- population growth
- increase in consumption levels and
- depletion of ground water resources.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
WATER 2010-Two Day International Conference & Exposition on Water Management & Waste Water Technologies ended in New Delhi.
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Growth Potential of Water Industry-Some thoughts
The entire world is currently facing a boom in infrastructure construction.The Emerging economies are trying to improve their industrial productivity and raise the standard of living of the people, and developed countries are trying to develop their existing economic standard and modernize their infrastructure.
Three types of projects which can be identified while considering the PPP projects are
- water collection and treatment plants;
- wastewater recycling facilities and
- water services which governments traditionally look to provide.
- IFC in the Water Sector
- Mckinseyquarterly_Article_on_Next_generation_water_policy_for_businesses_and_government_2481
- Charting_Our_Water_Future_Exec Summary_Mckinsey
Next-generation water policy for businesses and government
Next-generation water policy for businesses and government
The solution to water scarcity, in part, will come from new technologies for better managing water as a resource. But to make these technologies more effective, business and policy leaders will need to work more closely to implement them.
Public-sector leaders and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have long dominated the debate on water policy, but within the last five years, a growing number of progressive private-sector companies have also started to lend their perspectives on how best to effectively manage water. These companies have begun by paying much more attention to the water environment in which they function. As they develop a new generation of water-related technologies, they also increasingly influence a new generation of public policies that stimulate the development and use of these technologies. Here is how a number of them are engaging along both of these dimensions.
One group of companies, including beverage, mining, and energy businesses, has found that growing water scarcity constitutes a threat to their social license to operate. In response, some have made large donations to activist groups in the hopes of buying peace. Others have asked for water standards that they can then meet in their plants. The most far-sighted of these companies, however—with NestlĂ© as a leading example—recognize that while companies have to manage water efficiently behind their factory gate, society (along with companies and their suppliers) needs an equitable, efficiency-stimulating, and predictable legal and regulatory environment that governs all water uses. These companies also believe that private businesses have useful and legitimate inputs to make into the policy-formulation process, and that good business practices can guide effective implementation.
A second group of companies is developing technologies that can enable society to get more product—more food, energy, income, employment—per drop of water. There are three broad segments. The first comprises companies that develop productivity-enhancing seeds and agricultural technologies. Because agriculture accounts for more than 80 percent of water consumption in the developing world and because the productivity gains of the last round of agricultural technologies (the “green revolution”) have fallen to less than 1 percent a year (from about 3 percent a year in the 1960s), these innovations are vital for better water management. The importance of genetically modified organism (GMO) crops—a core agricultural technology—is illustrated by the contrasting performance of corn in Europe, where GMOs are not allowed, and in Iowa, where 90 percent of corn is grown from using GMOs. In the last ten years, corn yields in Europe have stagnated, while in the United States productivity has grown at over 2 percent a year. Existing GMOs already use substantially lower amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, and water. And some new-generation crops will be better able to thrive despite water stress.
A second segment of companies is developing new technologies for treating water and wastewater. The process of desalination illustrates the importance in this area. The laws of thermodynamics state that it is theoretically possible to desalinate seawater by using only 25 percent of the energy currently required to do so through existing technologies. If new developments in, for example, nanotechnology and membranes allow even half of this potential to be realized, the cost of desalination will fall to a level where most cities and industries in coastal areas throughout the world can turn to it as the new source of choice. The third segment comprises companies that provide users with just-in-time and just-what’s-needed information—such as on the probability of rainfall, on soil moisture, on water, and on fertilizer requirements. This is essential for energy consumption, domestic use of water, and, most important, for agriculture. Precision agriculture can produce much more crop per drop than traditional methods can, and industries and cities can use much less water too.
Executives at these leading companies know that progress in water management depends on linked advancement in technologies and policies. They have seen instances in some countries where policy shortcomings mean that many existing technologies that make more efficient use of water are not being fully employed. This has prompted a growing number of companies to engage with policy makers to ensure that key policies—such as tradeable water rights, support for intellectual-property rights, and efficiency-enhancing regulation—are implemented. In conversations with policy makers, corporate leaders highlight examples like the Murray-Darling Basin, in Australia, where an enabling policy environment means that a 70 percent reduction in water availability has had virtually no impact on agricultural production. In situations like this, policy makers know that what is needed is a “next generation” of technologies that will enable society to do more with less. And they know that the key to achieving this is a legal and business policy environment that stimulates the development of the next generation of water efficiency technologies.
About the Author
John Briscoe is the Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Environmental Engineering at Harvard University and is on the faculty of the schools of engineering and applied sciences, government, and public health.Some of the Water Related Topics on India at HKS-Belfer Center
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Cascading Hydro Power Projects and Environmental Impact on the Valley/Basin
- For minimum flow requirement(EFR) , policy planners do suggest a minimum "15% of average lean season discharge" at downstream of each project. The bigger the flow the better the sustainability. Large flow will let domestic users(human,livestock ,flaura and fauna) survive.Fishes and other fauna will live happily even though ,in the long run, domestic needs go on increasing as the valley gets populated further.
