That many areas of the city get contaminated water even for drinking, is old hat.

Inadequate fund allocation is hampering the ambitious Noyyal river system revival or restoration project and the meagre allocation of Rs. 30 lakh per annum is just proving to be insufficient even for carrying out emergency repairs to the channels and tanks.

Noyyal that originates in Western Ghats near Poondi and runs through Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode, to become a tributary for Cauvery, is the lifeline of these districts. It runs for 65 km in Coimbatore, 34 in Tirupur and 39 in Erode before joining river Cauvery in Kodumudi. The system was once catering to the irrigation needs of over 36,000 acres.

The 'water ATM' can process 1,000 litres in an hour

As dawn breaks, two queues start forming at the only petrol pump in Lakshmangarh, a small town in Rajasthan’s Alwar district. One, obviously, is of people waiting to get their vehicles’ fuel tanks refilled. The other is in front of a simple metal box mounted on the petrol pump’s boundary wall. People like to call it an ATM machine. But, instead of dispensing cash, it gives them clean drinking water.

Jaipur: With TOI repeatedly highlighting the continued discharge of effluents into the Bandi river, the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) on Sunday ordered closure of all textile units in Pali for the next two days.

“About 400 textile units have been told to remain shut for two days as there were reports of excess effluent generation and discharge by them into the Bandi river,” said O P Gupta, regional officer RSPCB, Pali. He said the Pali Water Pollution Control Research Foundation (PWPCRF) Trust will look at the effluents discharged from the industries and ensure that the norms are regulated. The PWPCRF is one of the very first co-operative pollution control bodies in the country and was initiated by the industry itself.

The recurrence of large-scale fish death in the Periyar river has left environmentalists and the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) officials a worried lot.

The situation assumes importance in the wake of the ongoing trawling ban when the demand for freshwater fish is at its peak. According to environmentalists, after May 3, there have been over 18 instances of large-scale fish death in the Periyar. “Fish death has become common in Eloor. Though the phenomenon is usually seen in summer and was expected to stop with the onset of monsoon, it has not.

The Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum (VCWF) has urged the State Minister for Environment to change the nomenclature of the Environment Policy as `Protection of Environment, Ecology, Biodiversity, Eco-systems, Prevention of Pollution and Enforcement of Statutory and Judicial Orders of Apex and Other Courts in India Policy’.

In a letter addressed to the Environment Minister, the honorary secretary of VCWF P.S. Subrahmanian said that the VCWF opposed the term ‘Environment Policy’ since it was very limited in its meaning, scope and definition. Therefore, the name of the policy should be changed as above.

Living in the resettlement colony of Sawda Ghevra with no amenities and poor hygienic conditions, over 25,000 people will finally have access to drinking water if the Delhi Jal Board's proposal to set up a decentralised water treatment plant takes shape.

To take water to the areas that are currently not supplied piped water like Sawda Ghevra, the DJB wants decentralised drinking water plants that can help meet the demands of these areas.

Work to construct rainwater harvesting structures in stormwater drain network to begin next month

Work on construction of rainwater harvesting structures in stormwater drains by the Chennai Corporation is expected to begin in May when the water table is the lowest in the city. The civic body had announced that over 5,000 rainwater harvesting structures would come up across the city.

To make monitoring of effluent discharge by dyeing units in Tirupur and Erode districts more effective, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) will have an online water quality monitoring system this year in the Noyyal river and Kalingarayan canal.

In the policy note tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, Environment Minister B.V. Ramanaa said the process of procurement of instruments for continuous online monitoring of water quality in Noyyal river and Kalingarayan canal will be completed by May 31.

A study conducted by Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), a Bangalore-based non-governmental organisation, in association with the Lake Protection Forum, an organisation of fishermen, over the first three months of this year on the Vembanad lake has shown that the level of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) has increased and the level of dissolved oxygen has decreased over these three months.