Chhattisgarh delegation meets Odisha CM over problems of drinking water in Jagdalpur

Report by Orissa Diary correspondent; Bhubaneswar: A high level delegation from Chhattisgarh meets Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik at Bhubaneswar on Monday. The delegation of Chhattisgarh has discussed with the Chief Minister on Monday in the Orissa Secretariat on the problems of drinking water in Jagdalpur of Chhattisgarh.

The Chief Minister has directed to construct two barrages on Indrâvati river and Ghora canal. The funds will be given by the Chhattisgarh government for construction of above two projects. After construction of abovetwo projects, the drinking water problem of Jagdalpur will be solved.

The delegation of Chhatisgarh headed by the Minister of Forest Bikram Ussendi discussed with the Chief Minister. Secretary of Water Resources Suresh Chandra Mohapatra and other senior officers were present at the time of discussion.

Vamshadhara_ Mahendra Tanaya Banchao Andolan

Orissa must act to counter Andhra Pradesh initiatives: Rashtriya Odia Yubak Pratisthana
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Report by Golakha Chandra Das; Bhubaneswar: It was 2 & ½ year back when Odisha Chief Minister Mr. Naveen Patnaik laid foundation for Bansadhara integrated project on river Mahendratanayaa.

It was the project which can cater the needs of water for irrigation, drinking purpose & electricity production for tribal dominated Gajapati & Rayagada district. Even the plan to construct 2 anikatas is also approved by the state technical committee as well as it got administrative approval. But the Odisha government is doing nothing on this since then. Even if the water resource department is under direct control of Chief Minister, still the department only invited tenders for this project & then it halted.

Where as the Andhra Pradesh Government is constructing the dam on its side with full swing. Odisha Government is just sitting silently observing this. It will be harmful to the people of the above 2 districts.

So Rashtriya Odia Yubak Pratisthana on Sunday in a press meet organized at hotel Keshari, Bbsr criticized the state Government for its apathy towards the Mahendratanayaa project. It blamed that Odisha Govt. is neither doing anything to stop Andhra Govt. nor taking the case to court. The ROYP threatened to start a large scale agitation against such attitude of State Govt. if it will not do anything immediately.

Also it suggests 7point charter to state Govt. 1) to apply in Supreme Court against Andhra Govt. which violates 1962 agreement by constructing project at Meliaputa on its side 2) to invite tender for Jalanga Anikata project 3) to construct immediate 2 proposed Anikatas 4) Govt. take the task by own if no one agreed to build the project 5) the task may be handed over to Military Engineering Service 6) to open a division office at Paralakhemundi 7) to fulfill the vacant post at Paralakhemundi subdivision.

Mr. Srikanta Padhy, national chairman, ROYP & convener, Mahendratanayaa Banchao Andolan addresses the journalist friends on this occasion.

Drinking Water from Reservoir

Water projects hang fire in Berhampur
Sisir Panigrahy Express News Service
First Published : 26 Oct 2010 07:59:22 AM ISTLast Updated : 26 Oct 2010 12:37:51 PM IST
BERHAMPUR: To address the drinking water crisis in the Silk City, the State government has now decided to bring water from Janibili reservoir in Soroda. Though water from Soroda reservoir comes to Dakhinpur reservoir for daily supply to the city, the water is supplied through open canals due to which, 80 per cent of water goes waste.
Keeping this in view, the government has decided to bring water through pipes from Soroda reservoir. A project at the cost of Rs 250 crore has been prepared and survey work has also been completed for it. The work, however, is yet to begin although the decision was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here last month.
Several plans like this have been chalked out in the last three decades to address the drinking water crisis in Berhampur, yet none has materialised so far.
A case in point is the Ghatakeswar project which can be an immediate solution for the water crisis and irrigate hundreds of acres of agricultural land in Chikiti area.
Senior Congress leader Chitaranjan Dash said the Ghatakeswar project was planned during 1982 but it was limited to files till 2007 when the Government approached Nabard for financial aid.
The Nabard, accordingly, sanctioned Rs 29 crore for the project. The government, however, is yet to take measures to rehabilitate families which would be affected by the proposed project.
Apart from government land, eight acres of private land needs to be acquired and 41 families of Kankia, Sarakot and Koilikot villages evicted.
Meetings in this regard have been held umpteen times but no concrete measures have been taken till now.
Even the land identified to be exchanged for the land to be submerged by the project, could not be transferred from the Revenue to the Irrigation Department.
As a result, the Irrigation Department is unable to start the plantation work which is mandatory for forest and environment clearance.
Due to the delay, the project cost has risen to Rs 42 crore against the earlier estimate of Rs 29 crore.
Dash said the Janibili project is a welcome step but the government should also begin work on the Ghatakeswar project at the earliest for the benefit of people.

BIS Certification Mandatory for Packaged Drinking Water

No person is authorised to manufacture, sell or exhibit for sale, packaged drinking water and packaged mineral water except under Bureau of Indian Standards Certification Mark.

As per the Quality Control Order issued under Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Rules, 1955, Bureau of Indian Standards has formulated the following Indian Standards which provide quality norms for packaged water:

i) IS 14543:2004 Packaged drinking water (other than natural mineral water) (First Revision)
ii) IS 13428: 2005 Packaged natural mineral water (Second Revision)

There are 18 BIS licensees engaged in production of Packaged Natural Mineral Water, 2354 licensees producing Packaged Drinking Water through Reverse Osmosis, and 633 licensees bottling Packaged Drinking Water drawing water from natural resources.

