India Development Coalition of America-IDCA: Water

World Water Day Forum and Seminar

2011-03-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

India Development Coalition of America
(http://www.idc-america.org/, info@idc-america.org, 630-303-9592)

March 21, 2011

Dear IDCA Member or Friend,

World Water Day is being celebrated today March 22 around the world. The official UN event will be held today in Cape Town, South Africa.
This years theme is: Water for the Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge.

This is the first time in human history that most of the world's population live in cities: 3.3 billion people ...and the urban landscape continues to grow.38% of the growth is represented by expanding slums, while the city populations are increasing faster than city infrastructure can adapt.
The objective of World Water Day 2011 is to focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems. This year theme, Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge, aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the challenges of urban water management.

Let us take time to learn more about the water problems faced by billions around the world both urban and rural. The Integrated Water Management includes: Water supplies, rainwater harvesting, building check dams, filteration and improving water quality, industrial use of water, waste water treatment, river pollution, ground water quality and availability, and water conservation. We have below provided some links to learn more about it. You may like to support some of the organizations involved in dealing with these issues.
To learn more about the water issues in India and around the world you may like to check the following websites:

www.wordwaterday2011.org/

www.indiawaterportal.org

www.irrad.org,

www.chitrakoot.org ,

www.waterhealth.com

http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/

www.tarunbharatsangh.org

http://www.jalbhagirathi.org/

www.naandi.org

http://www.dhan.org/

http://www.wateraid.org/uk/what_we_do/where_we_work/india/

http://water.org/projects/india/
A 10 minute documentary, "Amritam Jalam" by Rajastha Patrika showing how they helped restore 386 water bodies to restart water harvesting in many parts of Rajasthan.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/10938404
In addition, we at IDCA are pleased to invite you to our World Water Day Forum to be held on March 26, 2011 at the Oak Brook Library from 2:00 PM. We have 3 excellent speakers who have both more than 30 years of experience in the US and now are helping to help mitigate water situation in India. We will also be showing a 3 minute trailer of powerful documentary highlighting water problems in rural Rajasthan and some efforts to help mitigate the situation. Details are provided in the attached invitation.

Speakers:

Baki, Usman MM, MS, BS, Professional Engineer with experience at the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago will discuss his repeated visits to Vapi, Gujarat which is considered a Environmental Hot Spot.
He will talk of process operations, his work, and provide a review of his findings based on multiple visits to the CETP in 2009-2010. Mr. Baki Usman is well known is Chicago as a recipient of several awards for Public Services and has received National Recognition for his efforts in his field.
Koduri, Ram BE, M Tech, MS, Experienced in Water Ways Control for the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago has worked in India from 2003 in Andhra Pradesh, JNTU, funded by SEI and USAID. He is a founding member of "Rivers of the World"having worked on Water Management in Agra, Delhi, Haryana on Waste Water Management and Sustainability. He will discuss his projects and work in India, past, present, future.
Mr. Bill Natale, is an Emmy-award winning Director, the current head of the Illinois Center for Broadcasting. He is Director of WATER PRESSURES, This documentary uses the power of media to connect the Water Scarce Region of the Thar Dessert of Rajasthan with two inches of rain a year with the rich campus of Northwestern University by Artistic Circles.

The people in Rajasthan use 4 litres of water a day and the students at Northwetern use 400 litres a day. This effort is the Collaborative efforts of Water Management Projects in the Deserts of India by a U.S. University on Lake Michigan.
The students at Northwestern and Grinell University experienced first hand one of the most water distressed regions and observed day to day life with water management practices applied to agriculture and rural health. This is the Second Documentary on Water that will be available for Community Groups on Water Management the first being TAPPED which was shown last month.
Further details are available at: www.idc-america.org/upcoming.htm
In continuation, India Development Service, IDS will be having a Full one day Seminar on
Water on April 9th at Loyola University. http://www.idsusa.org/ . We urge all at IDCA to support this event by attending.

For more information please call Mr. Porus Dadabhoy at: 630-960-2425.

We hope you will be able to join us and encourage others to join also.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon and meeting you on March 26 and also on April 9.

Best,

Mohan L. Jain, Ph.D.

Trustee and Founder President,

India Development Coalition of America

http://www.idc-america.org/, http://idcoa.cloverpad.org/

"Working Together to Eradicate Poverty

and Mitigate Climate Change in India"

630-303-9592 (O)

World Water Day 2010-Clean Water for a healthy World

2010-03-17T15:06:00.000-07:00


	The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is coordinating the organization of the World Water Day 2010 campaign on behalf of UN-Water and in collaboration with FAO, UNDP, UNECE, UNICEF, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, WHO, and the UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication as well as with partner organizations such as International Water Association, World Wide Fund for Nature and World Water Council.

International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

UN-Water is dedicating World Water Day 2010 to the theme of water quality, reflecting its importance alongside quantity of the resource in water management.

