NEW DELHI: Despite strict regulations in place, declining groundwater levels in the city's south and southwest districts has prompted the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to take up the matter with Delhi chief secretary P K Tripathi who in turn has notified Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the nodal agency for monitoring and regulating the city's ground water resources.
In a letter, CGWA chairman Dr SC Dhiman, has said that levels of groundwater have fallen the maximum in south and southwest Delhi, the first two areas to have been notified for ground water extraction and where officials have allegedly been keeping a strict watch on illegal extractions.
He has said that in 2010-11 only about 350 permissions were granted for borewells by the district advisory committee despite which groundwater levels continued to dip.
This, Dhiman alleged, was because the committee was concentrating on clearing projects instead of regulating the illegal extraction of water.
"DJB has always been under tremendous pressure from MLAs to clear borewell projects for their respective constituencies. Despite that officials have been taking utmost care in granting clearance to only extremely urgent projects. Once it came to our notice that levels have been falling despite all measures, we have written to all MLAs, asking them to nominate only very special and necessary projects," said sources in DJB.
The water utility has also formulated rules for borewell digging that will maximize the lives of the projects and ensure longer ground water supply to areas.
These include ensuring a minimum distance of 200-250m between each tubewell to avoid a clash of zone influence, ensuring that old tubewells, for which reboring is being done, are sealed completely to avoid misuse, running borewells for a restricted time period of four hours each in the morning and evening, restricting capacity of submersible pumps to 5 HP and sending monthly reports to DC (revenue) south after completing work.
Sources said that regulation and monitoring of ground water resources is supposed to have been a joint effort between DJB, the revenue department and police and it was the latter two agencies which were responsible for ensuring that rules were being complied with.
"Monitoring of borewells and ensuring that illegal extraction does not take place is the responsibility of the DC of each area.
"However, they claim they do not have sufficient manpower to monitor each area closely. Reports have also been received of
collusion between government officials and property owners to facilitate illegal boring.
"In some cases people had taken permission to set up a rainwater harvesting structure but instead used it to extract water illegally. Concerned agencies should not spare defaulters," said a government official.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Water allocation is no matter for judicial scrutiny: Supreme Court (The Hindu 26 July 2011)
Government best judge to decide supply for various regions
How much water is to be allocated by a State for a particular region is not a matter of judicial review, the Supreme Court said on Monday.
Dismissing a plea for a direction for allocation of adequate water in Kachchh district in Gujarat, a Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and C.K. Prasad said: “The prayer is not one which can be a matter of judicial review. It is for the executive authorities to look into this matter. There must be judicial restraint in such matters.”
Petition dismissed
The Kachchh Jal Sankat Nivaran Samiti was aggrieved over the Gujarat High Court dismissing a petition for directions for release of water from the Sardar Sarovar Dam by the State government to the district, said to be drought prone. The High Court held that there were no judicially manageable standards for adjudication of allocation of water in favour of any region within the State. “The government is the best judge to decide how much water should be released from the Narmada Canal to Kuchchh and how much water is to be left for other regions,” it said.
Judicial scrutiny
The Bench pointed out that all these decisions required delicate balancing and consideration of complex social and economical issues which could not be brought under judicial scrutiny. In fact, “the State government has accepted the decision of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal which cannot be said to be arbitrary.”
Modes of conveyances
In the appeal, the interlocutory application sought interim directions including a plea to appoint a committee of experts to go into the various modes of conveyance of Narmada waters through the Kachchh Branch Canal to the Kachchh region with reference to a cost-benefit ratio and other relevant aspects, and direct the panel to submit a report to the Supreme Court.
Rejecting the petition, the Bench said, “We are not inclined to grant any of the prayers made in the interlocutory application.”
How much water is to be allocated by a State for a particular region is not a matter of judicial review, the Supreme Court said on Monday.
Dismissing a plea for a direction for allocation of adequate water in Kachchh district in Gujarat, a Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and C.K. Prasad said: “The prayer is not one which can be a matter of judicial review. It is for the executive authorities to look into this matter. There must be judicial restraint in such matters.”
