River restoration is not just an ecological act
Despite decades of restoration efforts by a rich ensemble of state-development actors, cultural heritage votaries and rights activists, the …
The precarious geopolitics of phosphorous
Both nitrogen and phosphorous are essential to life. Lynchpins both to global food production, circulating through synthesis or export and then …
The lake colony
Call them the "lakers". Some 10,000 of them. Parts of the Dal (land and water) belong to them. And when they feel the need to make a …
The political economy of defecation
This is a story about Delhi and the Yamuna, about the relationship between one of India's richest cities and one of her most revered rivers. The …
Pollution pays
Whenever the issue of how to end pollution is raised, it hits a block: technology. Take the case of air pollution: among other things, the issue …
How to sustain municipal sanitation: Delhi’s Aya Nagar offers some lessons
The pilot project is a prototypical model for evolving a sanitation management programme in a high density settlement
Bengaluru's largest lake catches fire yet again; waste burning, untreated sewage to be blamed
Locals have time and again approached the civic authority to stop the discharge of chemicals and other toxic substances from factories and …
Ganga bazaar
The Modi government has invested hugely in its mission to clean the Ganga, inviting companies and countries to offer their technological expertise.…
After NGT asks for stringent norms for STPs — a new dilemma
Switching to new norms for all existing and upcoming sewage treatment plants (STPs) is going to be a mammoth task
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
After long denial, Haryana recognises Najafgarh lake as water body
The NGT has now directed Delhi government to take appropriate steps in accordance with law for revival of the lake
NGT scraps 2017 ministry note easing sewage treatment norms
The standards were diluted by the notification that permitted more pollutants than what was allowed under the 2015 CPCB draft
What a waste: Reviving India’s sanitation systems
Indians often confuse toilets with sanitation; but they are mere repositories to receive waste
Minister claims Ganga will be 70-80% cleaner by March 2019, but is it realistic?
So far, the government has focussed largely on curbing flow of untreated sewage into the river, but not on managing faecal sludge
The power of sewage
Maharashtra is all set to use treated sewage water in thermal power plants. Can this move be scaled up?
Sewage treatment plant failure leads to jaundice outbreak in Shimla
More than 1,000 people get jaundice as city’s sewage mixes with the drinking water supply
A civilisational loss
For more than two decades, Huta Ram Baidya has led the Save Bagmati River campaign. An affable, octogenarian activist and Nepal’s first …
Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (August 18, 2023)
Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Court digest: Major environment hearings in February
While every week, Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, high courts and National Green Tribunal, here …
Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (January 20, 2023)
Dirty Ganga: Funds down the drain in UP
Contrary to government claims, efforts to clean up the drains flowing into the Ganga have not borne results
A story between ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’
Nobody knows (or rather, nobody wants to say) who will regulate the “permissible” and ensure that what is not permissible does not …
Why better policies are needed for sewage water use in thermal power plants
Thermal power plants within 50 km of STPs are required to use treated sewage; but there has not been any positive move on ground
'78% of sewage generated in India remains untreated'
Analysis and reporting by Centre for Science and Environment and Down To Earth magazine reveal how Indian cities are disposing of excreta in an …
Dry cleaning Hussainsagar
Telangana plans to first empty Hyderabad's great lake and then refill it with rainwater. Experts say it is nothing but a harebrained plan
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