Special body for integrated river valley development demanded

Staff Reporter

Dakshin Odisha Vikash Parishad takes up the issue with State

Leaders to hold seminars, workshops to create public awareness

It has come up with a holistic plan for the regeneration and utilisation of water resources

BERHAMPUR: Demands are on for the establishment of an autonomous board for the integrated river valley development in south Orissa.

The Dakshin Odisha Vikash Parishad (DOVP), an organisation formed to take up issues and problems related to south Orissa with the State government has come up with this demand.

The leaders of the organisation are now making rounds in parts of south Orissa to hold seminars and workshops to create public awareness regarding the demand.

The president of the organisation, Dayanidhi Sahu said it was high time for the government to come up with an integrated plan for protection and utilisation of water resources in south Orissa. According to him the DOVP has come up with a holistic plan for the regeneration and maximum utilisation of water resource of Vamnsadhara, Nagavali, Jhanjabati, Rushikulya, lower Kolab, Mahendratanaya rivers of south Orissa.

According to him the government can come up with a project on the lines of Tennessee Valley Development Authority of America for the purpose.

Irrigation project

The organisation has proposed that the State government should take up projects at places on the upper end of the Bansadhara river basin like an irrigation project at Belkana on the Nagavali river, a hydel project on Jhanjabati river near the Rayagada town, a hydel project on the Nagavali river at Hatipadar and a hydel project at Panidangar in Gudari-Chadrapur blocks. According to him these small hydel projects would lead to maximum utilisation of water resources of south Orissa.

The DOVP activists also feel that the government can also establish an autonomous development board for under developed regions of undivided Koraput, Kandhamal and Ganjam districts of south Orissa under the Article 371 of the constitution.

As per DOVP activists the former State minister of planning and coordination, Bhagabat Prasad Mohanty had promised the formation of a development council for south Orissa at a public meeting held in Berhampur on December 11, 1995.

According to Mr. Sahu, leaders of all major political parties of south Orissa had supported this demand then. But the issue was lost in the corridors of power.

The State government formed the autonomous Western Orissa Development Council but a similar demand from south Orissa was sidelined.

International River Day - Mar 14

International Day of Action for Rivers

Taking Action for Rivers on March 14

* Learn more about 2009 actions by region
* Check out the 2009 International Day of Action for Rivers photo gallery
* Follow the Day of Action for Rivers blog

Reclaim Our Rivers, Our Rights in 2010!

We invite you, our friends and colleagues around the world to stand up on March 14, 2010, and participate in the 13th annual International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life.

Celebrate

Our collective international movement has made huge strides in protecting the world’s rivers and the rights of communities who depend on them. In June, our colleagues in Mexico succeeded in securing a significant delay on La Parota Dam. Strong Kenyan opposition to Ethiopia’s Gibe 3 Dam has deterred international funders from approving financing for the project. And in October, community activists celebrated their victorious campaign to stop a dam on the Mary River in Australia when the government cancelled the project.

Reclaim Our Rivers, Our Rights

Despite these successes, we still face serious challenges. The hydropower industry is planning to release a new protocol that could greenwash hydropower and undermine the rights of dam-affected communities to participate in development decisions. Southern financiers, like Brazil and China, are increasingly funding dams that threaten some of the world’s most amazing rivers, which have supported communities for generations.

We urge you to join thousands of dam-affected people and their allies around the world under a unifying message of "Our Rivers, Our Rights." Together, our voices are stronger.

* Together, we will demand reparations for people affected by existing dams.
* Together, we will insist that dams do not proceed without the consent of affected communities.
* Together, we will press for better solutions to meet our water and energy needs than big, destructive dams.
* Together, we will raise our voices on March 14, 2010 to reclaim our rivers and our rights.

