Groundwater table is sinking fast in 60 per cent districts of the State, which is casting an adverse impact on piped water supply schemes and drinking water situation can assume worse proportions in years to come. Therefore, joint efforts are the need of the hour for replenishment and stability of water sources. Notably, the situation of water is not uniform in different districts of Madhya Pradesh due to its topology. Somewhere water comes out from earth at a depth of 20 feet only while not a single drop of water is found upto 50 feet depth somewhere else.

New Delhi: For the first time since the Teesta water treaty between India and Bangladesh fell through, both countries are moving ahead again. Last September, the accord had come unstuck during PM Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee objected to the quantum of water sharing.

The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) said Bellary district administration has misled ICFRE team on impact of mining in the district.

“The Bellary district administration held the mining industry responsible for lower agriculture productivity during 2003-2010,” said Mr D.V. Pichamuthu, Director, Fimi-South.

“However, the official figures show that during this entire period, the rainfall was below normal except for one year,” he explained.

After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years, a lake that may hold life from the distant past and clues to search for life on other planets. Reaching Lake Vostok is a major discovery avidly anticipated by scientists around the world hoping that it may allow a glimpse into microbial life forms, not visible to the naked eye, that existed before the Ice Age.

The Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed an amendment bill that proposes to make rainwater harvesting mandatory in all city corporations of the State.

Rainwater harvesting is already mandatory in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits with the Assembly passing the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (Amendment) Bill, last year, making it mandatory for citizens living within the jurisdiction of the Palike to install rainwater harvesting systems in their buildings.

If a research project of the IIT-Madras bears fruit, clean drinking water might just become an affordable commodity for the poor. The project, aimed at coming up with a low-cost, low-maintenance water filtration system to filter water and remove pathogens from it, seems to have achieved just that. What’s more, researchers say their solution is so simple that every household can build its own unit.

NEW DELHI, Feb 7 – Dismayed over the delay in establishing the proposed North East Water Resources Authority (NEWRA), Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday urged the Centre to revive the plans to revamp the ailing Brahmaputra Board. After waiting in vain for the ambitious project to take off, which incidentally was Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh’s brainchild, the Chief Minister has all but given up.

The Planning Commission has given investment clearance for the Rs 54.43-crore project for the restoration of Dibang and Lohit rivers to their original courses at Dholla Hatiguli in Assam. The project is expected to be completed within the current fiscal year ending March 31, an official release said.

The Ministry of Water Resources and the Brahmaputra Board would restrict the expenditure to the approved cost and no addition expenditure beyond approved cost is to be permitted unless the revised estimate is approved as per the prescribed procedure, it added.

NEW DELHI, Feb 6 – After clearing two remaining phases of the Majuli Island Protection Project, the Planning Commission has accorded investment clearance to ‘Restoration of Dibang and Lohit rivers to their original courses at Dholla-Hatighuli’ project. The project, estimated to cost Rs 54.43 crore, is to be completion in 2011-12 and Plan accounts would be closed by March 31, 2012. Plan panel sources said the project may be executed according to the approved outlays by the Ministry of Water Resources and Brahmaputra Board.