Water

NASA: The Earth is running out of water

June 18, 2015 by Nasheman

More than half of the world’s 37 largest aquifers are losing water due to population and climate stresses

Lake Hume stands at 4 percent during a drought in Victoria, Australia. (Photo: Tim J Keegan/cc/flickr)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

Bottom line: the Earth is running out of water.

Two new NASA studies led by researchers from the University of California Irvine and published Tuesday show that the depletion of global groundwater resources, due to the dueling impacts of global warming and growing human demand, has caused the world’s water supply to drop to dangerous levels.

The first report compares statistical analysis of water withdrawal to GRACE satellite analysis, which measures variations in gravity on the Earth’s surface, between January 2003 and December 2013. The study compares the difference between the use and availability of these resources to determine the amount of overall renewable groundwater stress, or RGS.

According to the findings, at 21 of the 37 largest aquifers, water is being drained at a greater rate than it is being naturally replenished, 13 of which fell into the most troubled category.

In the United States, the Central Valley aquifer in California—a region known as much for its heavy agriculture as for its ongoing record drought—falls into this group.

“The water table is dropping all over the world,” said Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who took part in the research. “There’s not an infinite supply of water.”

The second study examines total groundwater storage capacity and found that many estimates are outdated and may even be smaller than previously thought.

Whereas previous definitions of water stress do not account for groundwater as a water supply source, the researchers explain that groundwater is now “increasingly relied upon during times of drought as a resilient water supply source.” Further, they state, “Groundwater is currently the primary source of freshwater for approximately two billion people.”

The researchers warn that as water resources are strapped to meet future demands “due to population growth and climate change”—both of which, they note, may alter the distribution of available freshwater— “the global population without access to potable water will likely increase.”

“We need to get our heads together on how we manage groundwater,” Famiglietti added, “because we’re running out of it.”

Why is oil and gas activity causing earthquakes? And can we reduce the risk?

May 13, 2015 by Nasheman

Texas: leading the ‘Shale Revolution.’ Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

by Matthew Hornbach, The Conversation

If you’ve been following the news lately, chances are you’ve heard about – or even felt – earthquakes in the central United States. During the past five years, there has been an unprecedented increase in earthquakes in the North American mid-continent, a region previously considered one of the most stable on Earth.

According to a recent report by the Oklahoma Geological Survey, Oklahoma alone has seen seismicity rates increase 600 times compared to historic levels.

The state has gone from experiencing fewer than two magnitude-three earthquakes per year to greater than two per day, the report found. Similarly, my home state of Texas has experienced a near 10-fold increase in magnitude-three earthquakes or greater in the past five years.

The recent uptick in earthquakes in Texas, Oklahoma and several other central US states raises an obvious question: What is causing all of this seismicity?

Earthquake Causes

Brine water that comes up from oil and gas wells is pumped into deep injection wells (left). EPA

Several factors can promote the occurrence of earthquakes. There are natural changes caused by the shifting of Earth’s plates, the advance and retreat of glaciers, the addition or removal of surface water or ground water, and the injection or removal of fluids due to industrial activity.

Studies including two reports issued in April, indicate that human activities, including activities related to oil and gas extraction, are beginning to play a significant role in triggering earthquakes in the central US.

Extracting oil and gas from shale rock involves cracking, or fracturing, a layer of underground rock with a high-pressure mix of water, sand, and chemicals. As the oil and gas are released, those injection fluids and briny water also come up. That wastewater is later disposed of in what are called injection wells, or sometimes disposal wells.

It is important to note that it is not the fracking process itself that usually causes these earthquakes; it is the rapid injection of fluid during wastewater disposal that sometimes pumps hundreds of millions of gallons of brine deep into the earth each year.

Hundreds of studies

So do injection wells cause earthquakes?

A recent peer-reviewed scientific study I co-authored concludes human-activities, specifically water production and wastewater injection, represent the most likely cause of earthquakes in the Azle/Reno, Texas region, where significant gas production and wastewater injection began five years ago.

