During the UN Climate Summit, an atlas of five of the ten major river basins in the Himalayas--Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, Mekong and Salween--was released. The atlas uses maps and infographics to demonstrate changes in the climatic conditions in the region now and in the future, along with noting severe consequences for populations. The main objective of the atlas is to simplify complex scientific information generated for decades and to provide policymakers a better understanding of the threats due to climate change.
According to a UN report, southern India might continue to experience higher than normal rainfall that could lead to more floods due to the effects of El Nino, which is expected to show its severe impacts in early 2016. Though there hasn't been any detailed scientific investigation into whether there is a direct link between El Nino and the Chennai floods, the UN Advisory believes that the weather pattern had a part to play in the sequence of extreme weather events in India.
As part of its water conservation agenda, the East Coast Railway has initiated using treated effluent water for non-potable purposes like cleaning toilets and coaches of trains. For this purpose, an effluent treatment plant had been installed at the coaching depot in Bhubaneswar a few days ago. The plant can treat 5 lakh litres of water every day and saves water, energy and money that was used for pumping the water to its tank.
In Narnaul, Haryana, the fluoride content in the water has been found to be 22 times higher than the permissible limit. The reasons for this are the depleting water table as well as the fluoride-rich soil of Mahendragarh district. In addition to officials kicking into action, a special awareness drive has been launched to discourage people from consuming groundwater.
Kerala's Idukki District Administration failed to warn the people about the release of water from the Mullaperiyar dam. The sudden release of water created confusion in the downstream villages of Vallakadavu, Vandiperiyar, Chappathu, Upputhara, and Ayyappancoil. However, the Idukki Collector asserted that the situation is not alarming in the district as the water released was of a small quantum.
This is a roundup of important news updates from December 8 - 14, 2015. Also read last week's policy matters update.