You may also like to visit the following websites to learn more about Water supply and Management issues in India and elsewhere in the world.

www.indiawaterportal.org

www.worldwaterday.org

www.globalwaterchallenge.org

GWC to help the Naandi Foundation bring clean water to 600,000 people in India

GWC will be supporting the Naandi Foundation, an innovative Indian nonprofit. With GWC's support, Naandi will be able to bring clean water to an additional 600,000 people in India.

We see great potential in Naandi's fee-based community drinking water systems. The inexpensive and scalable model makes it possible to imagine the day when everyone in India has access to clean water.

Naandi works with local governments to set up kiosks that sell water purified using advanced reverse-osmosis technology. Local communities are asked to contribute a percentage to the initial financing of the system, which increases ownership, improves accountability and helps ensure long-term sustainability.

These water kiosks transform rural villages, improving overall health and creating jobs. The benefits can also be seen in smaller things that make everyday life better. Villagers have told us that food tastes better when it's cooked with clean water.

Naandi is one of the three winners of the Ashoka Changemakers competition that Global Water Challenge sponsored. The competition sought to identify and invest in social entrpreneurs with innovative solutions that could be replicated more widely

www.waterhealth.com

Two million people, most of them children, die annually due to preventable waterborne diseases. Millions more suffer from stunted growth and development. It's time for a dramatic change — a revolution that will make potable water available, affordable, and accessible more rapidly, and on a wider scale than has been possible before.

WaterHealth International is leading such a revolution — the Blue Revolution — with a mission to provide sustainable access to clean, safe water to all, including the poorest communities. WaterHealth is already providing such access to clean water to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

We are dedicated to extending the reach of our innovative, clean-water solutions to make a positive and lasting difference in people's lives — because water really does equal life.

http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/flashindex.html

www.water.org

http://jalbhagirathi.org/

GENESIS : The Maharaja And The Waterman

Jal Bhagirathi Foundation (JBF) is the outcome of the persistent and committed efforts by Maharaja of Marwar, Gaj Singh, and Paani Baba (the Water Man), Rajendra Singh.
Despite the apparent diversity in their ways of life, this collaboration had a strong commonality to develop a persuasive alliance with the people of Marwar to make the region water secure. Maharaja Gaj Singh was dedicated to making village communities self-reliant in Marwar. Rajendra Singh was keen to replicate the experiences of Tarun Bharat Sangh in water-scarce regions of western Rajasthan.

Rajendra Singh and his colleague Prithvi Raj Singh had often thought of Maharaja Gaj Singh as a potential partner in the region, but they were unable to establish contact with him. Then came the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Rajendras path-breaking work on community based traditional water systems and the Maharaja read all about him. The meeting between the two was facilitated by Prithvi Raj Singh and the stage was set for initiating a similar movement in Marwar.

A workshop was organized in Jodhpur on October 5, 2001 with farmers and community leaders representing all the seven districts of the Marwar region. The workshop concluded with a decision to launch a movement in the region to mobilize and build the capacity of distressed communities in institutionalizing effective water governance in the region and development of their villages.
When a Jal Chetna Yatra (Public Awareness Campaign) was organised from October 6-8, 2001, thousands of villagers came forward spontaneously. Construction of numerous water harvesting structures commenced in villages. This encouraging response laid the foundation for upscaling this initiative to other parts of the region. With the endorsement by the people of Marwar, a Jal Samwad (Water Dialogue) was held on January 11, 2002 to achieve a general consensus on the formation of an organisation. Principal community leaders pledged their support. The alliance was then instituted as a Trust with Rajendra Singh and Prithvi Raj Singh from Tarun Bharat Sangh and Maharaja Gaj Singh and Maharani Hemlata Rajye representing the House of Marwar.

http://tarunbharatsangh.org/

“…Good intentions, good policies, good decisions must turn into effective actions. Work is not being done by having a lovely plan. Work is not being done by magnificent statement of policy. Work is done when it is done. Done by people…”

www.worldwaterday.net

www.irrad.org

www.chitrakoot.org

www.wateraid.org

www.safewaternetwork.org

We believe the world's water crisis can be solved – with innovation, collaboration, and, above all, urgent action. Today nearly one-billion people live without access to safe drinking water; the need for development and validation of new approaches has never been greater. Safe Water Network is deeply invested in understanding the environmental, socioeconomic, behavioral and market challenges that prevent access to this vital resource. We are committed to working with partners and host communities to develop sustainable and scalable solutions that will stand the test of time.

Safe water has a transformative impact – increasing access to education, curbing deprivation and starvation, and enabling people to live healthier and more productive lives.

IDCA is organizing a Forum on March 20, at the Oak Brook Library to share ideas about cleaning water bodies from pollutants and cleaning waste water.

We invite you to share your World Water Day activities and stories related to Clean water projects you are involved with or know about.