Glimpses of IRBM researches/approaches around the World

Twin2Go in a nutshell

Twin2Go reviews, consolidates, and synthesises research on integrated water resources management (IWRM) in basins around the world. Over the past years, the EU has funded several projects that undertook research on specific IWRM issues in case studies carried out on twinned river basins in Europe and in developing countries. The aim of Twin2Go now is to draw policy relevant research results on issues around ‘adaptive water governance in the context of climate change’ and to make them transferable to other basins.

The consolidated outcomes will feed into best practice guidelines for the implementation of adaptive water governance. To ensure up-take of the research results in water resources management practice and political decision making, all synthesis activities will involve stakeholders from the projects and basins and outcomes will be effectively disseminated to all relevant levels of target groups including high level decision makers in water policy.

World Bank study looks at river basin planning in north India

16 November 2007

A consultant’s study* for the World Bank into effective river basin planning in the hydro-rich states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in India has raised the option of establishing need to development authorities.

The draft recommendations report highlighted the need for data sharing, improved yield estimation, utility and construction coordination, and the benefits of greater involvement of communities and qualified third parties, such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

These needs were identified in trying to establish the key challenges facing India in meeting its ambitious hydropower development programme, and the hurdles are primarily in the river basins of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the report notes.

A key message of the change in approach the study advocates is a shift from project-based planning to co-ordinated planning of many schemes to optimise energy and economic potential of the river basins in the states.

The study referenced the experiences of developing the Satluj and Alaknanda river basins, both to list many risks faced – ranging from geological, hydrological, flood estimation and environmental flow needs to siltation, upstream storage design and cascade optimisation – to useful progress in overcoming the challenges.

More systematic approaches to river basin development are required in other parts of the states, and the study said that establishing specific development organisations charged with such authority, and receiving sufficient funds, should be considered.

* The study – ‘River Basin Development Optimisation’ – was undertaken on behalf of the World Bank by Hydro Tasmania Consulting at the request of the governments of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

New group meant to protect river

By SETH STRATTON
The Dispatch
On Sunday, the Yadkin River will finally be able to talk.

Well, not literally, but through a new group that will focus on keeping the river clean and educating people on how to do that. Over the past several months, Clean Water for North Carolina has sponsored informational meetings up and down the Yadkin River basin to help facilitate recruitment of residents in the basin to join the as-yet-unnamed group and speak "as a voice for the river," CWFNC Executive Director Hope Taylor said.

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CRBI to host State Water Plan public meeting

09/13/07 Email this story to a friend From the Coosa River Basin Initiative The Coosa River Basin Initiative (CRBI) and Environment Georgia will host a public meeting Sept. 20 at the Rome-Floyd County Library designed to inform and empower citizens to take part in Georgia’s statewide water planning process. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. with an overview of Georgia’s first-ever Statewide Comprehensive Water Management Plan (the Plan) and its potential impacts on Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama. This overview will be followed with information about what individuals can do to ensure that the Plan provides enough clean water for this and future generations of the Coosa Valley. Full Story

British undergrad students get research opportunity of a lifetime at Grenfell College
British students conduct environmental research
Pine marten, soil respiration, agricultural impacts on the Humber River and environmental attitudes in children were the research topics explored by four undergrad students from the University of York this past summer under the Humber River Basin Project, a comprehensive and integrated approach to monitoring, assessing, and predictive modeling of the Humber River Basin.

British students Holly Edwards, Becky Strickland, Jenny Calder and Aura Piha spent several weeks at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College studying four very different areas of research this summer, and returned to the UK last week.

Edwards' research focused on determining the levels and forms of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Humber River basin to see if agricultural activities are affecting nutrient levels in the Humber River.

"If the levels are too high, the nutrients create an increase in algae, which blocks out light and depletes oxygen, which chokes other life in the stream," she said. While she found some increase in nutrients, it appears the levels are low enough not to cause a dangerous effect.

Full Story

New plan to promote protection of water quality

By Rob Alexander - Bow Basin

Aug 30 2007

Regulators and municipalities will have a new tool to use this fall in the quest to preserve and enhance water quality in the Bow River basin.

