Post Fani, Bhubaneswar Continues To Fight For Electricity & Water

Photograph: The Quint/ Basudev Mahapatra

With thousands of trees uprooted, property damaged, Cyclone Fani has left a trail of destruction in its wake. Life after Fani continues to remain nightmarish for the people of Odisha’s capital city Bhubaneswar, with basic amenities like clean water, electricity and mobile connectivity still not available. A week since the cyclone, residents of Bhubaneswar's Nayapali area are barely managing without these basics.

As summer arrives, Urban Odisha gets scared about water

With a projected population nearing 9.40 lakhs, as per India Population 2019, Bhubaneswar has the reputation of being the hottest city of the country. With the monsoon trend delaying by almost one month, the worry for the urban dwellers of the state is the possible water scarcity they have to face soon as they have been facing for many years

Mahanadi needs rejuvenation plans to remain a live river system

Mahanadi River at Mundali barrage near Cuttack city, Odisha

Photograph: Basudev Mahapatra

At the centre of the dispute, since 2016, between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing of water, River Mahandi is getting overstressed and its basin ecosystem degrading day by day

Mahanadi is the sixth largest river of India. It originates from a pool, 6 KM from Farsiya village of Dhamtari district, in the State of Chhattisgarh, and flows about 851 KM east through Odisha to reach the Bay of Bengal near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.

Community interventions reverse desertification trend in Odisha’s Balangir

Byasadev Bhoi, 58, of Pandel village of Odisha’s in Balangir district was very excited while showing the pond the villagers have dug. The pond has changed their lives by ensuring water to irrigate about 150 acres of agricultural land even during dry seasons between the months of January and May. Byasadev is happy that the young members of his family don’t need to migrate to other states in search of jobs anymore as they are now able to grow more than two crops in their fields.

Balangir district being chronically drought-prone, this was not the life villagers of Pandel lived before. 

Chronic Kidney Disease Plagues Rural Odisha, but Why?

At 47, G Dharma Rao of Badaputi village in Chhatrapur block of Odisha’s Ganjam district suddenly finds himself becoming a burden on his family. He was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) two years ago. Dharma is now unable to do any work and is undergoing dialysis in a Bhubaneswar hospital twice a week.

“We have already spent over 5 lakh rupees for his treatment by taking hand loans from relatives and others at an interest of 2 percent/month,” said G Aimma (42), Dharma’s wife.

Conserving rainwater in subsurface soil to fight water scarcity

Indigenous communities in India's Rayagada district mitigate the challenges of water scarcity by storing rainwater in subsurface soil. A cheap and concrete solution to a global problem.  

With a population of over 1.2 billion people, India’s per capita water availability has decreased substantially over the years. From 5,200 cubic metres (m³) in 1951 to 1,588 m³ in 2010 according to the Water Resources Information System (WRIS). This may shrink further to 1,401 m³ and 1,191 m³ by 2025 and 2050 respectively. To note is that the average volume isn’t available everywhere because of temporal and spatial variations in rainfall.