WaterHealth India

2009-09-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Greeting from WaterHealth India,

We appreciate your teams involvement in various developmental program in reaching the community.

It’s my privilege to introduce WaterHealth India (WHIN) is a 100% subsidiary of Waterhealth Inc. Waterhealth India works with its network of technology and business partners for development, deployment and maintenance of cost effective water treatment solutions to customers/ parhappy to tners that can provide people with potable drinking water international WHO standards at an affordable price. WaterHealth Centers (WHCs) are distributed, decentralized facilities for purifying water and are quick, easy and inexpensive to set up. WaterHealth India builds, operates, services and maintains the WHC’s and monitors quality for sustained supply of drinking water. WaterHealth India is presently operational in AP, Gujarat & Maharashtra with installations in over 270 villages (WHCs) and another 50 under construction. WHI constructs, services, maintains and operates all these centers. WHIN owns water quality labs which test water samples from WHC’s regularly. WaterHealth India’s product portfolio includes products that can be used for treating specific type of contamination that are prevalent in various parts of India including Fluoride, TDS etc..

We would be happy to partner with your esteemed institution in providing Safe drinking water to the community members of urban and rural India.

80% of the water borne disease would be controlled by drinking safe water, hence request your support in protecting the community from dreadful diseases.

With Warm regards,

NCS Seema
Manager, Education & Social Marketing
WaterHealth India Pvt. LTd.
No. 206, Ashoka MyHome Chambers
1-8-301, S. P. Road, Secunderabad 500003
Andhra Pradesh, India
Office: 040-67011723
Tel fax: 040- 67011710
Mob : 92950 29040, 9701414337
E-mail: nseema@waterhealth.com

Akash Ganga: Saving Water for a Rainy Day--WSJ

2009-09-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

Aakash Ganga: Saving Water for a Rainy Day
The Aakash Ganga experiment to harvest rainwater has been successful in Rajasthan. It is now being tried elsewhere, including China's Guiyang municipality. Experts interviewed by India Knowledge@Wharton note that if the Aakash Ganga model proves to be scalable, it could solve the problem of scarce drinking water all over rural India and, perhaps, elsewhere.

Yamuna Vigil--Day 8--Letter to Lt. Governor, Delhi

2009-09-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan <yamunajiye@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 6:54 AMSubject: YJA - Yamuna Vigil
To: ltgov@nic.in

To,

Sri Tejendra Khanna
Hon’ble Lt Governor
DELHI

Respected Sir,

Greetings from Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan.

Sir, as planned and informed we have been keeping a vigil at the HNZ Bridge for last six days now. The vigil during which volunteers exhibit banners and placards on the either side of the bridge soliciting citizen’s cooperation in not further polluting the river Yamuna and for sending across conservation messages for the river to one and all. The volunteers also request such people who wish to dump things into the river from the bridge to desist from doing so and to hand them over for safe disposal. Large amount of such material is being collected on a daily basis. The organic element (garlands etc) therein is interned in pits for composting and the non organic one (mainly polythese, paper etc) is stored for recycling in collaboration with the solid waste management unit of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE).

Sir, we have observed that since the vigil started the PWD has started to repair the fence at places where few unscrupulous people had cut windows in the fence. (Please see the enclosed pictorial report from yesterday). We commend the PWD on this step and hope that such repair work would not remain limited to this bridge alone, but include all other bridges (ITO bridge in particular) which are also misused by ill guided people to throw things into the river.

We wish to draw your kind attention to the fact that one of the most polluting period for the river is round the corner (Puja festivities) when large number of people are expected to converge onto the bridge and the river to put things into it. We accordingly urge that the officials of the relevant agencies (PWD and MCD) may kindly be directed to

a) Complete the repair of the fence on the bridge before the festivities begin during the later part of the current (September) month
b) MCD may be asked to set up puja samagri collection centres on either side of the bridges (HNZ and ITO bridge in particular) and DND authorities be asked to arrange similarly, so that the people are encouraged to hand over these left overs to these collection centres, rather throw them into the river from the bridge/s.

We are sure, based on our experience of around a week of the Yamuna vigil, that once these steps have been taken much pollution load could be taken away from the already beleaguered river in the city.

It may be reiterated that it is long over due that the MCD and the DDA took steps in accordance with a Court order that required them to identify sites and provide for puja samagri collection centres (enclosures) along the river in the city, so that the river does not get polluted from such activities, which due to the religious sentiments and beliefs of the people cannot just be wished away.

We hope that our request as made above based on field experience of the Yamuna vigil would get due attention of your honour.