Calgary-based Bow River Basin Council, a multi-stakeholder organization dedicated to protecting and improving water in the region, is preparing to release a draft Bow Basin Watershed Management Plan this fall.

Full Story

Report from Congo River Mission

Contact: Johan Meintjies, 0824435685, esprojects@swissmail.org; www.elshaddai.givengain.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, Aug. 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- An estimated 18 million rural tribesman live along the 14 000 km of the Congo River and its tributaries. Johan Meintjies is a missionary with a naval background. For over 3 years he has been preparing to launch a mission to the Congo River Basin, ministering to the isolated villages and homesteads along the Congo River and its tributaries.

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AKRSP project brings prosperity to 54 villages August 18, 2007

Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, India. trackback

Checkdams on Meghal bring prosperity to 54 villages

Saurav Kumar

Ahmedabad, August 17: What was once a small seasonal, rain-fed river has now turned into an all-season one. This metamorphosis of the Meghal river in Junagadh district has brought about an increase in farm produce and prosperity. Construction of check dams at strategic points on the river has ensured that water remains in it all through the year.

The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), which is a part of the Aga Khan Foundation, is largely responsible for this transformation. Umesh Desai, programme coordinator of AKRSP, says, “It was easy to mobilise people for the revival of the river project. They have an emotional connection with the river and were ready to help us.”

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AKRSP used a three-pronged approach for the Meghal River Basin Project. First, was ensuring massive community participation, second was the constructing the check dams and the third was employing side by side traditional rain water harvesting measures.

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Moul appointed to commission

EVENING SUN ONLINE

Article Launched: 08/10/2007 09:48:25 AM EDT

Gov. Ed Rendell has appointed Rep. Dan Moul, of Adams and Franklin counties, to serve on an interstate commission on the Potomac River Basin.

Commissioners are also appointed from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, the federal government and Washington, D.C.

According to a press release, the commission's efforts work to preserve rural and small communities by preserving living resources, natural game and water quality; providing education and outreach about the environment; and protecting the basin's waters.

Full Story

Heller says health of local economy, watershed itself are priorities

Posted: 8/3/2007
STORY CHAT(read or post comments)

By Keith Trout

Efforts for legislation to resolve Walker River issues, trying to get more money for seeding after wildfires, efforts to change the mining law, technology education funding were among subjects discussed by Nevada Congressman Dean Heller during a recent conference call.

On potential Walker River Basin legislation, Heller said public hearings on should be conducted in the area next year on a proposed bill, adding that drafting of such a bill is "so preliminary, I don't anticipate to see any legislation until August of next year."

The freshman Congressman from Carson City, who represents the state's 2nd Congressional District, also said he's spoken with farmers and ranchers in Lyon County and has told them his top priority is the economic well-being of the valleys and the health of the watershed.

Full Story

Candles to light up CRBI fundraising event

08/03/07 From the Coosa River Basin Initiative Email this story to a friend More than 1,000 floating candles will light up Rome’s three rivers Aug. 24 during the Coosa River Basin Initiative’s River Revelry — A Biodiversity Bash. The second annual fundraising event will be held at Heritage Park from 6:30 until 10:30 p.m. at the confluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers in downtown Rome and will feature dinner from Ole Tymer Barbecue, complimentary beer and beverages from Eagle Rock Distributors, music from Devidasa, canoe and kayak rides courtesy of Adventure Rome N Around and a silent and live auction. The event is designed to celebrate the Upper Coosa River Basin. With 30 endemic aquatic species, the Upper Coosa is considered North America’s most biologically diverse river system. Highlighting the event will be a “River of Light” organized locally by Friends in Peace. At dusk, floating candles will be released on the Etowah and Oostanaula, join at the confluence and then drift by Heritage Park on the Coosa River in a breathtakingly beautiful display of fire and water. This convergence will symbolize how people of different backgrounds and faiths can live together in peace. Full Story