Kurnool district is reeling under acute water scarcity, said Deputy Chief Minister K.E.
Krishnamurthy on Sunday and directed Rural Water Supply officials to study the situation in all the gram panchayats and habitations in the district and forward a plan of action.
Addressing a review meeting with constituency in charges and officials in the Collectorate conference hall here, Mr. Krishnamurthy said Sunkesula dam dried up and asked the officials to explore alternative sources to mitigate the water shortage.
Ms. Akhilapriya directed restoration of Srirangapuram comprehensive protected water supply scheme to supply drinking water to eight villages.
Rajya Sabha member T.G.
Venkatesh sought an action plan to store Tungabhadra water in the Sunkesula dam as a permanent measure to mitigate water scarcity.
He suggested construction of ORHS tanks in all villages.
Vijayamohan had assured sanction of funds if proposals were forwarded.
Mohan Reddy, Kodumur MLA Mani Gandhi, Srisailam MLA B. Rajasekhar Reddy, Yemmiganur MLA B. Jayanageswara Reddy, former ministers K.E.
Prabhakar and Erasu Pratap Reddy and constituency in charges apprised the Deputy Chief Minister of the water woes in their areas.

Long spells of drought are followed by rains.
However, even when the volumes of the rains are huge, no sustainable measures are put in place to harvest and conserve the water from such rains.
A few years ago a Masters student at the University of Nairobi was presenting a proposal on mechanisms to harvest and store road run-off water.
The reality, though, is that harvesting and storing run-off water and rain water through roof-harvesting will go a long way in addressing the country’s water needs.
Kenya can learn lessons from such countries and implement those it finds useful.
Harvesting rain water will also help many local communities to move away from rain-fed agriculture.
With the erratic rainfall patterns in the country, reliance on rainy seasons so as to plant crops will negatively affect crop yields and compromise the country’s food security.
Beyond the launch, it will be necessary to see what amount of resources is allocated to rain water harvesting.
We also have to address issues relating to water quality and supply.
The initiatives on harvesting water has to move to how the water once harvested is stored and eventually distributed so as ensure that all citizens are guaranteed access to water.

originally posted on November 30, 2016

 

FORDLAND, Mo. Fordland is spending a second day without water.

Schools there shut down, and people who live there have been without water going on 24 hours.

Crews trying to install a phone and internet line hit the city’s main water line.

In a matter of minutes 100,000 gallons of water in the tower, gone.

“We take it for granted when it’s there and then when it’s not it’s like oh boy,” said resident Gerry Culvertson.

The water loss, shut down schools, businesses, and left more than 400 people in Fordland without water.

“My wife and I we have six kids, no drinking water other than what we picked up at walmart, not being able to flush the toilets,” said Culvertson.

Contractors working for century link were trying to put in new internet lines, but when they started digging, they hit the city’s main water line.

“It’s more of an accidental thing than anything, the city has the liability to mark it within a certain stretch,” said contractor Ryan Loer.

But the mayor had another problem to deal with.

“When I showed up all i see is water pouring out of the hole,” said Mayor Donald Burks.

The chirping house sparrows and migratory birds are vanishing due to lack of water sources.
Birds are also dying due to heat and lack of water across the city.
Hundreds of sparrows, pigeons and parakeets which used to flock to Cubbon Park are rarely seen today.
Pavithra V N, a frequent visitor to Cubbon Park, said: "The number of birds coming to the green lung space has reduced.
Cubbon Park Walkers’ Association (CPWA) president S Umesh said there were more than 1,000 parakeets a month ago here and now the number has reduced to 500.
Similarly, migratory birds like the black-crowned night heron, kingfisher and Rufous babbler used to quench their thirst at the pond.
This time, there is not enough water and their visits here are also rare.
"Vijay Nishanth, an urban conservationist, said harsh weather and dehydration killed a baby kite in Jayanagar recently.
He said: "A few days ago, I visited the Kanakapura Road stretch which has 10 lakes with around 20 water bird species frequenting them.
Why will birds come when there is no water?

Many people across the world die every year due to lack of water in drought-affected areas.
We often heard stories that the water shortage could be one of the major reason of the world war.
But in the near future, you might not face such problems.
MIT Technology has built a device that can produce water from the dry air.
Using this material, MIT has created a water harvester that utilizes only solar power to pull water from the dry air.
Reportedly this can draw three liters of water from the dry air with low humidity (20 to 30%) in just 12 hours.
Senior author of the paper, Omar Yaghi said that this is a great invention to overcome the long-term problem, to draw water from the dry air.
Before this, we have no other way, except by using extra energy.
These metals with organic particles create a hard but porous design that can hold liquids and gasses.
But this new water harvester uses the MOF designed by Yaghi and his team in 2014 at UC Berkley.

