How will the capital city fare this year when it comes to drinking water?
You really can’t blame anyone for asking.
This time last year, the state capital was heading toward a major drinking water crisis on account of the drought.But this year the situation may not be that critical, say officials of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA).
The Peppara dam, the chief source of drinking water for the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation area, has adequate storage, KWA officials said.
Last year, against all expectations, water levels in Peppara had dipped alarmingly forcing KWA to fall back on Neyyar which does not have a dedicated supply scheme for the capital city.
Water had to be pumped from Neyyar into Peppara reservoir to supply potable water to the city from the pumping station at Aruvikkara.
On Thursday, the water storage levels in Neyyar dam stood at 83.35 metres.
The maximum storage level of the dam is 84.75 metres.
‘’This year we have ensured maximum water storage in the dam in view of last year’s drought.
In the summer months, consumption rises further.

Water crisis looms as the flood-prone city depletes its groundwater.
In the 1300s, the Aztecs built the beginnings of Mexico City on an island surrounded by lakes.
Today, flooding remains a risk.
Mexico City sits on clay lake beds in the mountains, a mile and a half above sea level.
As the city’s population grows, Mexico City is forced to drill deeper for water and there is never enough.
The excessive drilling led to another problem –Mexico City is slowly sinking into the earth, collapsing on itself.
“We line up at 3 in the morning for the pipa [water truck].
(The New York Times) 40 percent Proportion of Mexico City’s water that is piped in from remote sources.
(The New York Times) 9 inches Amount that the ground underneath parts of Mexico City sinks per year, according to data from late 2014 and early 2015.
Resources And Further Reading A failed vision – Mexico’s Housing Debacle (Los Angeles Times) In Mexico City Mud, Pena Nieto’s $13 Billion Airport Project Bogs Down (Bloomberg) Mexico City hit hard by water shortages (Al Jazeera) Mexico City, Parched and Sinking, Faces a Water Crisis (The New York Times)Mexico City’s water crisis – from source to sewer (The Guardian) The 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water – like Cape Town (BBC)

National Drought Management Authority’s (NDMA) vegetation index as at January 29 classified the drought phase in Isiolo, Garissa, Kajiado, and Tana River counties as alarming with six counties listed under the alert category.
According to the index published last month, of 23 ASAL counties, there were only 13 listed in the normal phase marking a slight improvement from November which only had 12 counties classified as normal.
The ASAL counties account for the lion’s share of the 3.9 million people projected to face food insecurity this year, covering eighty-nine percent of the country’s landmass and thirty-six per cent of the nation’s population.
READ: Half a million more Kenyans to face food insecurity in 2018 They are also home to 90 per cent of wildlife and 70 per cent of Kenya’s livestock population.
“Poor crop harvest will be expected in most of the marginal agricultural counties due to a combination of poor rainfall performance and the fall armyworm infestation,” read the NDMA report.
In Tharaka and Meru North fair crop performance is expected to lead to harvest which will “replenish household stocks, lessen market dependence, and improve incomes.” Among reasons cited for the dismal performance in crop generation is the poor distribution of rain in December exposing most ASAL areas to sunny and dry conditions.
Apart from poor crop performance, human-wildlife conflicts have also contributed to food insecurity, especially in Baringo, Laikipia, and Taita Taveta counties.
There was, however, a significant improvement in the average distances travelled to access water for both households and livestock, according to the NDMA index.
“The average distances to water for both households and livestock generally reduced compared to the previous month as a result of pasture regeneration and recharge of open water sources in nearly all the ASAL counties.” Water scarcity was however reported in some areas within Isiolo, Wajir, Kajiado, Marsabit, Garissa, Kitui, Narok, Mandera, Samburu and Meru counties which received depressed rainfall in December.
“The situation is likely to worsen given that most of the open water sources are expected to dry up by end of January 2018,” NDMA warned.

