Cry of a river

Indra Pal Singh fondly recalls drinking sweet water of the river Ami as a child. Elders of the village where Pal Singh grew up say the river gets it name from aam (mango) or amrit (nectar). Today, Pal Singh, pradhan of Adilapar village in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district, says the 136 km river has become a nuisance. A drain that carries untreated industrial effluent from the Gorakhpur Industrial Development Area (GIDA) has reduced it to a filthy water body. Residents of more than 100 habitations downstream of the drain often complain of colds, mystery fevers, nausea and high blood pressure. They find it hard to breathe at night as the stench from the drain rises with the increase in the volume of the wastewater. The residents say the effluent level rises by half a metre at sunset.

Passive neighbour

India and Bangladesh breathed a sigh of relief last month after China denied it had plans to divert waters of Brahmaputra River to its arid region. At a press conference in Beijing on October 12, the Chinese Vice-Minister of Water Resources Jiao Yong said such a project on Yarlung Zangbo River, as it is known in Tibet where its headwaters is, would affect relations with downstream countries. This statement came with an admission that the project is neither technically feasible nor environmentally sound. But Beijing has not given up on its plans for the Brahmaputra.

No free lunch for water projects

Freshwater has been the main fuel for human civilisations and economies. But unscientific overuse of rivers, lakes and groundwater aquifers has led to degradation of water bodies to such an extent that their ecosystem services are increasingly failing. The term “environmental flows” has come into circulation as a result of searches to reverse the situation.

Mahan at all costs

WHEN Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan went on an “indefinite” fast in February to protest the Centre’s “continued discrimination” against the state, one of his grudges was the delay in the allocation of a coal block to a joint venture of two companies that has invested thousands of crores of rupees in setting up industries in the backward region.

Pee, poop and paani

It is often said that if you see someone in the Lion City (Singa-pura) with oriental features and in good humour, he or she must be either a Filipino or a Filipina. The average Singaporean does not emote freely. They ensure their intentions are not misinterpreted; rarely do they smile, or acknowledge an unknown person. And often they are accused of being staid and boring, yet envied the world over as they strive for perfection on all counts. This clinical obsession is deep-rooted in their psyche and extends to how they look at water.

Courts act to protect floodplains

ALL construction activities along the banks of the river Ganga in Allahabad were brought to a halt last month. The Allahabad Development Authority (ADA) issued a moratorium in compliance with a state high court order to stop ongoing projects within 500 metres of the river’s highest flood level.

Singapore taps its water

Water crisis in Tripura town

FOR the past two years 1,500-odd families in a small town of Tripura have not received a modest drinking water supply. Reason: a dispute over water withdrawal from the Feni river, the international border between India and Bangladesh.

Farmers face police wrath, 3 killed

THE three-year-old peaceful protest of Mavla taluka residents against the laying of a water pipeline turned violent on August 9 when three farmers were killed in police firing. Residents of 75 villages of the taluka in Pune are angry over the Maharashtra government’s decision to lay the pipeline from the Pavana dam in the taluka to the pumping station in Ravet, under the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

Recommendations so far

IIT-Roorkee: Minimum flow should be based on the percentage of lean season flow. On Full Moon and auspicious days, flows at areas of spiritual significance should be closest to the natural flow. The group had limited data for measured river cross-sections and velocity of flows. Hence, e-flows recommended are indicative values.