Clean Technology Uses Solar Energy to Collect Water Molecules.
Traditional forms of water management is being tested and refined each year as the global population continues to increase.
Recently, the American Association for the Advancement of Science reported that a group of researchers for Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that it is possible to capture and collect water from the atmosphere with the use of low-grade heat produced by solar energy.
MIT added that in a report last year in Science Advances they reported that four billion people, with two billion of those people living in India and China, continue to face “severe water scarcity at least one month of the year.” The TED Talk featuring Arturo Vittori covers an invention he created called Warka Water.
His $1000 tree-like structure can on average collect 1000 liters of water everyday.
Arturo Vittori plans to help bring his environmental structure to India to help with the water crisis in the country.
His environment-friendly setup is another one of the latest developments in clean energy technology.

How Serious is Water Crisis in Iran?.
Unfortunately, the share of this country from the total fresh water resources is further limited due to the hot and arid climate.
Water shortage in Iran has been considered as one of the limiting factors for sustainable development.
However, today the country is faced with serious challenges in the water sector, including rising water demand and shortages, declining groundwater levels, deteriorating water quality, and increasing threats to the environment and various ecosystems.
The environmental issues are their least concern.
Food security under water scarcity in the Middle East: Problems and solutions.
Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 3(4): 208-216. http://www.aljazeera.com/ programmes/peopleandpower/ 2016/11/iran-water-crisis- 161109114752047.html Kaveh Madani Larijani, 2005.
Challenges of Water Resource Management in Iran.
The Iranian Water Crisis.
Dams, Drought and Water Shortage in Today’s Iran.

Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Services and Sports, has directed officers of Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) and Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) to give priority to supplying water by tankers to water scarce areas in Udupi city and all gram panchayats in Udupi Assembly constituency respectively.
Mr. Madhwaraj said the PDOs should clear the bills of contractors supplying water through water tankers within a week.
Though the rains were lesser this time, the complaints about water scarcity were lower compared to last year, he said.
K. Raghavendra, CMC environment engineer, said water was being supplied in the city through around 50 tankers daily.
He said there were 911 poor people living in rented houses in the Udupi Assembly constituency.
Of these, 595 were from Udupi city.
They would be provided with sites soon so that they can build houses.
These sites would be provided in the city and in surrounding villages.
2.7 lakh each to construct their houses, while those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would get Rs.
Already 50 acres of land had been identified in rural areas, while 14 acres of land had been identified in the city to be given as sites to the poor.

Solar-Powered Device That Sucks Moisture From Air Can Save Millions From Water-Related Diseases.
Foreground — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Opaque Background — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Default Monospace Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Sans-Serif Casual Script Small Caps Defaults Done Play Video Play Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Stream TypeLIVE Remaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate 1 Chapters Chapters Subtitles subtitles off Captions captions settings captions off Fullscreen This is a modal window.
Foreground — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Opaque Background — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Default Monospace Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Sans-Serif Casual Script Small Caps Defaults Done A sponge-like device that uses the power of sunlight to harvest water vapor from air even in areas with low humidity such as deserts could be an answer to the world’s water scarcity problem.
Water Scarcity And Water-Related Diseases Figures from the World Health Organization show that at least 1.8 billion people worldwide drink water that are contaminated with feces.
WHO estimates that diarrhea alone that is caused by viral, parasitic, and bacterial organisms from contaminated water supplies kills 842,000 and sickens about 4 billion people per year.
Schistosomiasis, which is caused by parasitic worms that are contracted through exposure to infested water, also affects 240 million people.
The drought results in proliferation of water-related diseases, as people have to rely on contaminated and stagnant water sources.
New Device May Make Water More Accessible To Dry And Drought-Stricken Areas The new device developed by MIT researchers offers hope in that it is capable of wringing water from air even in areas with low humidity.
Researchers said that the device can produce liters of water in areas where humidity is as low as 20 percent, which is about the same as the humidity in most deserts.
The device may one day become a household fixture in poorer parts of the world where water is scarce, allowing people to produce their own drinking water rather than walking far distances to fetch water or rely on available but contaminated water sources.

This solar-powered device harvests water from dry air.
Scientists at MIT and UC Berkeley have created a prototype that does just that — and it only requires 20-30 percent humidity to work.
MOFs are compounds created by combining metals with organic molecules.
In this case, Yaghi and his team at Berkeley created a MOF that binds to water.
It’s a passive device, requiring no other energy source than the sun — and doesn’t even need very bright sunlight to function.
Both Yaghi and Wang believe they’ve barely tapped the concept’s potential.
Future MOFs might be able to absorb 40 percent or more.
Freshwater scarcity is a global problem of immense proportions that does not receive nearly the attention that it should.
Recent estimates show that 4 billion people — that’s two-thirds of the world’s population — experience acute water scarcity at least one month of the year.
California’s historically severe drought has finally just ended, but the state typically experiences big fluctuations in rainfall from year to year.