What goes down

Problem: Lack of space for garbage disposal; inadequate sewerage; Status: Garbage disposed on hill slopes ends in streams/rivers; Challenge: …

Defying gravity

Problem: Terrain forbids water supply systems that work in plains; Status: Water crisis in peak season every year; Challenge: Develop …

Local travails

Problem: Tourist influx too large; earnings flow downhill; Status: Residents forced to share meagre facilities with tourists; Challenge: Regulate …

Lessons from two cities

Pune aims to become a zero-landfill city by 2015. With a range of solid waste management options, the target does not seem too ambitious. …

Dar-es-Salaam’s waste management needs a complete revamp

The waste crisis at Pugu dumpsite in Tanzania’s economic capital is rising and urgent interventions are needed

Why environmental degradation is a big health risk

Down To Earth and Centre for Science and Environment jointly release Body Burden 2015, an annual health report

Green issues plaguing rural West Bengal missing in Panchayat election campaigns, say activists

Low groundwater levels, cutting of trees and poor waste management not being addressed; political parties pass blame in response

‘Periods don't stop for pandemics, neither should our activism’

Srilekha Chakraborty, the woman behind menstrual health campaign #PeriodsPeCharcha, talks about introducing changes in ways menstrual health is …

Water is critical to sustainable development, says UN report

Increasing ubanisation and industrialisation are widening the rift between demand for and supply of water

Cleansing chronicle

THE SANITARY CITY: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE FROM COLONIAL TIMES TO THE PRESENT·Martin V Melosi·John Hopkins University Press·Year&…

Boom

Problem: Terrain forbids sprawl as in cities in the plains; Status: Alarming population density (people per sq km); Challenge: Policy question is:…

Deaths due to non-communicable diseases increased by 37 per cent since 1990

Kerala, Goa, and Tamil Nadu have the largest share of non-communicable diseases, according to the 2016 India State-level Disease Burden study

New Age Approach

We need to go back to the drawing board to reinvent a green toilet. If necessary, to go back to our past and find technological innovations that …

Drowning In Human Excreta

Sanitation for urban India means building flush toilets and linking them to sewer systems. But the price of chasing this dream is leading to an …

Mainstreaming co-treatment of faecal sludge for reducing pollution in Ganga

Excreta of 73 per cent of UP’s population is not managed safely. Out of this, 48 per cent is dependent on on-site sanitation systems

New plan, old problem

The proposed Sewerage Master Plan 2031 that promises to end Delhi's drainage troubles underestimates the wastewater volume of the city

India’s sanitation campaign has not improved health of people: study

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan did not help reduce exposure to faecal germs and diseases. Will Swachh Bharat Abhiyan fare any better?

Can we save Ganga?

The Ganga is getting political attention. What does it take to clean the river? Down To Earth team travels to the most polluted stretch of the …

COVID-19: How distant laws, uneven measures afflict sanitation workers

The pandemic has further aggravated the dichotomy of livelihood and safety of sanitation workers 

Manual scavengers: Existing in the shade

Several government departments continue to maintain silence on plight of manual scavengers, despite an array of schemes for them 

Development handcuffed

Confidential audit exposes financial, planning lapses in Andhra’s urban renewal mission

'Let's put our cards on the table'

Veteran UN negotiator and head of the UNEP during the Rio summit, Mostafa Tolba, reasons why developing countries always suffer at the hands of …

It rained hard in Delhi; what if all that water did not go waste

The volume of rainwater generated in the past week was almost 13 per cent of the demand for water in Delhi, estimated at 2,765 million litres per …

An every monsoon affair: How to tackle urban flooding

Urbanisation is inevitable as is climate change; the need is for a multi-pronged approach

PMO orders huge cuts in social sector spending for 2015-16

Employment guarantee, rural road and sanitation schemes among those likely to be affected