With warm regards,

Manoj Misra
Convenor

-- www.yamunajiyeabhiyaan.blogspot.com

YJA-Yamuna Vigil Day 6 Blue caps for Blue River

2009-09-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

From: "Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan" <yamunajiye@gmail.com>
Subject: YJA - Yamuna Vigil - Day Six - Blue caps for the Blue river
Date: Monday, September 07, 2009 7:57 AM

Dear Friends,

After the break for a day (Sunday) we restarted the vigil today in themorning.
Students of a school in the Yamuna khadar (courtesy Sri Khanna ji)participated enthusiastically in the forenoon. Three volunteers from WWFIndia also came briefly. Also a volunteer from the local ISKON temple keptthe vigil for an hour or so.

The PWD (Public Works Department) kept its words and repaired the fence oneither side of the bridge. Even MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) staffgot enthused enough to keep to its duties with due diligence.

All the polythene (in four sacks) collected during the last week, was handedover to the CEE staff for use as raw material in their Solid Waste recycledivision. This is converted into handicrafts by the associate NGOs of CEE.

People have started to question our accusation that the citizen's areresponsible for the sad state of the river. They contend that what aboutover Rs 1500 crores sent down the drain by the state agencies under the YAP?We respond that no one is taking the blame away from the state agencies. Butare not the citizen's equally to blame? One, for not taking the state totask and the second, for continuing to throw waste material into the river?

A pictorial report from today is enclosed. As a result of the repair of thefence it seems, the number of bags collected today decreased to 26 from over50 collected towards the later part of the last week. Pushp ji, Bhim, Sudha,and Vijay remain the core team of volunteers for the vigil.

The blue caps created by us for the volunteers is becoming quite popular. Itseems "blue caps for blue river" is proving an apt adage.

Happy viewing... Click here for pictures:

YJA-DAY 6 -YAMUNA Vigil September 7, 2009
Manoj Misra
Convenor

-- www.yamunajiyeabhiyaan.blogspot.com

World Water Day 2010--Theme, "Communicating Water Quality, Challenges and opportunities

2009-09-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

The theme for World Water Day has been announced. It is, "Communicating Water Quality Changes and Opportnities." We need to spread the msg to our friends to organize the World Water Day, which is March 22, 2010. Any day during the week, it can be celebrated, as the entire week during which March 22, 2010 falls. As some of you may know, I have been celebrating this day for the last three years in Vizianagaram-Viskahpatnam area of Andhra Pradesh. If you can encourage school children in the areas that you originally hail from, it would be a start. It does not cost a lot of money. Organizing rallies, marches, poster competitions, seminars and forums in colleges and universities, hanging banners at main junctions in towns about the importance of water for sustaining life and economic growth and any other idea that you can think of can be undertaken. Usualy schools and colleges respond to do their part because it is educational. The links that you see in the attachment are all informative as to what is going on with the UN in that Water-Sanitation sector. View them, if ou have the time.Best wishes,
Prakash

Prakasam Tata, Ph.D., QEP
1213 Stonebriar Court
Naperville, IL 60540
USA

Tel: 630-848-1933
Fax: 630-848-1934

WWD 2010: Communicating water quality challenges and opportunities - Tettje van Daalen (Owner: Dick de Jong )http://www.worldwaterday.org/page/2536

Day 5- Yamuna Bridge Vigil

2009-09-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

From: "Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan" <yamunajiye@gmail.com>
Subject: YJA - Day Five of Yamuna Vigil - Quite an eventful day
Date: Saturday, September 05, 2009 9:11 AM

Dear Friends,

As we finished our rest period during mid day to return to our respectivevigil locations on the bridge, a worker for the PWD (Public WorksDepartment) along with his co workers came and informed us that he is thereto repair the existing windows (created by people in the metalic fence) oneither side of the bridge.

We encouraged them and wished well the PWD onthis prompt action. This would take away a lot of work load from thevolunteers who had otherwise to man all such windows in the fence whichpeople currently misuse to throw things into the river. Once finished(hopefully by tomorrow) this would give one less reason for the people tomisuse the river.

Three young volunteers from an organisation called i-dream joined the vigilin the forenoon. As did Jolly, a housemaker.

Tomorrow we take a break. This is to provide the regular volunteers with amuch needed free time to attend to other personal matters.

Kindly peruse the enclosed pictorial report from the day.

Happy viewing...

Manoj MisraConvenor
-- www.yamunajiyeabhiyaan.blogspot.com

To view Photos click below.

http://idcoa.cloverpad.org/Content/Documents/Document.ashx?DocId=70228

Day 3-4 of Yamuna HNZ Bridge Vigil by Yamuna Jiye Andolan

2009-09-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

From: "Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan" <yamunajiye@gmail.com>
Subject: YJA - Day three and four of Yamuna Vigil - a brief pictorial report
Date: Friday, September 04, 2009 9:12 AM

Dear Friends,

Please see the enclosed. The Vigil is progressing fine. Today we had Dileepji who is a keen cyclist and a free lance photographer as a very keen andenthusiastic volunteer.But the vigil can certainly do with more volunteers.

