A fluid right

Blog Intro:  Campaign to make water and sanitation a right gathers momentum Campaign to make water and sanitation a right gathers momentum

Drought of equity

Cauvery tribunal award notified

Gold’s toxic legacy

EVERYONE wants to horde gold these days. But the ever increasing demand of the precious metal seems to have put people living near the gold mines at risk. A study in Karnataka has indicated that even those areas where gold mines have been shut down are heavily contaminated with arsenic.

India’s Minamata

Saraju Nisha sits at the door of her house, about 500 metres from a mountain of coal mine waste in Chilika Daad village in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district. The 60-year-old former miner is in deep pain.

Tulsi Fights Fluorosis

Why this study? Fluorosis, which causes dental and skeletal decay, is endemic in at least 25 countries across the world. According to estimates by Fluoride Action Network, a US-based non-profit, 25 million people are affected by fluorosis in India and another 66 million are at a risk. How does your method work? Interviewee:  Rahul Kamble

Renal emergency

P G Jayasingha sat on his bed with a bloated stomach. Both his kidneys had failed and he was unable to pass urine. He could not drink water despite being thirsty. His arms and legs would constantly ache and his eyesight had failed him. That was in February when Down To Earth visited him.

Desalination made easy

AS drinking water sources become scarce, the dependence on groundwater increases. But groundwater is brackish in many places and the technologies to make salty water potable are high on energy consumption, inputs and maintenance costs. Scientists have now found a cost- effective device to desalinate water. They have taken their cue from one of the guiding principles of water purification—removing salt ions from water.

Rs 1,86,000 cr illusion

Arsenic just got dirtier

IT IS well-known that prolonged exposure to arsenic causes cancer, diabetes and liver damage. Now it has been found that exposure to this colourless, odourless chemical, which is widely present in the environment, may also lead to hypertension.