But this is not a fundamentally new discovery. For nearly a century, industry and academic researchers have recognized that human activities can and do sometimes trigger earthquakes.

Indeed, entire books – including many standard texts used in advanced petroleum geology, geomechanics, and petroleum engineering classes – are dedicated to understanding fault reactivation, rock mechanics, and the ways humans can facilitate these processes for the betterment of humanity.

Damage from a 2011 earthquake in Oklahoma. Brian Sherrod, US Geological Survey, CC BY

Additionally, multiple studies and reports, including hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies – and independent studies conducted by the National Research Council of the United States National Academy of Science and Engineering – confirm that the injection or removal of fluids can and indeed do trigger earthquakes.

What is unique and exciting about our Azle/Reno study is the unprecedented support and cooperation of the energy industry, which in many instances provided mission-critical data, technical support, and constructive scientific reviews to allow scientists to better assess, model, and understand earthquakes in the Azle/Reno area and across Texas.

In our instance, industry researchers went far beyond state regulatory requirements by providing insight into the location and orientation of regional faults, injection reservoir pressures, and subsurface flow.

The Azle/Reno study highlights how cooperation, transparency, and mutual respect between, industry, academia, and regulators can improve our understanding of seismicity, and help mitigate risk for all parties working, living, and conducting business in Texas.

Can this risk be mitigated?

Human-triggered earthquakes often involve the rapid removal or injection of large volumes of liquids from the surface, or subsurface.

As our study, and many studies – including those conducted by industry – suggest, the key to understanding and mitigating earthquake hazards in Texas and elsewhere is high-quality data, especially data that monitor and assess subsurface pressures, fluid injection volumes, fluid extraction volumes, and regional seismicity with time.

A recent US Geological Survey (USGS) report indicates the seismic hazard in some areas of Texas is now comparable to areas of Oklahoma and California due in part to wastewater injection.

That said, it is equally important to note that thousands of injection wells exist across Texas (and other states) that have no associated felt seismicity. Indeed, at this time, only a tiny minority of injection wells in Texas have been plausibly linked to earthquakes.

Over time, wells produce more water along with oil, creating more briny wastewater to dispose of. Public Herald/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Although the rate of seismicity in Texas has clearly accelerated in the past five years, it is still very low across much of the state. This is also generally true for Arkansas, Ohio, Colorado, and Kansas, where links have been suggested between disposal wells and earthquakes.

In short, now is not a time to panic, but a time to take stock of the resources available to make well-informed science-based decisions that allow states to understand, prepare, and mitigate risk associated with earthquake hazards.

Indeed, scientists are actively researching how to better understand and ultimately reduce human-triggered earthquakes.

There have been studies to develop a general hazard model for injection wells as well as specific strategies on how to reduce risk during and prior to the injection process. These strategies generally include the early detection and location of potentially weak faults, choosing appropriate injection reservoirs that minimize the risk of increasing underground pressure, and adjusting wastewater injection practices to reduce or minimize seismicity.

Scientists can also collect more detailed brine production and injection data, underground pressure data, and regional seismic data to better predict how subsurface pressures and associated seismicity might evolve with time. These techniques are already being implementing at known induced seismicity sites with success.

History dictates that the advent of new technology often leads to new and unforeseen challenges. The printing press, the automobile, and splitting the atom have provided incalculable benefits to humanity but also incredible responsibility.

What is recognized as the Texas-led “Shale Revolution,” arguably one of the most significant innovations of the modern era, is no different.

Our society is blessed with some of the finest scientists and engineers in all of industry and academia. Working together, with support from regulatory agencies, we believe the same scientific prowess, ingenuity, and entrepreneurial spirit that advanced the hydrocarbon industry in the US this past decade can also help address the new challenges and responsibilities emerging.

Matthew Hornbach is the Associate Professor of Geophysics at Southern Methodist University.