If there is one sector that understands both the beauty and brutality of our environment, it is agriculture.
The forces of nature, combined with the spread of several diseases, has dealt agricultural stakeholders several big knocks over the past decade.
Water scarcity is its latest, and arguably most devastating.
A lot has been said about the agriculture sector’s use of water during this extremely difficult drought period.
This drought, the worst the Western Cape has seen in 100 years, is not an “us and them” problem.
It’s an “us” problem because, no matter which way you look at it, we’re in this together.
This drought impacts everyone and all sectors of the economy, but the agricultural sector is the only part of the economy that very early on had its water use officially curtailed.
This is also the only sector of the economy which uses its water allocation rights to source financing.
We’ve already seen both small and large players having to renegotiate the terms of their loans at great cost during what is already a troubled time for their businesses.
It is anticipated that over the next five years, in certain irrigation areas, up to 98% of farms may show a negative Net Farm Income at some stage.

Though the tourist destination of Cape Town may be one of the country’s most extreme examples, the effects of the 100-year drought are being felt in other areas as well, including the Eastern Cape province, where water restrictions are in effect; Kwa-Zulu Natal, where dam levels are getting extremely low; and in the country’s maize belt, where the drought has taken its toll.
For water consumption greater than 10 percent during construction, the group recommends that a leak detection study be performed to ensure that leaks large or small do not occur throughout the duration of a building’s lifespan.
Conservation WBDG points out that watering landscape can account for over 20 percent of a building’s water usage.
A water-efficient irrigation system will further help ensure that less water is used.
Cooling towers for controlling indoor temperatures should rely on recycled water, rather than potable water.
Recycling While all of the aforementioned methods are necessary to minimize the waste associated with facilities, it’s possible to take these methods a step further by recycling non-potable water.
WBDG breaks these strategies into four groups: on-site water, reclaimed water, gray water and water catchment.
Water catchment relies on capturing rainwater or fresh water sources, and then reusing it for irrigation and toilet flushing.
Some of the methods that apply to commercial buildings can be implemented too, such as reducing lawn size and repairing leaks as soon as possible.
Homeowners can sometimes apply through local programs—particularly in drought-stricken areas like California where these changes are required by law—for the direct-install of high-efficiency fixtures or kits that they can install themselves.

BENGALURU: Here is some good news for the city which has been in the news for water scarcity.
Bengaluru Development Minister K J George said that in another eight months, the city will get an additional 12 MLD of water from Thippagondanahalli reservoir.
For Bengaluru, water was drawn from Thippagondanahalli and Hesarghatta earlier.
The city stopped getting water as it was unfit for drinking.
With this, dependency on Cauvery water increased.
On Wednesday, George laid the foundation for treatment of water that is coming from Arkavathy to Hesarghatta lake in TG Halli reservoir.
BWSSB has adopted natural biological system, which is also adopted at Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad.
George said the project has been taken up at `11.49 crore.
BWSSB sources said varieties of plants will be planted in and around waterbodies, which filters contaminants.
It also dissolves nitrate and magnesium, purifying the water by 85 per cent.

Photo Etched Components We Etch Various Metals To Manufacture Manifolds, Fuel Valves & More vacco-etch.com Mozambique authorities on Wednesday introduced water rationing to more than a million residents in the capital Maputo due to a severe drought.
The city is cutting the water supply to consumers to just 40 percent of normal levels, Casimiro Abreu, deputy director of the National Emergency Centre said in a statement.
About 1.3 million people in Maputo and its surroundings are affected by the restrictions, raising fears of disease outbreaks.
"Diarrhoeal diseases including cholera are likely to occur in some neighbourhoods where populations will resort to unsafe sources; there," said Abreu.
Low rainfall over the past three years has left a dam that supplies the city with most of its water to just 19 percent of capacity.
Meteorologists forecast that the region will receive below-normal rains during the first three months of this year.
Southern Africa has experienced a severe drought in recent years, aggravated by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
Cape Town in neighbouring South Africa faces the prospect of having to turn its taps off in early June and now restricts residents to 50 litres (13.2 US gallons) per day.
The water scarcity has forced South Africa to declare the drought a "national disaster".