Petition dismissed
The Kachchh Jal Sankat Nivaran Samiti was aggrieved over the Gujarat High Court dismissing a petition for directions for release of water from the Sardar Sarovar Dam by the State government to the district, said to be drought prone. The High Court held that there were no judicially manageable standards for adjudication of allocation of water in favour of any region within the State. “The government is the best judge to decide how much water should be released from the Narmada Canal to Kuchchh and how much water is to be left for other regions,” it said.
Judicial scrutiny
The Bench pointed out that all these decisions required delicate balancing and consideration of complex social and economical issues which could not be brought under judicial scrutiny. In fact, “the State government has accepted the decision of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal which cannot be said to be arbitrary.”
Modes of conveyances
In the appeal, the interlocutory application sought interim directions including a plea to appoint a committee of experts to go into the various modes of conveyance of Narmada waters through the Kachchh Branch Canal to the Kachchh region with reference to a cost-benefit ratio and other relevant aspects, and direct the panel to submit a report to the Supreme Court.
Rejecting the petition, the Bench said, “We are not inclined to grant any of the prayers made in the interlocutory application.”
Munak water only after two months (Times of India 26 July 2011)
NEW DELHI: The Munak canal controversy between Delhi and Haryana was resolved recently but the city will reap the benefits of an extra 80 million gallons of water per day only after a couple of months. Work on the Delhi side of the canal will be completed around October which is when two new water treatment plants will be commissioned. It is expected that a third 40 MGD plant at Dwarka will be ready by March.
Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials said that the 20 MGD Bawana WTP was ready and would be commissioned as soon as the new channel became functional. The 20 MGD Okhla WTP is also almost ready and is likely to be commissioned in October as well.
"These plants will mostly benefit the north and south/southwest areas of Delhi. Places like Narela and Sangam Vihar will benefit greatly from the extra water. The remaining 40 MGD will be diverted to the Dwarka plant but that will be ready only in the first quarter of 2012. This is meant exclusively for the Dwarka township while some water will be diverted to IGI Airport," said an official.
Explaining the scope of work that remained, senior DJB officials said that about 100m of the Munak canal, that falls within Delhi's jurisdiction, remained to be completed but that work would be finished within a month.
"Only very basic work is left which can be completed within a month. It will take a maximum of two months to commission the canal. The problem with the Dwarka WTP is that while the plant itself is ready, the crucial connecting line between the plant and the Munak canal needs to be completed. There are massive encroachments on a 2.5-3km stretch of that line in northwest Delhi. We are in touch with Delhi Development Authority on the matter and have been assured that the issue will be sorted out shortly. We have also written to the L-G," said an official.
DJB has already paid Rs 350 crore to Haryana for the construction of the canal but the state has asked for another Rs 150 crore. While Rs 50 crore will be paid immediately, the remaining amount will be vetted by the central water commission.
Delhi gets 305 MGD water at Munak of which 30% is lost enroute to Haiderpur due to leakages and theft. The Munak canal, a 102-km long new channel, will bring down the losses to 5% and result in savings of 80 MGD. While Delhi claimed the savings as its share, Haryana was bent upon reducing Delhi's supply so that the capital would continue getting the same amount of water it receives at present.
"Delhi's share from Bhakra Beas is 185 MGD and from Yamuna at Tajewala it is 165 MGD. About 13% of this is lost enroute to Munak. "We only asked Haryana to continue releasing the 305 MGD that it is releasing at present from Munak and nothing extra. Why would Delhi pay Rs 500 crore for a facility that it won't accrue any benefits from?" asked an official.
Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials said that the 20 MGD Bawana WTP was ready and would be commissioned as soon as the new channel became functional. The 20 MGD Okhla WTP is also almost ready and is likely to be commissioned in October as well.
"These plants will mostly benefit the north and south/southwest areas of Delhi. Places like Narela and Sangam Vihar will benefit greatly from the extra water. The remaining 40 MGD will be diverted to the Dwarka plant but that will be ready only in the first quarter of 2012. This is meant exclusively for the Dwarka township while some water will be diverted to IGI Airport," said an official.
Explaining the scope of work that remained, senior DJB officials said that about 100m of the Munak canal, that falls within Delhi's jurisdiction, remained to be completed but that work would be finished within a month.