Filthy foam from lake raises health concern

April 30, 2015 by Nasheman

Bengaluru: Varthur lake, considered one of the biggest water bodies in the city, has been filled with a pile of froth after recent rains mixed with untreated sewage were let out into it, raising health concerns among people living nearby.

Such was the effect of this piled up froth that it spilled over to a road adjacent to the lake, causing hindrance to traffic movement on the busy road even as an unbearable stench hung in the air.

Stating that the accumulation of froth is common in this lake, locals said this was the first time they were seeing it in such huge quantity and blamed authorities for letting in untreated sewage water.

“….froth has come on the road, it is troubling the localites….please save the lake as well as the citizens staying in the nearby area,” a local resident said.

Another localite said “where are all the government officials? Where are all the local bodies which are supposed to regulate, restrict and sanitise the flow of untreated water from the residential area, apartments…”

Officials stated that formation of froth was due to detergent content in the untreated sewage water let into the lake and said Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board’s proposed treatment plant near the lake would solve the issue.

Karnataka State Pollution Control Board Chairman Vaman Acharya said there are no industries in the area and whatever was flowing into the lake was sewage from households.

Varthur lake, the second largest in Bengaluru, is at the tail end of a chain of lakes and sewage from different localities flows into it in large quantities.

A few locals even blamed rampant encroachment along the boundaries of the lake as one of the important reason for the lake being polluted.

M A Khan Head of K K High School nearby said “We have been monitoring the lake water quality for the past 14 years. Over a period of time we have seen that the quality of water is depleting in the sense the content of salt and phosphate nutrients has increased.”

“If you see the PPM (Permissible Particulate Matter) per milliliter is 2500 here in this lake and simultaneously we have seen that the oxygen demand of the lake has gone to zero at many places. Also biological oxygen demand has also gone, simultaneously the the dissolved oxygen level has also gone down. The lake has also become a eutrophic lake.”

Another woman resident in the area said the stench was just “unbearable.” “Foul smell is emanating from the froth.”

(Agencies)

AAP govt hikes Delhi water tariff 10%, Congress, BJP furious

March 21, 2015 by Nasheman

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s decision to hike water tariff by 10 per cent in Delhi came under attack from both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress who accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led party of going back on its electoral promises.

While BJP state president Satish Upadhyay tersely observed that “conditions” to AAP’s promises are being revealed now, Congress chief Ajay Maken said the move would put “additional burden” on common people.

Upadhyay further termed the decision as a “stab on people’s back”.

“It is shocking that in today’s important meeting of Delhi Jal Board no proposal has come for laying new water supply line in any area of Delhi but instead the Board has come up with a proposal to buy 250 new tankers,” he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who Friday chaired the 121th Board Meeting of Delhi Jal Board, gave his nod to increase the water tariff with an immediate effect. However, people consuming water up to 20,000 litres will not be affected due to the DJB’s decision.

Maken said the government had “betrayed” the trust and confidence of the people of Delhi, who had believed in the “false promises” made by the AAP before the Delhi Assembly elections, “only to regret now”.

(PTI)

Brazil—from the droughts of the Northeast to São Paulo’s thirst

March 11, 2015 by Nasheman

A puddle is all that is left in one of the reservoirs of the Cantareira System, which normally supplies nearly half of the São Paulo metropolitan region. (Photo Courtesy of Ninja/ContaDagua.org)

by Mario Osava, Inter Press Service

Six million people in Brazil’s biggest city, São Paulo, may at some point find themselves without water. The February rains did not ward off the risk and could even aggravate it by postponing rationing measures which hydrologists have been demanding for the last six months.

The threat is especially frightening for millions of people who have flocked here from Brazil’s poorest region, the semi-arid Northeast, many of whom fled the droughts that are so frequent there.

The Nordestinos did not imagine that they would face a scarcity of water in this land of abundance, where most of them have prospered. The most famous of them, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, became a trade union leader and eventually president of the country from 2003 to 2011.