Kochi: Residents of Tripunithura and nearby panchayats can heave a sigh of relief as they may get enough drinking water this summer unlike previous years.
The Irrigation department has started construction of the Rs.7.5 crore permanent check dam at Ramamangalam in the Muvattupuzha River which will ensure availability of enough water in the intake well of the Kerala Water Authority pump house, Choondi.
For the last several years, Tripunithura residents were reeling under acute water scarcity during summer days.
Hundreds of high-rise apartments and big commercial complexes in Tripunithura are solely dependent on the water from Choondi.
Though the construction of the check dam cannot be completed before this summer, the KWA will build a temporary bund which will serve the purpose.
From next year, KWA can save the annual expense of nearly Rs.8 lakhs required for constructing a temporary bund.
Every summer, water supply from Choondi pump is hit as the intake well does not have enough water.
"The proposal for check dam construction was mooted several years ago, but it remained on paper for long and the KWA had to spend a huge amount for construction of the temporary bund.
Though the check dam project has got administrative sanction more than a year ago, the works have been delayed," said John Joseph, member of Poothrikka panchayat.
Under the KWA Choondi sub division there are two schemes, the 46 MLD (million litres per day) plant, which caters to Tripunithura, Thiruvankulam, Vadavukod-Puthencruz, Chottanikkara and Udayamperoor and a small plant with a capacity of 7.5 MLD which caters to Aikaranadu, Poothrikka and Thiruvaniyoor panchayats.

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Severe drinking water shortage has hit Zafran Colony, Achnamal area of Pantha Chowk here as the locals alleged that the mechanical staff has locked up pump station in the area.
A delegation from Achanambal, Zafran Colony said since past three days, there is acute shortage of drinking water.
“Mechanical staff which have been assigned the job of operating pump station at Zafran Colony are not attending to their duties.
Though water scarcity remains throughout the week, but we receive water supply at least for two hours a day.
On Thursday and Fridays, our taps remain totally dry,” said Rashid Ahmed, another resident.
“Even after claims of supplying drinking water from the newly constructed filtration plant, at Sempora, which is barely two kilometres away from Zafran Colony, there seems no headway.” “Every day we are told water pipes are being repaired and controllers are being fixed on pipes at various points.
Despite passing of over six months, the Public Health Engineering department is not able to repair or install the pipes so that we get clean drinking water from the Sempora filtration Plant,” he said and appealed chief engineer PHE to immediately look into water crisis in Zafran Colony and Achanambal areas.
We will look into the issue.
at the earliest,” a PHE official said.

It provides water for 10 of Asia’s largest rivers and for 1.4 billion people downstream—almost 20 percent of the world’s population.
It hosts the Ruo’er’gai wetlands—the “kidneys of China”—which filter more than 30 percent of the water that flows into the Yellow River, the cradle of the most successful ancient Chinese civilizations.
It used to flow down from the hills, sourcing its water from multiple springs.
Actions in this Plateau will have significant impacts on the not only the Third Pole, but also the entire country and its neighbors.
The river that is now only a small trickling stream Melting Glaciers and Drying Grasslands The Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau has warmed at a rate of approximately two times the global average.
In addition to a warming climate, increasing populations of people, livestock, and rodents are threatening the region’s grasslands.
One Belt: New Roads and Struggling Rivers China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative, which will invest $1 trillion in infrastructure development across 60 countries, will not only fuel domestic economic growth but will spur growth in its neighbors.
The initiative’s plans for new dams, coal plants, roadways, railroads, and mines—all water-intense projects—do not take the already significant environmental and water stress in the region into account.
Given coal’s water demands, investing in coal contradicts many of China’s domestic policies on water use.
China’s “Three red lines” policy, which was created to protect water supplies, is part of a movement towards incorporating water into economic and social development.