"Only very basic work is left which can be completed within a month. It will take a maximum of two months to commission the canal. The problem with the Dwarka WTP is that while the plant itself is ready, the crucial connecting line between the plant and the Munak canal needs to be completed. There are massive encroachments on a 2.5-3km stretch of that line in northwest Delhi. We are in touch with Delhi Development Authority on the matter and have been assured that the issue will be sorted out shortly. We have also written to the L-G," said an official.
DJB has already paid Rs 350 crore to Haryana for the construction of the canal but the state has asked for another Rs 150 crore. While Rs 50 crore will be paid immediately, the remaining amount will be vetted by the central water commission.
Delhi gets 305 MGD water at Munak of which 30% is lost enroute to Haiderpur due to leakages and theft. The Munak canal, a 102-km long new channel, will bring down the losses to 5% and result in savings of 80 MGD. While Delhi claimed the savings as its share, Haryana was bent upon reducing Delhi's supply so that the capital would continue getting the same amount of water it receives at present.
"Delhi's share from Bhakra Beas is 185 MGD and from Yamuna at Tajewala it is 165 MGD. About 13% of this is lost enroute to Munak. "We only asked Haryana to continue releasing the 305 MGD that it is releasing at present from Munak and nothing extra. Why would Delhi pay Rs 500 crore for a facility that it won't accrue any benefits from?" asked an official.
Delhi gets water share after truce with Haryana (Times of India 20 July 2011)
NEW DELHI: The water-sharing dispute between Delhi and Haryana was resolved on Tuesday with Haryana agreeing to release an additional 610 cusecs of Yamuna water in Munak canal to cater to the needs of the capital.
While Haryana will give Delhi 610 cusecs water (610 cubic feet per second) or 17,273 litres per second at Munak canal, the city will provide Haryana Rs 50 crore as "upfront reimbursement" for the under-construction Munak channel. Haryana has demanded a total of Rs 150 crore as reimbursement. It will send the estimate of the remaining amount to Central Water Commission which will take a final call on the issue.
Both Delhi and Haryana agreed to the arrangement at a meeting of Group of Ministers held in the city. In January this year, the centre had stepped in to resolve the water-sharing dispute between Delhi and Haryana by forming a four-member Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by home minister P Chidambaram. Human resources development minister Kapil Sibal, law minister Salman Khurshid and water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal are part of the GoM.
The water that will be released by Haryana will be in addition to the 125 cusecs that Haryana is already providing to Delhi at Nangloi. The 610 cusecs of water was agreed upon by the two states as per a 1994 agreement.The carrier line channel will help Delhi save what is being lost due to leakages and seepage. It is expected to help in running the 20 million gallons daily (MGD) water treatment plants at Okhla and at Bawana and a 50 MGD water treatment plant at Dwarka.
The two chief ministers, Sheila Dikshit and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, attended the meetings as special invitees. The GoM looked into the water-sharing dispute arising out of the newly constructed carrier line channel between Munak in Haryana and Haiderpur in Delhi.
This channel made of concrete, is expected to save 80 million gallons of raw water everyday.
While Haryana will give Delhi 610 cusecs water (610 cubic feet per second) or 17,273 litres per second at Munak canal, the city will provide Haryana Rs 50 crore as "upfront reimbursement" for the under-construction Munak channel. Haryana has demanded a total of Rs 150 crore as reimbursement. It will send the estimate of the remaining amount to Central Water Commission which will take a final call on the issue.
Both Delhi and Haryana agreed to the arrangement at a meeting of Group of Ministers held in the city. In January this year, the centre had stepped in to resolve the water-sharing dispute between Delhi and Haryana by forming a four-member Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by home minister P Chidambaram. Human resources development minister Kapil Sibal, law minister Salman Khurshid and water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal are part of the GoM.
The water that will be released by Haryana will be in addition to the 125 cusecs that Haryana is already providing to Delhi at Nangloi. The 610 cusecs of water was agreed upon by the two states as per a 1994 agreement.The carrier line channel will help Delhi save what is being lost due to leakages and seepage. It is expected to help in running the 20 million gallons daily (MGD) water treatment plants at Okhla and at Bawana and a 50 MGD water treatment plant at Dwarka.