“Our water tank holds 4,500 litres, which lasts us two days,” Luciano de Almeida, the owner of the restaurant Nación Nordestina, which serves 8,000 customers a month, told Tierramérica. “I’m looking for a place to put another tank so I’ll have 10,000 litres, negotiating with neighbours, since my roof might not support the weight.”

Many people in this city of 22 million people share his concern about storing more water, especially in the Zona Norte or northern zone of Greater São Paulo, which will be the first area affected by rationing if the state government decides to take measures aimed at guaranteeing water supplies year-round.

The Zona Norte is supplied by the Cantareira system of interconnecting reservoirs which, on the verge of collapse, is still providing water for six million people. It supplied nine million people up to mid-2014, when one-third of the demand was transferred to the other eight systems that provide water in the city.

It is precisely the Zona Norte that is home to many of the Nordestino migrants and their descendants, as reflected by the numerous restaurants that offer typical food from the Northeast, such as carne-de-sol (heavily salted beef cured in the sun), cassava flour and different kinds of beans.

Almeida, 40, was born in São Paulo. But his father came from the Northeast, the first of 14 siblings to leave the northeastern state of Pernambuco in search of a better life in the big city. He came in 1960, two years after one of the worst droughts ever to hit the region.

He found a job in a steel mill, where “he earned so much money that a year later he went back home for vacation.” His brothers and sisters started to follow in his footsteps, said Almeida, who discovered his vocation when he spent eight years working in the restaurant of one of his uncles, before opening his own.

“Life in the Northeast has gotten easier. With the government’s social benefits, people aren’t suffering the same deprivations as before, even during the current drought, one of the worst in history,” said Almeida, who frequently visits his father’s homeland, where his wife, with whom he has a seven-year-old daughter, also hails from.

And the rural population, the hardest-hit by drought, has learned to live with the semi-arid climate in the Northeast, collecting rainwater in tanks, for drinking, household use and irrigation of their small-scale crops. This social technology has now been adapted by the Movimento Cisterna Já, a São Paulo organisation, to help people weather the water crisis here.

One of my 20 employees decided to go back to the Northeast; he plans to use his savings to buy a truck and sell water there,” said Almeida. This reverse migration is driven by the improved living conditions in that region, Brazil’s most impoverished and driest area.

Paulo Santos, the 38-year-old manager of the restaurant Feijão de Corda in the Zona Norte, also plans to return to his home city, Vitoria da Conquista in the northeast state of Bahía, which he left 20 years ago “to try my hand at better work than farming.”

“I’m tired, life in São Paulo is too stressful. The drought makes things worse, but there will be a solution to that one way or another. Vitoria da Conquista has grown a lot, now it has everything, and living standards there are better,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Alliance for Water, a network of 46 social and environmental organisations from the state of São Paulo, is lobbying the state government and mobilising society with the aim of “building water security” in the city.

The February rains, which were heavier than average, helped the Cantareira system’s reservoirs recover some of their capacity. But the situation is still “extremely serious,” Marussia Whately, the head of the Alliance, told Tierramérica.

“This requires an all-out effort, especially to relieve the suffering of the poor outlying neighbourhoods, which do not have water tanks and can’t store up water for the hours or days without supply,” said Delcio Rodrigues, an activist with the group and the vice president of the Vitae Civilis Institute, which focuses on climate change.

But, he complained, the state government and its water company, Sabesp, prefer “to generate confusion” by reporting that on Feb. 23 the water level in the Cantareira system reached 10.5 percent, double the late January level – while failing to clarify that they were referring to the “dead” or inactive storage water in the Cantareira system below the intake point, the water that cannot be drained from a reservoir by gravity and can only be pumped out.

The company has been using this storage water since July 2014.

Using the intake point as the reference, the level is minus 18.5 percent – far below the 12.3 percent of April 2014.

The water crisis is the result of two years of drought in southeast Brazil. Exceptional rainfall would be needed in the rest of March in order to store up water for the six-month dry season. But because that is unlikely, experts in hydrology are calling for immediate rationing to avoid a total collapse.