Happy viewing... click to see pictures:

http://idcoa.cloverpad.org/Content/Documents/Document.ashx?DocId=70227

Manoj Misra
Convenor
-- http://www.yamunajiyeabhiyaan.blogspot.com/

Day 2 of Yamuna HNZ Bridge Vigil

2009-09-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

From: "Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan" <yamunajiye@gmail.com>

Subject: YJA - Day two of the Yamuna Vigil on HNZ Bridge 2 9 09
Date: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 8:44 AM

Dear Friends,

It was around 10.15 hrs. We were keeping vigil at the new HNZ Bridge. Aradio taxi signalled left and came to a halt. A man alighted from it andbefore we could make him understand that we were there to collect what everhe wished to throw into the beleaguered river he had already hurled thepolythene bag over the fence. On one enquiring of him, “Are you not ashamedof what you have just done”? You seem to carry shame enough, so keep doing,came a swift retort and away he went.

Five minutes later a scooterist came to a halt. We approached anticipatingthat he wished to hand over his wares. He extended his hand and pumped ourscomplimenting profusely. “Great work. This is the only way to make peopleunderstand”. I work at the Supreme Court and have often tried to dissuadepeople from further polluting the river.

Yet another worshipper, “Why don’t you get the polluting drains stopped”?What more bad could mere few flowers do to the river? We reasoned, “you areright about the drains, but where is the river that you wish to revere”? Noriver has always been there, it is there and shall always be there,pollution or no, came a quick reply? He respectfully bowed to the river, andwent his way without either handing us his packet or throwing it into theriver.

An elderly lady walking down the bridge stopped and enquired if she couldpick and take the *panni* (polythene bags) from the collection in thebasket? What will you do with them? This is what I do for a living.

These are some of the glimpses of the citizens of this ancient city thatprides itself on being located on the banks of the holy river Yamuna.

Lessons.

1. A large number of people who ought to know better, just don’t seem to care. 2. There are equally a large number who know and understand that the river is sick and should not be further imperilled. 3. There are some who are confused, as their religious beliefs would not let them see the sickness in the river and compel them to seek solutions away from their own acts. 4. There is a substantial number who live off the polluted state of the river.

Some city, one must admit, that we all live in, friends!

Manoj Misra
Convenor

PS: We collected around 36 packets during the day two of the vigil. It isdue to the perseverance of people like Pushp ji (Nature and People), Bhim,Sudha, Manorama, (at PEACE) and volunteers like Vijay and the local pujarisof the Sri Hanuman ji Temple that we continued the vigil successfully on daytwo. Thanks to the media coverage enquiries for volunteering have started tocome in and hopefully the volunteer shortage would soon be behind us. Forexample, tomorrow the Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar students arejoining us to keep the vigil.

-- www.yamunajiyeabhiyaan.blogspot.com

Yamuna HNZ Bridge Vigil Campaign-- September 1-

2009-09-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan <yamunajiye@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Subject: YJA - Day one of the vigil at HNZ Bridge 1 9 09
To: yamunajiye@gmail.com
Dear Friends,

We started as planned the vigil at the strategic points on the HNZ bridge. There was satisfaction, frustration and lessons galore.

Around 12 volunteers were present in the forenoon session, when the maximum collection of the material brought for dumping into the river was effected. Afternoon brought heavy downpour, and strong disagreeable odour emanating from the river. It became quite an effort to keep vigil on the bridge proper as a result. Also the number of volunteers dwindled to around 8.

All kinds of people came up to throw/dump material into the river. But most with few exceptions agreed readily to hand over the material to our volunteers. Around 21 packets were finally collected. One couple had come all the way from Dwarka for making their offering to the river. Information that this is hardly a river at the moment would not cut much ice with them. Ultimately with great reluctance did they hand over the plastic bag which carried the material they wanted to dispose off into the river.

It was realised that keeping a vigil on the bridge is not too difficult as the entire length of the bridge is visible from a central point. Secondly people prefer to throw things where water stands. Hence the length to be covered is easily determined.The key lesson is that if only MCD were to have a well advertised collection point at one site on both the bridges (there are two adjacent bridges on NH 24 and two more are coming up), the river can certainly be secured at least from the bridges.

It is not just puja left overs but all kinds of material that people throw into the river (please see the enclosed pic).The key regret ofcourse remains with people not coming forward to volunteer. We wonder for how long would Bhim and his small band of dedicated volunteers last. Please sign up friends.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends,

You might have been seen our invitation sent to the Hon'ble Lt Governor for his personal participation at the month long vigil on the HNZ Bridge that has been planned as citizen's part of a responsible act for the river.What is planned is as under:

We shall gather each day at the Hanuman Temple at the start of the HNZ Bridge as one turn left/right onto the bridge from the Ring Road. We begin the vigil at 9 am and continue till 12 noon. Then after a two hour rest / refreshments (brought from home) we continue the vigil again from 2 - 5 pm.