Implementation of the PFA Act and Rules framed under the Act is the responsibility of State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. BIS also undertakes periodic surveillance inspection and testing of samples from the market for maintaining the quality of the products of its licensees as per the prescribed Indian Standards.

MP:SB:CP: mineral water (23.9.2010)

Do we need 'Corporate help' in Creation of water bodies and building of check dams, when huge amount of funds are available/allocated under MGNREGS, Watershed Development etc. and also most of these remaining unspent? Corporate's involvement is not questionable, but whether it should be in form of Govt 'seeking help', or Corporate showing its 'philanthropy' (in line with history of pond/WHS digging by rich/elites)or as a Corporate's 'strategy' or should form a part of 'Corporate's Responsibility', is what requires to be debated. This also need to be considered together with the type and amount of water-extraction/use and water-disposal/pollution by the corporates.

Nevertheless it is good that Govt's engagement with corporate over water has started touching many dimensions - be in preventing corporate to draw water from rivers Or initiative towards rationalization of water allocation to industry Or asking corporate to augment water-resources etc. as reflected in the water-news over last few days!

Orissa to seek corporate help to solve water crisis

STAFF WRITER 12:26 HRS IST

Berhampur (Orissa), May 4 (PTI) Faced with drinking water crisis in several urban areas, Orissa government is now planning to seek help from public sector and private corporate houses to mitigate the problem.

"We need assistance from major corporate houses to tackle the drinking water crisis in major urban areas in the state," Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development Badrinarayan Patra said here.

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has agreed in principle to fund around Rs 40 crore for creating a water body to solve the crisis in western Orissa towns - Brajaraj Nagar, Jharsuguda and Belphar. While the MCL set up a water body, the government will fund the laying of pipeline for water distribution, the minister said.

"We have discussed with the authorities of Rourkela Steel Plant for construction of a check dam on the nearby river, which will help tackle the drinking water crisis in Rourkela," he said.

As summer sets in, India says 33% of its groundwater undrinkable

New Delhi – As India braces for the torrid summer heat for the next 6-8 months, with daytime temperatures already touching 40 deg.C in parts of the eastern Indian state of Orissa, officials have admitted that the crucial groundwater situation in more than a third of the country is not fit for drinking.

The government has admitted in parliament that iron levels in groundwater are higher than those prescribed in 254 districts while fluoride levels have breached the safe level in 224 districts.

The alarming situation could bring trouble for the government, which has promised to provide drinking water to all habitations by 2012 under the United Nations millennium development goals.

While ground water is not the only source of drinking water that government utilises, it is one of the key supplies and the dependence on ground water has been increasing over years.

The government, in its reply, said salinity had risen beyond tolerance levels in 162 districts while arsenic levels were found higher than permissible limits in 34 districts. India has over 600 administrative districts.

States like Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat seemed to be worst affected. Twenty-one of the 26 districts of Gujarat were found to have dangerous salinity levels and 18 had breached safe fluoride levels.

The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) found 21 of 31 districts in the southern state of Karnataka to be contaminated with iron and 20 districts with higher levels of fluoride.

In the case of Rajasthan, ground water in 27 districts was found to be too saline, 30 districts had higher levels of fluoride and 28 suffered from iron contamination.

The national capital of New Delhi does not fare any better, with five of its nine districts showing fluoride contamination and two showing salinity. Pockets of all the nine districts had high iron content.

The government admission, comes soon after the World Bank said that if the current trends of acute groundwater use continue, 60% of all acquifers in India could run dry in 20 years or will be in a critical condition..

It has urged priority action through higher investment in management of groundwater resources to reduce over exploitation, especially in view of the fact that there is major dependence by several sectors on the resources countrywide.

Groundwater resources are being depleted at an alarming rate. Today, 29% of groundwater blocks are semi-critical, critical, or overexploited, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly.

By 2025, an estimated 60% of India's groundwater blocks will be in a critical condition. Climate change will further strain groundwater resources. Almost 54% of the groundwater blocks in Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu fall in these categories.

Today, out of total 5,723 groundwater blocks in the country, 1,615 are classified as semi-critical, critical or over-exploited, and regulatory directives have been issued by the Central Ground Water Authority for 108 blocks.

India is the largest user of groundwater in the world, with an estimated use of 230 cubic kilometres of groundwater every year—more than a quarter of the global total.



In fact, groundwater use has been steadily increasing in India over the last 4-5 decades. Today, groundwater supports approximately 60% of irrigated agriculture and more than 80% of rural and urban water supplies.

"Today, groundwater supports approximately 60 percent of irrigated agriculture and more than 80 percent of rural and urban water supplies (in India)," said the World Bank report.

Around 29 percent of groundwater blocks, are semi-critical, critical or overexploited, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly. Climate change will further strain groundwater resources, the statement quoted the report as having said.

While urban centres in the country deploy water treatment systems before supplying water to homes, the costs of cleaning up as well as chances of contamination remain

Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313727,as-summer-sets-in-india-says-33-of-its-groundwater-undrinkable.html#ixzz0i5H15Dsb