Sabesp has imposed undeclared rationing by reducing the water pressure in the pipes, which leads to an interruption in supply in many areas during certain parts of the day. The company also fines those who increase consumption and offers discounts to those who reduce it.

But the Alliance for Water is calling for emergency measures such as public campaigns, transparent crisis management and heavy fines against waste. It also proposes 10 medium-term actions, such as more participative management, reduction of water loss, reforestation of drainage basins, and improved sewage treatment.

In its attempt to avoid the political costs of rationing, the state government decided to use water from the Billings reservoir to meet demand. According to Rodrigues, this is “appalling” because that water is heavily polluted, with mercury, for example, which poses a serious health risk.

But because of the crisis, reforestation has been stepped up in the water basins. That is necessary for the Cantareira system, where only 20 percent of the original vegetation still survives, Whately said. Forests improve water production and retention and curb erosion, but it is a long-term solution, and cannot resolve the current emergency, she added.

This article was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network.

Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

Aam Aadmi Party government orders cut in power tariff, ban on demolitions

February 17, 2015 by Nasheman

New Delhi: On the first working day of his government, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet ordered steps to be taken towards the party’s poll promise of cheaper electricity and water and ordered a status quo on proposed demolitions of slums or residential premises.

Following the first cabinet meeting, the Delhi government directed the departments of finance and power to “immediately send their proposals for implementation of the election promises to slash electricity tariffs by 50 per cent till the audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of the private power companies (discoms) is completed, and also on the provision of lifeline water (up to 20,000 litres for every household per month)”.

In another decision, directions were issued to various government agencies to not carry out any demolitions of residential premises and slums. The government stated that it was taking a “holistic view” on the existing policy of carrying out demolitions of residential premises and jhuggis and that no agency must carry out any demolition until the policy review is completed.

The directions were issued to agencies including the New Delhi Municipal Council, East, South and North municipal corporations, Delhi Jal Board, environment and forests department and the revenue department. “In case any demolition has already been planned or are in the pipeline, the agency concerned shall seek prior approval of the urban development minister,” the government directed. The urban development portfolio has been assigned to deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

The government, however, clarified that its order shall not apply to action taken in pursuance to a court order.

The Delhi government also announced that the cabinet had decided to recommend the first session of the newly elected Delhi Assembly on February 23 and 24 for the swearing-in of MLAs and election of the speaker and his deputy.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s home minister, Jitender Singh Tomar, said he would soon begin work with the Home Guard to ensure the AAP promise of setting up the Mahila Suraksha Dal — a women’s security force made up of a 10,000 home guards who currently work as help at the residence of senior officers and ministers.

AAP will also deploy 5,000 bus marshals to prevent and deter crime on public transport. A senior official said that posting of home guards on buses is likely to be discussed in the subsequent meetings with the minister.

Delhi has a total of 5,500 home guards and approximately 2,500 are on extension beyond five years. Home Guards chief J K Sharma said the department will need to recruit home personnel if they need to be deployed for women’s security. “In February next year around 25,00 home guards will be due for retirement,” he said.

(Agencies)

Humans have brought world's oceans to brink of 'major extinction event'

January 17, 2015 by Nasheman

But ‘proactive intervention’ could still avert marine disaster, researchers find

“Although defaunation has been less severe in the oceans than on land, our effects on marine animals are increasing in pace and impact,” the researchers write. (Photo: Phil’s 1stPix/flickr/cc)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Marine wildlife at all levels of the food chain has been badly damaged by human activity, says a new report that urges immediate and “meaningful rehabilitation” if we are to avert mass extinction in the world’s oceans.

“We may be sitting on a precipice of a major extinction event,” Douglas J. McCauley, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara and an author of the study, told the New York Times.

The report, published Thursday in the journal Science, finds that habitat loss, mismanagement of oceanic resources, climate change, and the overall “footprint of human ocean use” have resulted in a phenomenon known as “defaunation”—a decline in animal species diversity and abundance.