Banners, placards, stickers, leaflets etc have all been prepared and ready to be used. Relevant DCP have been informed. Most NGOs in the city have been invited. Large number of school's (many courtsey CEE and its dynamic Regional Director, Sri Prabhjot Sodhi) have been contacted.

Still we feel that it would be great if those on this list could find some time out of their busy schedule to be part of the effort. Afterall it is a citizen's way of telling the state that we are willing to walk a mile. How about you performing for the river?

Looking forward to hearing from you at the earliest. Please inform friends and relations too.
Regards,
Manoj Misra
Convenor --
www.yamunajiyeabhiyaan.blogspot.com

Letter to Lt. Governor of Delhi-- Securing Yamuna Bridges

2009-09-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

Posted by Manoj Misra
yamunajiye@gmail.com

8-31-09

Sri Tejendra Khanna,
Hon'ble Lt Governor
DELHI

Respected Sir,Greetings from Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan.Sir, you would agree that the state of river Yamuna in the city today represents the worst form of environmental degradation that a human society can inflict upon any natural system. A recent city wide survey conducted jointly by CMS Environment and us revealed as a 'sign of hope' that the majority in the city considers the citizenry as much responsible as the state agencies for the sad state of the river. This co-responsibility is best exemplified from huge amounts of untreated sewage and other muck of the city draining into the river (state's default) as much as irresponsible acts on the part of citizens when they keep dumping / throwing all kinds of waste (including left overs from puja etc) into the river unmindful of its harmful impacts on the already beleagured river.

Accordingly in a true spirit of hope we are trying to embark (in partnership with several other likeminded NGOs and individuals) upon an experiment where we 'adopt' a bridge in the city for the following:

a) Desist (through pursuation and an offer to receive their stuff for safe disposal) people from misusing the bridge to dump stuff into the river

b) Use the immense outreach (in form of banners, placards and leaflets) potential of the bridges over the river to educate the public at large for the river

We had run a one day test initiative on these lines on the HNZ Bridge (NH 24) on 14 August 2009 (Janmashtami day) and found that the people were more than willing to dispose safely their puja left overs provided an alternative was made available to them. It is a sad commentary on the lethargy of the public service state agencies like the MCD where despite a court order (High Court of Delhi) directing them to identify locations (and make arrangements) along the river where people could safely dispose off their puja left overs, no action has yet been taken.We propose to keep a daily vigil (through volunteers) at the HNZ Bridge for a month (hopefully) beginning tomorrow, September 1, 2009.

We shall be on one hand be present on the predestrian walkway on the bridge with banners (on the bridge fence) and placards on our person and personally try to dissuade such persons who wish to throw things into the river. On the other hand through leaflets, stickers etc try to educate the masses that it is as much 'your' responsibility as that of the state agencies to revive the river.

In this endeavour we request your honor in your role as the first citizen of NCT of Delhi, to kindly grace the event as per your convenience and timing. While we are fully aware that protocol, security considerations and a busy schedule may not be too conducive for you to personally attend such events, we still hope that your honor because of your rare capacity to think and act out of the box, might still find time for the needful. In any case we would be glad to receive your blessings in whatever form you deem fit. With warm regards,

Manoj MisraConvenor --
www.yamunajiyeabhiyaan.blogspot.com

Drought Put Focus on a Side of India Left Out of Progress

2009-09-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

Please click the libk below for full story.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/world/asia/05drought.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig--

Please share your comments. Thanks.

A Benefit Concert in Rockville, MD on Ocotober 17 for Yamuna River Cleanup

2009-09-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Yamuna Lovers:

Please come and listen to the great Flute-Guitar Concert by John Wubbenhorst and his Facing East Trio. This is a benefit concert for a joint Potomac Yamuna Partnership effort for training school students and rural community groups in water quality and organizing for protection and cleanup of the Yamuna River by conducting Field workshops in Agra-Delhi area in January 2010 .

Please see attached Flyer for the event. To request tickets for the event, please complete the attached Ticket Request form and e-mail/mail to me or Dick Lahn (dicklahn@bellatlantic.net ) and Indicate there if it is a "will call", meaning you will pickup the tickets at the door paying the advance purchase rate of $20, or mail the check per instruction on the form. The auditorium is brand new and is of high quality, but the seating is limited.

Hope to see you there...

Subijoy.
Subijoy Dutta, P.E.,
Technical Adviser
Rivers of the World Foundation
1496 Harwell Avenue,Crofton, MD 21114
www.rowfoundation.org

Safe Water International--Watch Video and share thoughts

2009-09-04T23:44:00.000-07:00

http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GGLD_enUS313US313&q=Safe+Water+International&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=QOihSoDAHZD9nQeqmtSLBQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4#

Also Visit:
http://water.org/

http://www.globalwater.org/

http://www.lifewater.org/

Death of A River Dialogue---- Save Yamuna River

2009-08-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Death of A River Dialogue

Dear Misraji:

I hardly get any time during the week after 3+ hours of commute and high workload. But I devote whatever time I can scrounge during the weekend and late nights to help with the Yamuna and other Rivers of the World Efforts. I am really thrilled to hear about your HNZ bridge awareness work beginning Sep 1.