The two chief ministers, Sheila Dikshit and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, attended the meetings as special invitees. The GoM looked into the water-sharing dispute arising out of the newly constructed carrier line channel between Munak in Haryana and Haiderpur in Delhi.
This channel made of concrete, is expected to save 80 million gallons of raw water everyday.
Delhi wakes up to threat of water scarcity (Times of India 19 July 2011)
NEW DELHI: It's no secret that Delhi has no additional sources of water and in the next few years the city could be facing a major water crisis. While the government is fighting the Centre for Renuka Dam and Haryana for the Munak Canal, Delhiites have come together in a unique initiative to make the city self-sufficient by 2016.
The Blue Delhi programme will be joined by resident welfare associations, students, concerned citizens, NGOs and government bodies, including Delhi Jal Board, who will work through various task forces to educate, monitor and implement programmes on water conservation.
"The Blue Delhi plan is perhaps the most ambitious, trend-setting water plan ever. It will bring together powerful partners for a goal oriented task. It will also minimize additional resource requirements by using existing schemes and funding opportunities towards the objective. The plan will recognize that the city will have no additional water very soon and work towards making Delhi self sufficient in its water resources," said Jyoti Sharma, director, Forum of Organised Resource Conservation and Enhancement (FORCE).
Statistics compiled by FORCE say that Delhi's poor face a water-supply shortfall of between 40 and 100 per cent. DJB officials accept that there are huge variations in supply, primarily due to the population expanding at a rate that was never factored in plans. "We are working to make the supply system equitable but even then it is imperative for residents to understand that there is just so much water we have. Water is not a luxury and one must use it with utmost caution," said a senior DJB official.
Blue Delhi will see groups working towards conserving groundwater, implementing projects at the ground level, implementation of the groundwater bill, recycling and reuse of waste water for horticulture, promoting techniques for saving water at the household level and bringing about equality in distribution.
"We met for the first time on Monday and outlined a programme that can be followed. Over the next few months there might be some changes. However, the broad outline for the project is to make Delhi a zero rainfall outfall city and to ensure that all water bodies are filled with fresh, treated waste or flood water. We also plan to implement the use of treated waste water for horticulture, reduce the flow of contaminated water into the Yamuna and form an army of Jal Rakshaks who can implement the agenda at the ground level," said Sharma.
The Blue Delhi programme will be joined by resident welfare associations, students, concerned citizens, NGOs and government bodies, including Delhi Jal Board, who will work through various task forces to educate, monitor and implement programmes on water conservation.
"The Blue Delhi plan is perhaps the most ambitious, trend-setting water plan ever. It will bring together powerful partners for a goal oriented task. It will also minimize additional resource requirements by using existing schemes and funding opportunities towards the objective. The plan will recognize that the city will have no additional water very soon and work towards making Delhi self sufficient in its water resources," said Jyoti Sharma, director, Forum of Organised Resource Conservation and Enhancement (FORCE).
Statistics compiled by FORCE say that Delhi's poor face a water-supply shortfall of between 40 and 100 per cent. DJB officials accept that there are huge variations in supply, primarily due to the population expanding at a rate that was never factored in plans. "We are working to make the supply system equitable but even then it is imperative for residents to understand that there is just so much water we have. Water is not a luxury and one must use it with utmost caution," said a senior DJB official.
Blue Delhi will see groups working towards conserving groundwater, implementing projects at the ground level, implementation of the groundwater bill, recycling and reuse of waste water for horticulture, promoting techniques for saving water at the household level and bringing about equality in distribution.
"We met for the first time on Monday and outlined a programme that can be followed. Over the next few months there might be some changes. However, the broad outline for the project is to make Delhi a zero rainfall outfall city and to ensure that all water bodies are filled with fresh, treated waste or flood water. We also plan to implement the use of treated waste water for horticulture, reduce the flow of contaminated water into the Yamuna and form an army of Jal Rakshaks who can implement the agenda at the ground level," said Sharma.
Mountaineers see dramatic climate change in the Himalayan region (Hindu 17 July 2011)
Challenges include retreating glaciers, formation of huge glacial lakes, less snow, more rock
It was in 1985 that Apa Sherpa, who scaled Mount Everest for the 21st time in May 2011, came face to face with climate change. His entire village Thame was washed away in a massive glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) of the Dig Tsho (Tsho-lake), in the western section of the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Khumbu Himal, on August 4, 1985.