“Although defaunation has been less severe in the oceans than on land, our effects on marine animals are increasing in pace and impact,” reads the study abstract. “Humans have caused few complete extinctions in the sea, but we are responsible for many ecological, commercial, and local extinctions. Despite our late start, humans have already powerfully changed virtually all major marine ecosystems.”

“Humans have profoundly decreased the abundance of both large (e.g., whales) and small (e.g., anchovies) marine fauna,” it continues. “Such declines can generate waves of ecological change that travel both up and down marine food webs and can alter ocean ecosystem functioning.”

Just as the Industrial Revolution during the 1800s decimated the huge tracts of forests, driving many terrestrial species to extinction, industrial use of the oceans threatens to destroy marine habitats and in turn damage the health of marine wildlife populations.

Report co-author Steve Palumbi of Stanford University listed several emerging threats to the oceans: “There are factory farms in the sea and cattle-ranch-style feed lots for tuna. Shrimp farms are eating up mangroves with an appetite akin to that of terrestrial farming, which consumed native prairies and forest. Stakes for seafloor mining claims are being pursued with gold-rush-like fervor, and 300-ton ocean mining machines and 750-foot fishing boats are now rolling off the assembly line to do this work.”

Timeline (log scale) of marine and terrestrial defaunation. If left unmanaged, the authors predict that marine habitat alteration, along with climate change (colored bar: IPCC warming), will exacerbate marine defaunation. (Credit: Science)

“Human activities are negatively impacting the ocean at an ever increasing and unsustainable rate, and we must freeze the footprints of industrial activities and commercial fishing,” Oceana marine scientist Amanda Keledjian told Common Dreams. “Oceana applauds these researchers for their work, because assessing the oceans from a holistic perspective is the only way to understand the scope at which we must act to reverse collapsing fisheries and continued habitat degradation.”

According to the Times:

Scientific assessments of the oceans’ health are dogged by uncertainty: It’s much harder for researchers to judge the well-being of a species living underwater, over thousands of miles, than to track the health of a species on land. And changes that scientists observe in particular ocean ecosystems may not reflect trends across the planet.

Dr. [Malin L.] Pinsky, Dr. McCauley and their colleagues sought a clearer picture of the oceans’ health by pulling together data from an enormous range of sources, from discoveries in the fossil record to statistics on modern container shipping, fish catches and seabed mining. While many of the findings already existed, they had never been juxtaposed in such a way.

A number of experts said the result was a remarkable synthesis, along with a nuanced and encouraging prognosis.

“I see this as a call for action to close the gap between conservation on land and in the sea,” said Loren McClenachan of Colby College, who was not involved in the study.

The report authors say the effects of human activity in the ocean are still reversible: “Proactive intervention can avert a marine defaunation disaster of the magnitude observed on land.”

Oceana’s Keledjian echoed that appeal. “This study reminds us that it is critical to do everything we can to protect vulnerable species and the ocean ecosystems on which they depend,” she said. “While much remains unknown about the state of the oceans, we cannot wait to act until we know with 100 percent certainty that extinctions and devastation are upon us, because that will already be far too late.”

River inter-linking to continue despite opposition, says Venkaiah Naidu

January 14, 2015 by Nasheman

New Delhi: Notwithstanding concerns raised by environmentalists, the Union government on Tuesday said it will take up inter-linking of rivers on a priority basis “come what may” and that any “obstacles” which may come in the way would be addressed or removed.

“Some of our environmentalist friends are raising voices. There will be voices in democracy, let there be. But, they have answers also … We have to take up river linking on a priority basis come what may,” Union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said at a function to mark ‘India Water Week’ here.

“Whatever obstacles come, that has be addressed and they have to be removed,” he added.

Environmentalists have raised concerns over inter-linking of rivers, claiming that it would threaten the ac-aquatic life and has no hydrological and ecological soundness.

Mr. Naidu said developed countries are “giving us lessons and sermons” and added, “We have to first develop, then we can give lessons to others.”

