Pollution pays

The Mahajans, a family of four who live in Vasant Kunj, South Delhi, daily waste 240 litres of water to get 30 litres from their reverse osmosis (RO) purifier six times a day. "I bought the purifier thinking it will end all our water woes. It gives us clean drinking water but I feel guilty about the waste," says Meenakshi Mahajan. 'Experts' have informed the family that the wastage is quite normal for such water-cleaning gadgets.

Science & Technology - Briefs

archaeology Egyptians loved junk food

Kerala looks for sand in silt

THE Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat is eyeing silt deposits in the Aruvikkara reservoir on the Karamana river to meet the construction sectors demand for sand. In October, the Kerala Water Authority (kwa) decided to invite tenders for desilting the reservoir.

Ears have been picked, where is the info?

information is critical to democracy, which holds the citizen as the sovereign. But In India, the citizen had no effective power to question, let alone get redressal for legitimate rights. For a long time the government could withhold information from people by using the draconian Official Secrets Act. The Right to Information Act, passed in 2005, empowers citizens to ask for information from their government, and has the potential of enforcing the majesty of the Indian citizen. In the last four years, citizens have used the right for innovative purposes.

Railways will serve Kinley, Aquafina

suppliers and vendors operating catering stalls of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (irctc) are agitating against a decision which, they allege, promotes packaged drinking water of multinational companies.

Packaged water @ 10 paise/litre

Rural water supply scheme for Andhra has no room for public opinion; price may be hiked later villagers in Andhra Pradesh will soon get their drinking water supply in 20-litre plastic containers. The government has shortlisted five companies that would treat raw water and sell it to villagers. The government thinks this is the best way to supply safe drinking

Oil in the well

Company chokes water supply of 25 families in Karnataka

Iron out arsenic

With iron oxide nanoparticles The millions of arsenic victims living in Bangladesh and India have another option for obtaining clean drinking water. Finely divided iron oxide nanoparticles (ionps) can remove arsenic from contaminated water.

E coli in a bottle

Ahmedabad companies found selling contaminated drinking water bottled water in Ahmedabad may not be safe. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has found faecal bacteria in samples of water from three bottling plants last month. No action has been taken against the erring firms yet.

Army to the rescue

Men in uniform roll up sleeves to restore lake on february 1, the army was out in full strength in Bhopal. They were not out to tackle riots or terrorists but in response to the city administration's appeal to citizens to solve a civic crisis. The Bada Taal, the main drinking water source of the city, had shrunk by three-fourths and authorities had asked people to help restore the lake under a shramdaan (voluntary work) programme.