I have talked to Mr. Dick Lahn, Pres. Obama's effective campaign man in Pittsburgh, PA, who is a deeply dedicated team member and proponent of the Yamuna cleanup effort by the Rivers of the world Foundation. Dick really liked your plan and mentioned that you can possibly have some kind of indicator on the bridge to gage people's support for the Yamuna. I suggest that you should place a Hanging Puja-Bell at each end of the two Sidewalks with a sign " If you love the Yamuna and Want to Portect it - "Ghonta Bajao" or Ring the Bell". This will bring a lot of solidarity and support for the Yamuna cleanup effort.

Being so far I couldn't do much except provide you with our strong support for the cause. However, one other issue that occurred to me after talking to Mr. D.K. Mital in Mayur Vihar this morning, who mentioned about the serious traffic congestion in Delhi. In whatever way you conduct your activities on the Bridge, please ensure that your activities do not add to the traffic problem, else this great effort may get some undue back lashes from the already burnt up and frustrated drivers.

Dick Lahn, and Myself are planning to Come to Delhi in January 2010 and will be in touch with you about a few Field Workshops on Yamuna that we plan to conduct.

Meantime, I have placed a link to your Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan in the Rivers of the World (ROW) Foundation website. Please see http://rowfoundation.org/row/

I have been providing the DJB (formerly DWSSD) with the design of a number of Low-cost and very practical wastewater treatment systems, which could capture the drainage from Barapullah, and other Drains prior to the their massive loading of contaminated water into the Yamuna River. DJB showed excitement and many other supportive gestures only to get the proposals from me and then sit tight on those and later try to go around and use that through their local contractors. I find that highly unethical and illegal as well. I have full documentation of these facts Their interceptor drains design is one of our concept and design that I have submitted to them in 2004. My objective is to get the Yamuna cleaned one way or another, doesn't matter if they take the idea and can implement themselves or hire the Hanuman to put the Lanka ablaze.

Subijoy.

Subijoy Dutta, P.E., Technical Adviser
Rivers of the World Foundation
1496 Harwell Avenue,
Crofton, MD 21114
www.rowfoundation.org

----- Original Message -----

From: Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan

Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 4:20 AM

Dear Sir/s,

Thanks.

Incidentally, we are launching an outreach and awareness initiative for the river Yamuna beginning September 1, 2009 for a month at the HNZ Bridge (NH 24). The purpose of the initiative is to sensitize the people using the bridge (several thousands pass over it every day) to :

a) Not use the bridge to dump their waste (including religious left overs) into the river and further pollute it.
b) Seek the indulgence of the state to demand 'environmental flow' back into the river
c) Tell the state to not build on the flood plain

School children, staff and supporters of NGOs and local youth groups and farmers, pujaris etc have been requested to act as volunteers on two shifts (9-12 noon and 2 -5 pm) each day. Banners, placards, caps, leaflets etc shall be used to reach out to users of the bridge.

So, in case Dr Dutta finds synergy in this worthwhile, then we can discuss the modalities for the same.

Best wishes and regards,

Manoj Misra
Convenor

On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 2:42 AM, <raj2468@comcast.net> wrote:

Dear Mr. Misra:

We will look into how Rivers of the World Foundation in Maryland (www.rowfoundation.org) can work with your organization for Yamuna.

Subijoy, look into this and let us discuss. Awareness campaigns with Misra's organization is a thing we can initiate immediately.

Raj

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan" <yamunajiye@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 1:50:15 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central

Dear Dr Jain,

Thank you very much for your mail and for referring us to Dr Dutta and other friends.

Campaign to safeguard the flood plains of river Yamuna with an aim to seek ultimately the revival of the river remains an ongoing effort. (To learn more of the same please refer to Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, on our website www.peaceinst.org.)

Yes, it is a fact that the Supreme Court (the once hallowed institution in the country) has played a fraud on the nation's unsuspecting citizenry and its helpless rivers through its blatantly flawed and biased judgment (we have full facts to support such a charge) in the Yamuna case. But the road does not end here. We remain undaunted and fully committed to keep the campaign on both inside and outside the Courts.

It would certainly be great to join hands with as many like minded persons as possible in the matter.

Warm regards,

Manoj Misra

On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 8:50 AM, Mohan Jain <mohanjain@comcast.net> wrote:

Dear Mr. Misra,

You may recall that we had you as speaker at the IDCA conference in 2008 in New Delhi, where you spoke about the proposed Yamuna construction plans and your opposition to it on some solid arguments. We thought the matter will be resolved amicably by the courts..

We are very concerned with the situation and like to learn more about it from you. I am forwarding the following emails for your information and comments. Dr. Subijoy Dutta is very passionate about clean up and survival of yamuna for many years. I would like you both connect and work together as best as possible in this critical hour.

