the provisions of Indus Waters Treaty." The spokesperson also said the details of the award were being studied. Pakistan had moved for arbitration in May 2010, claiming the project would rob it of 15 per cent of its share of Jhelum river waters. Pakistan has been objecting to the construction of the hydroelectric project on the Kishanganga river in Kashmir, which is called Neelum upon entering Pakistan. In November 2009, Pakistan had proposed the establishment of a Court of Arbitration and the appointment of a neutral expert to resolve the Kishanganga dam dispute.Indus Waters Treaty, inked between India and Pakistan, provides appointment of a neutral expert by the World Bank as a last option to resolve water related issues between the two countries. The Kishanganga plant, in Bandipora district of north Kashmir, is part of a run-of-the-river hydroelectric scheme that is designed to divert water

  NASA: Alarming water loss in Middle East

  DOHA (Qatar), February 14, 2013 (AP): An amount of freshwater almost the size of the Dead Sea has been lost in parts of the Middle East due to poor management, increased demands for groundwater and the effects of a 2007 drought, according to a NASA study. The study, to be published Friday in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, examined data over seven years from 2003 from a pair of gravity-measuring satellites which is part of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment or GRACE.  
  Researchers found freshwater reserves in parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins had lost 117 million acre feet (144 cubic kilometers) of its total stored freshwater, the second fastest loss of groundwater storage loss after India. About 60 percent of the loss resulted from pumping underground reservoirs for ground water, including 1,000 wells in Iraq, and another fifth was due to impacts of the drought including declining snow packs and soil drying up. Loss of surface water from lakes and reservoirs accounted for about another fifth of the decline, the study found. "This rate of water loss is among the largest liquid freshwater losses on the continents," the authors wrote in the study, noting the declines were most obvious after a drought.
  The study is the latest evidence of a worsening water crisis in the Middle East, where demands from growing populations, war and the worsening effects of climate change are raising the prospect that some countries could face sever water shortages in the decades to come. Some like impoverished Yemen blame their water woes on the semi-arid conditions and the grinding poverty while the oil-rich Gulf faces water shortages mostly due to the economic boom that has created glistening cities out of the desert.
  In a report released during the U.N. climate talks in Qatar, the World Bank concluded among the most critical problems in the Middle East and North Africa will be worsening water shortages. The region already has the lowest amount of freshwater in the world. With climate change, droughts in the region are expected to turn more extreme, water runoff is expected to decline 10 percent by 2050 while demand for water is expected to increase 60% by 2045.

  China gives go-ahead for three new Brahmaputra dams
 
BEIJING, January 31, 2013: China has given the go-ahead for the construction of three new hydropower dams on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra river, ending a two-year halt in approving new projects on the river amid concerns from India and environmental groups. The three new dams have been approved by the State Council, or Cabinet, under a new energy development plan for 2015 that was released on January 23, according to a copy of the plan available with "The Hindu". 
  China has, so far, only begun construction on one major hydropower dam on the main stream of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra or Yarlung Zangbo as it is known in China – a 510 MW project in Zangmu in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which began to be built in 2010. One of the three approved new dams is bigger than the Zangmu project. A 640 MW dam will be built in Dagu, which lies 18 km upstream of Zangmu. Another 320 MW dam will be built at Jiacha, also on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputura downstream of Zangmu. A third dam will be built at Jiexu, 11 km upstream of Zangmu. The capacity of the Jiexu dam is, as yet, unconfirmed.
  The three projects were listed in the State Council’s energy plan for the Twelfth Five Year Plan period (2011-15), which was released on January 23. The plan said the government “will push forward vigorously the hydropower base construction” on the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo. In the Twelfth Five Year plan period (2011-15), the government will begin construction of 120 million kilowatt of conventional hydropower.
A pre-feasibility study report for the 640 MW Dagu dam passed review in November, according to the Huadong Engineering Corporation, a hydropower company that was tasked with conducting the study by the local government. A notice posted on its website said a two-day review conference for the pre-feasibility study of the dam was held in November, organised by the Tibet Autonomous Region government’s Development and Reform Commission. The notice said the study successfully passed review, adding that the dam would be located 18 km upstream of the already in-construction Zangmu dam. The catchment area at the dam site, according to the Huadong Engineering Corporation, is 157,400 square kilometres, and the average annual discharge is 1010 cubic metres per second. The dam will be built with a height of 124 metres and 640 MW capacity.
  The construction of the Zangmu dam in 2010 triggered concerns in India regarding possible impact on downstream flows. Chinese officials, however, assured their Indian counterparts that the project was only a run-of-the-river hydropower station, which would not divert the Brahmaputra’s waters. The government has also built at least six smaller hydropower projects on the Yarlung Zangbo’s tributaries, which, officials say, will have no impact on downstream flows.   Source: The Hindu 