'Tare Ganga Par'

January 8, 2015 by Nasheman

Dr. Tare is the head of the IIT consortium charged with developing a plan for the Ganga River Basin.

by Chicu Lokgariwar, India Water Portal

The Government of India has commissioned a consortium of IITs to clean up the Ganga. How are they going about it? A consortium of the seven Indian Institutes of Technology has been formed and charged with the preparation of a basin-wide management plan to restore the Ganga. What have they proposed for the river?

In an interview with Chicu Lokgariwar first published by India Water Portal, Dr. Tare explained the IIT consortium’s vision for the Ganga and the steps that they are taking to achieve it.

What is the vision of Ganga that you think will be achieved by the implementation of this plan?

Vision is obviously that we want aviral (uninterrupted flow) and nirmal (unpolluted flow) Ganga. It has to be considered as an ecological entity and it has to be realised that it is a geological entity as well. These are the four basic principles that we are based on.

I am interested in understanding what the efforts are (towards restoring the Ganga) and how each effort interlinks with the other. What is the approach you have taken?

See, we have essentially almost looked at all kinds of factors and stakeholders. But our approach was very non-traditional, in terms of actually consulting them or involving them.

So we may not have formally involved anybody. Where it was necessary, there we have. We have had several round table discussions with industries. We also organised formal meetings.

As part of our project, at the highest level we had the project management board. The constitution of this board was that all the directors of the seven IITs were there. And then we had three expert members in that. Then there were representatives of three ministries of the Joint Secretary level from MOEF, Water resources and human resources. We had created various thematic groups.

So common people may not have realised that we have consulted them. But we tried to capture their aspirations. Everyone gives suggestions to the Prime Minister through his website, his email. He forwards all those to me. And when I go through it, by and large we feel that ‘yes, we have considered everyone.’

What are the steps you recommend be taken to achieve ‘nirmal dhara’ ?

Just as you consider other things to be an industry, also consider sewage treatment as an industry. Measure the discharge of each drain that outfalls into the river or tributary, and tender for the treatment of that sewage. Get it measured by those who will be treating the sewage. Then you say, ‘this is the raw material I can give you. And from that sewage, you produce water and give it to me. I will buy that treated water for the next 15 years. Now what I do with that, whether I reuse is, is up to me.’

So my worry is not to build STP. Let that investment come from the private sector. I will only purchase the water. In this, the government does not need to invest, private parties will come forward for that. The local body will also get money from the reuse of this treated water. The STP operator will also get revenue.

Industries should recycle their water completely. But suppose a 100 units of effluent is produced, only 70-80 units of recycled water can be reused. The remaining balance should be made up by treated sewage. It is difficult to implement this by regulation and policing. For that, you need to do pricing. We need to decide to price fresh water at 1.5 to 2 times that of treated water. After this is done, you don’t have to apply any ceiling to the industry, or worry about a license, because all their water is getting recycled.

Some other things we are insisting upon are those that even if it is very small in quantity has a very high importance. Like religious pollution, whether it is flowers or puja material. We are saying that our religion also does not say that we should throw it here. We have tried to convince the spiritual leaders that it is your responsibility to tell society that this is a sin.

What about ‘aviral dhara’?

For aviral dhara we have categorically said that river’s continuity, longitudinal connectivity and environmental flows needs to be seen. So no structure should come up on the river or its tributaries which violates this. There is no question of giving environmental clearance to such projects. Don’t even ask MOEF to clear this. If at all this has to be done, it has to be a political decision at the highest level, in the larger national interest.

As for the existing dams, it is like this. You have already spoiled the river in an irreversible way by constructing Tehri Dam, by constructing Koteshwar, This is an irreversible damage that you have done. How can the Ganga be Aviral with Tehri there? So we are looking at all possible options. Business as usual to the very extreme step of dismantling Tehri. I can even think of a technical solution; I can provide a river pass through the reservoir. Like by using a tunnel, we take a road or a railway below the sea. So complete connectivity is maintained upstream and downstream of the reservoir.