Only yesterday I read the big speech from our PM about need to fix the environmental problems.

Regards,

Mohan L. Jain,

----- Original Message -----
From: Subijoy-msn Dutta

Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 10:00 PM

Thanks, Mohanji for the information. It is a colossal disregard for the lifeline of the people who live on the bank of Yamuna and support themselves with seasonal gardening and production of vegetables from that fertile floodplain. I have gone there, visited them, and talked to these people. Their faces and toiling work in these hard-to-access areas just flashed in my memory. These thoughts and flashes flows through my mind as a burning arrow which makes the determination stronger and steadier to continue this Yamuna cleanup effort. This message is more like the one from the Garuda who lost the battle with the Supreme Court. Just like the Garuda's message didn't go in vain, rather it provided the path and direction, hope this message will act similarly for the doers.

Regards,

Subijoy

----- Original Message -----
From: Arjun

Death of a River

Anuradha Dutt

After Supreme Court ruling, little hope left for Yamuna

The recent Supreme Court judgement rejecting the plea that construction of the Commonwealth Games Village on the Yamuna bed posed an environmental threat, has been greeted with dismay by activists, struggling hard for many years to revive the historic river and protect its environs.

Magsaysay Award winner Rajinder Singh, among those who tried unsuccessfully to stymie concretisation of part of the riverbed and flood plains via court intervention, was quoted by the media as having said that the ruling would allow “Governments to change land use policy on rivers”. He is also reported to have observed that “anything that is not in favour of people and is against rivers and the environment cannot be a court ruling”. Aggrieved petitioners find the apex court ruling that the games village is not located on the riverbed and floodplains as flawed. Prof Vikram Soni of the National Physical Laboratory explains that “after 20 million years of flooding, that area today has 40 metres of sandbank”. It is conclusive proof of the games site being a floodplain.

They also object to the court’s dismissal of their plea on the ground that they took legal recourse after “inordinate delay”, without reasonable explanation. Their defence is that they first wrote missives to the city’s administrators — Chief Minister and other senior functionaries authorised to take decisions in this regard — before being forced by their indifference to move the Delhi High Court in September 2007. After the court passed an order to appoint an expert committee to review the construction, Government counsels approached the apex court for relief. Its verdict, allowing the games village to be constructed in the river environs and nullifying the High Court direction to set up an expert committee to monitor the work, may serve as an impetus to speedy completion of the project.

But pro-river campaigners have resolved to press for review of the verdict, and if even that fails to rectify what they see as a wrong, try other legal remedies. They will not give up the battle to save the city’s lifeline, now on the verge of extinction. Melting of the Himalayan glaciers which feed the Yamuna, Ganga and other water systems nourishing the northern plains on account of global warming, is just one of the factors threatening their survival. Others are also man-made, and calculatedly so. For, not only have these rivers become dumps due to human waste and toxic industrial effluents that choke their flow but their environs have turned out to be prospective real estate.

While the games village is cited by opponents as one such venture, the hare-brained scheme to develop a concrete waterfront along the Yamuna as it passes through Delhi is seen to be another. The Thames experiment in London is said to be the inspiration for the plan. However, experts point out that if implemented, Delhi would become vulnerable to massive flooding, since unlike the Thames the Yamuna swells through heavy seasonal rainfall. Accumulated water would break through embankments to flood nearby colonies.

The need of the hour is to save and conserve the rivers, not commercialise their environs. It is a measure of Government ineptitude that all well-intentioned efforts, such as the action plans to revive the Yamuna and Ganga, have been defeated by counter-impulses to build on the beds and floodplains. Thousands of crores of rupees assigned for these projects seem to have disappeared into a bottomless dark hole, with nothing to show for the massive investment. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has gone so far as to admit that it would not be possible to clean up the Yamuna by next October, when the games are slated to take place. Cynics point out that the river may never be cleaned up as it may die before that, given the quantum of waste injected into its waters as well as concrete encroachments on its recharge area.

Considering that the capital is sustained by the Yamuna, the administrative disregard for the imperatives of reviving the river is criminal. Do the city planners have an option to it? None at all, with the Ganga too polluted and indiscriminate damming on its upper reaches. Satellite pictures of the Himalayas show the river’s flow to have disappeared across long stretches. Thankfully, the Allahabad High Court has put on hold the Uttar Pradesh Government’s 1,047 km-long Ganga Expressway project, linking Noida to Ballia, and passing through 19 districts along the banks of the river. Petitioners have objected to the effluents that are proposed to be discharged into the river by factories that will come up parallel to the expressway.. One can only hope that it is not a temporary reprieve.

Integrated Water Resources Management?

2007-09-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

Water Conservation

Water Harvesting

Waste Water Treatment

Agriculture/ Irrigation

Tourism

Industry

Domestic Use