- Most of the times, Project proponents must conduct "Mathematical Modeling Study" using either hydrological or building block method to determine the downstream discharge through Independent Agencies(like NIH, Roorkee and Other reputed institutions/university) and take the higher of the two values( As in (1) and (2) )
Some Discussions at indiawaterportal.org
A sample snap of Automatic Weather Station
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Thursday, 4 February 2010
WHO:List of publications in alphabetical order
Publications on water, sanitation and health
Action plan for the reduction of reliance on DDT in disease vector control
Agricultural development and vector-borne diseases
Aide-mémoire for a national strategy for health-care waste management
Assessing microbial safety of drinking water: Improving approaches and methods
Better health care waste management: An integral component of health investment
Calcium and Magnesium in Drinking-water: Public health significance
Celebrating water for life: The International Decade for Action 2005-2015
Chemical safety of drinking-water: Assessing priorities for risk management
Children in the new millennium
Combating waterborne disease at the household level
Core questions on drinking-water and sanitation for household surveys
Costs and benefits of water and sanitation improvements at the global level (Evaluation of the)
Domestic water quantity, service level and health
Emerging issues in water and infectious diseases
Environmental health in emergencies and disasters: a practical guide
Environmental management for vector control
Essential Environmental Health Standards in Health Care
European standards for drinking water, second edition
Evaluation of the H2S method for the detection of fecal contamination of drinking-water
Fact sheets on environmental sanitation
Findings on an assessment of small-scale incinerators for health-care waste
Flowing away: water and health opportunities
Food, water and family health: A manual for community educators
Global costs of attaining the Millennium Development Goal for water supply and sanitation
Global environmental threats to children related to water and sanitation
Global water supply and sanitation assessment 2000 report
Guide to the development of on-site sanitation
Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, Second Addendum to the 3rd Edition Volume 1 - Recommendations
Guidelines for drinking-water quality, third edition
Guidelines for drinking-water quality, third edition, incorporating first and second addenda
Guidelines for safe disposal of unwanted pharmaceuticals in and after emergencies
Guidelines for safe recreational waters
Volume 1 - Coastal and fresh waters
Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater and excreta in agriculture and aquaculture
Health as a cross-cutting issue in Dialogues on Water for Food and the Environment
Health impact assessment: harmonization, mainstreaming and capacity building
Health opportunities in development
Health risks in aquifer recharge using reclaimed water - State of the art report
Health-based monitoring of recreational waters
Health-care waste management rapid assessment tool
Healthy villages: A guide for communities and community health
Inheriting the world:
The atlas of children's health and the environment
Intersectoral decision-making skills in support of health impact assessment of development projects
Leakage management and control: A best practice training manual
Legionella and the prevention of legionellosis
Linking poverty reduction and water management
Management of solid health-care waste at primary health-care centres: A decision-making guide
Management of waste from injection activities at district level
Managing water in the home: accelerated health gains from improved water supply
Meeting the MDG drinking-water and sanitation target: A mid-term assessment of progress
Meeting the MDG drinking-water and sanitation target: the urban and rural challenge of the decade
Microbiological agents in drinking water
Natural Ventilation for Infection Control in Health-Care Settings
Occurrence of cyanobacterial toxins (microcystins) in surface water of rural Bangladesh: pilot study
Participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation: A new approach to working with communities
Pathogenic mycobacteria in water: A guide to public health consequences, monitoring and management
PEEM Guidelines 3
Guidelines for cost-effectiveness analysis of vector control
PHAST step-by-step guide: A participatory approach for the control of diarrhoeal diseases
Policies and Procedures for updating Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality
Policy analysis: Management of health-care wastes
Preparation of national health-care waste management plans in sub-saharan countries
Preventing travellers' diarrhoea: How to make drinking-water safe
Progress on Drinking-water and Sanitation: special focus on sanitation
Protecting groundwater for health
Quantifying public health risks in the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality
Risk assessment of Cryptosporidium in drinking water
Safe health-care waste management : Policy paper
Safe management of wastes from healthcare activities
Safe piped water: Managing microbial water quality in piped distribution systems
Sanitation and hygiene promotion: programming guidance
Sanitation challenge: Turning commitment into reality
Scaling Up Household Water Treatment Among Low-Income Populations
Securing sanitation: The compelling case to address the crisis
Small community water supply network
Reykjavik, Iceland, 24-26 January 2005
Surveillance of drinking water quality
Teacher's guide: management of wastes from health-care activities
Toxic cyanobacteria in water: A guide to their public health consequences, monitoring and management
UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS)
Upgrading water treatment plants
Vector control: Methods for use by individuals and communities
Vision 2030: The resilience of water supply and sanitation in the face of climate change
Water and health advocacy: A practical guide for World Water Day 2001
Water and sanitation related diseases fact sheets
Water for life: Making it happen
Water pollution control: A guide to the use of water quality management principles
Water Quality Interventions to Prevent Diarrhoea: Cost and Cost-Effectiveness
Water Safety Plan Manual: Step-by-step risk management for drinking-water suppliers
Water safety plans: Managing drinking-water quality from catchment to consumer
Water treatment and pathogen control: Process efficiency in achieving safe drinking water
Water, Sanitation and Health electronic library
Water, sanitation and hygiene links to health
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Standards for Schools in Low-cost Settings
Waterborne zoonoses: identification, causes and control