   Karnataka stares at water crisis
  
BANGALORE, January 26, 2013: Karnataka is staring at an imminent water crisis as the drought condition continues to worsen. "The situation is the worst in five years. Water levels in irrigation dams have reduced drastically. Tankers and pushcarts are supplying water in villages and towns, but the government is busy with budget and elections," said a senior official at the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority.
   Sounding alarm bells, the state administration said 7,500 villages are in the grip of water shortage and about 15,000 villages could be affected in summer. "If there is not enough rain by March, the state will effectively run out of water, with major reservoirs facing rapidly declining water levels," admitted municipal administration minister Balachandra Jarkiholi. Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore have sounded a red alert by cautioning the residents to reuse water because of dwindling storage levels at Krishnarajasagar and Kabini dams. Hubli-Dharwad are already rationing the water. Though water level at Thumbe dam is to the brim, Mangalore's concern is that of distribution. The Mangalore City Corporation recently made it mandatory for water tankers to install GPS (global positioning system) to ensure fair distribution of water in all areas. Water- management experts predict a dark future if the state government doesn't take steps early to tackle the crisis. "The waiting period is over now. It's time to take action. Reservoirs are at dangerous levels as rain has been scanty. We should not wait for April first week to announce contingency plans in the affected areas," said former water resources minister H K Patil. Source: The Times of India 
 
 India's new national Water Policy
  New Delhi, January 5, 2013 (IANS): Inida's new national water policy calls for strategies aimed at managing demand and improving storage efficiency, particularly in agriculture, that accounts for over 80 percent of water use. The National Water Policy, for the first time, also speaks of the challenge of climate change to water security and suggests augmenting water storage in various forms as a mitigation strategy.
   "The new water policy has been prepared with a broad vision. It has been prepared so that we can tackle the impending challenges in the water sector over the next three-four decades," Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat told IANS. The National Water Policy 2012 was adopted by the National Water Resources Council last week. Rawat said the per capita availability of water had substantially gone down from 5,177 cubic metres in 1951 to 1,545 cubic metres in 2011 and was projected to go further down to 1,341 cubic metres in 2025 and 1,140 cubic metres in 2050.
  The minister said that boosting "live storage" was one of the ways to ensure water security. Hydropower projects should be planned as multi-purpose projects with provision of storage. He said present storage capacity in the country was 253 billion cubic metres (bcm) and will go up to 408 bcm in 2050 "only if all the projects under construction and under consideration are completed". He said studies have indicated that India would need around 450 bcm of storage capacity by 2050 to meet the requirements of various sectors. Ministry officials said the per capita water storage capacity in India was about 209 cubic metres against that of the US at 2,192 cubic metres and Brazil 2,632 cubic metres. The corresponding figure for China is 416 cubic metres. They said it was difficult to increase the per capita availability due to the growing population, urbanisation, rapid industrialisation and economic development. "The per capita demand has to be reduced so we do not go to scarcity levels from stress levels," a ministry official told IANS. He said India was "a water stressed" country. Global benchmarks indicated this if the availability fell below 1,700 cubic metres per year. He said efficiency in the use of water, specially for irrigation, will help in huge savings. "Irrigation uses more than 80 percent of the usable water. Saving water in irrigation is of paramount importance. Methods like aligning cropping patterns with resource endowment and micro-irrigation need to be encouraged. There is a lot of thrust in the 12th (Five-Year) Plan on micro irrigation practices such as drip and sprinkler irrigation," the official said.
  He said that the new water policy talks of developing benchmarks of efficiency in terms of water footprints and water auditing. The new policy also suggests allocation and pricing on economic principles after ensuring a minimum quantity of potable water for essential health and hygiene of citizens and suggests creation of a Water Regulatory Authority in each state to lay down tariffs. The new policy says heavy underpricing of electricity leads to wasteful use of both power and water. Unlike the last policy of 2002 that made no mention of the rural-urban disparity in water supply, the new policy attempts to bring equality on the issue. 

 

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