Ganga Basin is the poorest in terms of productivity per unit of water. The landholdings are very small. Our agricultural GDP is only 7 to 8%. And 50% workforce is working in this.

So one challenge is how can we increase the productivity per unit of water. That small farmers cannot do. Then there are two things. Either we say, ‘okay, these are small farmers. Let them be there’.

But then I create a system wherein he is supported in terms of technology or whatever. Call it a cooperative society or contract farming, whatever you want to call it. Second model is, you buy the land from them all. And give it to some big entity, he will manage the whole thing.

What are the challenges you face in realising your vision of the Ganga?

The most important challenge is, we have many actors. All actors say that Ganga is very important. Everyone wants to be connected with the Ganga. But everybody is sitting in different directions, and they see from their perspective. The main challenge is how to bring all the players to one side.

We have defined all actors – state government and central government. Within the government, politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats all have a different residence time. This is what we need to align. We have looked at why things have failed. Our assessment is that all the actors have different ‘residence times’. For example, the secretary has a post duration of not more than three years. So he is not interested in anything that spins for greater than three years. This is the same for politicians.

For that we have said that we need to move from NGRBA, we need a separate entity which is above all the ministries. We have proposed a commission- The national river Ganga basin management commission. We have proposed an Act, the national river ganga basin management Bill. The commission will be created through this bill. Then the commission will not be controlled by the government. The main purpose of the commission is to be a custodian of the Ganga basin.

We have done whatever work we have done based on whatever information was available. But we still believe that much of it is not scientific. Because we just don’t have that micro-level data.

There has to be a systematic drive. We should move away from a centralised government-controlled data collection to decentralised community-based data collection. Involve the community.

And what are the opportunities you see?

See the opportunity is that if you actually maintain Ganga and Ganga basin, our economic growth rate will actually go up. And that’s the sustainability issue. What Modi is saying that if you really implement the spirit of zero effect and zero defect..isn’t it? So I think we have the biggest opportunity. We have talent, we have manpower, and we have good climatic conditions. Such climatic conditions are not to be found anywhere else for work like this.

Even if we are poor, in some things our standards should be better than other countries. Our spiritual and cultural standards are much higher than any other country, right? So with river-related, water-related, our standards have to be much higher because we are very susceptible.

Dr. Tare is the head of the IIT consortium charged with developing a plan for the Ganga River Basin.

Is it possible to extinguish the Sun with water?

December 13, 2014 by Nasheman

From Quora, an answer to the question “If we pour water on the sun with a bucket as big as the sun, will the sun be extinguished?”

The probable answer is “no.” The Sun involves a special type of fire that is able to “burn” water, and so it will just get hotter, and six times brighter.

Water is 89% oxygen BY MASS. And the Sun’s overall density is 1.4 times that of water. So if you have a volume of water the VOLUME of the Sun, it will have 1/1.4 = 0.71 times the mass of the Sun, and this mass will be .71*.89 = 63% of a solar mass of oxygen and 8% of a solar mass of hydrogen. The Sun itself is 0.74 solar masses of hydrogen and 0.24 solar masses of helium.

So you end up with a 1.7 solar mass star with composition 48% hydrogen, 37% oxygen, and 14% helium (with 1% heavier elements).

Now, will such a star burn? Yes, but not with the type of proton-proton fusion the Sun uses. A star 1.7 times the mass of the Sun will heat up and burn almost entirely by the CNO fusion cycle, after making some carbon and nitrogen to go along with all the oxygen you’ve started with. So with CNO fusion and that mass you get a type F0 star with about 1.3 times the radius and 6 times the luminosity of the present Sun, and a temperature somewhat hotter than the Sun (7200 K vs. the Sun’s 5800 K). It will be bluish-white, with more UV. That, along with that 6 times heat input, will cause the Earth’s biosphere to be fried, and oceans to probably boil.

Well, we probably shouldn’t do that then. (via gizmodo)