Groundwater samples in 93 of 168 areas around the Hindon river have been found to be unsafe for drinking, a report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has stated. The survey by CPCB was carried out in seven districts through which the Hindon river or its distributaries pass. The area where groundwater was found to contain high levels of fluoride, sulphate, oil and grease, and heavy metals are Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur and Shamli. The report s...

More than Rs 170 billion has been disbursed by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the National Rural Drinking Water programme in the last three years, as per the government. The Union Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ramesh Jigajinagi said that an additional Rs 19.66 bn has been disbursed for the current year. The National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) was launched under Bharat Nirman by the UPA government in 2009 with an objective of providing safe...

The Delhi Jal Board told the green court that the industries cannot be allowed to use groundwater because of serious depletion of water levels in these areas. The National Green Tribunal on Friday banned the extraction of groundwater by industries in the Narela and Bawana localities of New Delhi. The green tribunal’s Chairperson, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, passed the order after the Delhi Jal Board told the green court that the industries, which sell bottled water, cannot be allowed to us...

With an aim of eliminating human entry into septic tanks and drains for cleaning, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched a 'technology challenge' seeking suitable solutions from individuals and NGOs.  According to the ministry, the initiative is in line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who recently expressed desire for a challenge to promote latest technologies to avoid human intervention in cleaning of sewers and septic tanks in the country....

The Measurement, Control & Automation Association (MCAA) published its Annual Market Forecast for 2018. Prepared by the analysts at Global Automation Research, the report focuses on the process instrumentation and automation (PI&A) markets in the U.S. and Canada. Twelve industry segments and product categories are examined, with a forecast timeline extending to the year 2022. The 2017 process instrumentation and automation market in the U.S, valued at $13.4 billion, is projected to gr...

A recent publication by researchers at the School of Environmental Studies (SOES), Jadavpur University, reveals that there is a rise in arsenic contamination of paddy plants from ground water in West Bengal, and also concentration of arsenic accumulation depends on the variety of paddy and its stage in the crop cycle. The study titled ‘Arsenic accumulation in paddy plants at different phases of pre-monsoon cultivation’, highlights the processes and dependencies of arsenic trans-loca...

The water watchdog’s latest annual Water Matters survey shows that while nine out of ten customers are satisfied with their water and sewerage services, only six in ten agree that their charges are fair – a figure that has remained static for seven years. Perceptions of fairness are strongly influenced by customer experience, according to Water Matters. Those customers who think charges are unfair are more likely to have made contact with their water company in the past 12 months, a...