Water Management in the Noyyal River Basin A Situation Analysis

The Noyyal sub-basin, which is 3510 sq km in area, is part of the Cauvery basin that lies in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is a rapidly urbanizing sub-basin that includes the Class I cities of Coimbatore and Tiruppur as well as 84 smaller urban settlements. Water issues in this basin have been the focus of much public debate and action over the last two decades. Most of the debate, triggered by farmer agitations and court cases, has focused on the question of water pollution; water scarcity and sustainability issues have received relatively little attention. Recent bans on industrial effluent discharge into the Noyyal, as well as changes in water supply infrastructure, watershed development activities, urban demand and agricultural water use have dramatically altered the future of the Noyyal River and merit follow-up studies. The purpose of this situation analysis is to summarize the current state of knowledge regarding water resources management in the Noyyal sub-basin and identify critical knowledge gaps to inform water-related research in the basin. It is hoped that such an analysis will help those studying or working on water issues in the Noyyal, and also provide useful insights for other urbanizing basins

Studies on the impacts of natural hazard driven environmental changes on the selected coastal communities of Orissa, India

Natural hazards are becoming one of the major environmental change drivers around the globe. There is a close correlation between the trends of increased demographic pressure especially in developing countries that escalates environmental degradation, increases human vulnerability and intensification of the impacts of disasters. Major objectives of the study is to document the coastline changes along the villages and identify the major drivers for such changes; to analyze the consequence of the environmental change on the community, livelihood, lifestyles and mobility and to suggest sustainable management plans for more disaster resilient communities. The study was conducted in the coastal communities of Satabhaya gram Panchayat in the state of Orissa, on the East coast of India. The communities were selected based on the immediate threat to the communities from flood; cyclone and saline surges. The research paper is based on the field work conducted in the communities in 3 successive stages between December 2007 and June, 2009. The data was collected by participatory rural appraisal, focus group discussions and semi structured questionnaires, using random sampling. Remote sensing and GIS tools were used to detect the coastline changes. The observed coastline changes were higher along all the villages than the global average. The natural disasters in the past natural disasters along with development policy of the government were found to be the major drivers. Adaptation by the community included both technical and non-technical strategies. This study will help assess the vulnerability of the community as well as help policy makers develop a disaster risk reduction strategy with sustainable development goals. Adaptive, sustainable and integrated pro-poor management of natural resources like reforestation schemes, proper land use and good management of rivers and coastal areas will enhance the resilience of the communities to disasters by reversing current trends of environmental degradation/socio economic problems

Effect of Organic Nutrients and Bio Fertilizers on Soil Parameters and Nutritional Content of Amaranth

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of organic nutrients and bio fertilizers on soil parameters and nutritional content of amaranth. Eleven treatments were taken in three replications and the experiment was conducted in a randomized block design (RBD).The treatments were T1:RDF (60:30:20 kg NPK/ha), T2:Vermicompost @ 2 t/ha, T3:Vermicompost @ 5 t/ha, T4:FYM 10 t/ha, T5:FYM 20t/ha, T6:Poultry manure 3t/ha, T7:Poultry manure 5 t/ha, T8:Vermicompost @ 2 t/ha+PSB+Azospirillum@ 5 kg/ha each, T9 :FYM @ 10t/ha+ PSB+Azospirillum@ 5 kg/ha each, T10:Poultry manure 3 t/ha+ PSB+Azospirillum@ 5 kg/ha each and T11:  Untreated control. The highest vitamin C (147.8 mg/100 gm) and crude fibre content (1.48%) was observed in the treatment T8 and T4, respectively. Maximum calcium (8.36%) and iron (0.21%) content was observed in the treatment T8. The treatment T10 recorded the highest mean performance for PH, organic carbon, available nitrogen and potash content in the soil analyzed after harvest of the crop

Match, don’t mix: implications of institutional and technical service modalities for water governance outcomes in south Indian small towns

This paper seeks to contribute to the limited literature on water governance in small towns in India. For assessing water governance, we propose a broad framework encompassing adequacy and affordability, equity, sustainability and responsiveness. Analytically, the concept of ‘service modality’ is expanded to include not only institutional arrangements but also water resource deployment, and placed within a framework that includes multiple contextual variables as well. We use this framework to carry out an inductive analysis by comparing water service delivery and governance in four small towns across two states (Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) in southern India. Apart from differences in size, the towns differ in the institutional arrangements – from fully municipal management to a combination to complete para-statal management – and in the deployment of water resources – only ground water to a mixed supply of ground and surface water (dual sourcing). Data were gathered using a combination of household surveys, metering, records, and interviews. Dual sourcing resulted in adequate supply and optimization vis-à-vis end uses. Inter-household inequity is driven by socio-economic differences amongst households, but can be mitigated to an extent by increasing public tap density. But water resource use is not physically or financially sustainable. The responsiveness to citizen needs was significantly higher when the distribution was done by the local governments. Separation of roles, with para-statals providing bulk supply of surface water, and local governments managing the distribution of this and groundwater, may be an optimal service modality