The veteran mountaineer, who dropped out of school at 12 to work as a porter for expeditions to support his family, told The Hindu that the lake burst at 2 a.m. and he had a narrow escape. Now his worry is another glacial lake in the Everest region, Imja, which is growing bigger. “Imja Khola is a threat to the entire region and I can't say if it is as safe as is made out to be. We have to do something before it bursts.” Imja, located in the Khumbu region close to the Everest base camp, did not exist in photographs taken in the 1950s, but now has rapidly expanded to 1.012 sq km.
Girimitra Sammelan
Apa Sherpa is in Mumbai for the 10th Girimitra Sammelan, an annual gathering of mountaineers including Mark Inglis, first double amputee to have climbed Everest.
Now 51, Apa Sherpa said his 21st climb to the world's highest mountain would be his last. The first 16 climbs were to support his family, and in the other expeditions he was a climber himself, he says. The education of his three children is paramount. “My family wants me to spend time with them.” He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and teaches climbing skills there though the mountains are like “buns,” he grins. However, his association with Mt. Everest would continue along with Dawa Steven Sherpa, who has been part of the Eco Everest Expedition since 2008 to clean up the mountain. They have recovered five dead bodies and 30,000 kg of waste. He is also planning a clean-up expedition along the entire Himalayan Range in Nepal. Climate change has been most visible to climbers like Apa Sherpa who have noticed big changes since 2008. “Now the snow has reduced and it has become very dangerous especially on the Hilary Step, before the Everest summit. When you wear crampons for the snow and suddenly encounter rock, it gets very slippery,” he says. The rocky patch is increasing over the years. However, his experience saw him through these unexpected challenges.
Since 2007 the ice pinnacles in the Everest area have reduced in height and at the advanced base camp, there has been flowing water in the climbing season, a clear indication that ice is melting. “You no longer have to melt ice to drink water,” says Dawa Steven Sherpa. He too noted that the Imja lake was growing bigger. It is upstream of the Everest Base Camp and above major village settlements. “Imja and its potential threat are in the forefront of everyone's mind since the devastation could be huge,” he fears.
Unpredictable weather is making climbing risky but that did not seem to stop 506 climbers, including 219 sherpas, getting to the top of Mt. Everest in 2011. “Rockfall is increasing and I have seen it break a leg. Ice avalanches are also dangerous.”
However, we are getting good at judging the mountain and we know it so well now which is why there are fewer deaths,” says Dawa Steven Sherpa.
Motup Chewang of Rimo Expeditions said major changes had swept the Karakoram Range as well in the last 20-30 years. The glaciers were retreating much faster and huge glacial lakes were forming there. Central east Bhutan also had a large glacial lake and it could be seen from satellites. Even near the Everest base camp some large cornices were disappearing. The Khumbu glacier had retreated by at least a couple of km.
In terms of weather too, patterns have changed, he says. Passes in the Himalaya in the Baspa Sangla area and in Nepal are riskier with snowfall and rockfalls. In Siachen, it took 30 minutes to get to the glacier in 1986 but in 2004 the snowline went up higher and now it was a distance of three to four km.
Many a broken trail
For climbers, the window or clear period for climbing is coming down, especially on Mt. Everest and even trails in many places are broken. However, satellite communication has advanced and it is possible to get hourly updates on weather, says Chewang.
Divyesh Muni, who has been climbing the mountain for over two decades, has noticed dramatic changes in terrain in the entire Himalayan region and the eastern Karakoram area since 2005. “In one of my expeditions in 2007 to Chong Kumdan, we had a tough time reaching the base camp. The glacier was deeply crevassed and the route had to be changed. It was a sorry state of affairs. In Saser La, a trade route famous for snow, there was none in 2007 making it a simple crossing.”
Uncertainty
There are few places mountaineer Harish Kapadia has not gone to and he has been observing changes in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions. “The last five years have been marked by receding glaciers and even walking is difficult. The uncertainty for climbers and trekkers is increasing in the Himalayan region.”
Mr. Kapadia was stranded in 2009 in Arunachal Pradesh near the Tibetan border in late October, said to be the best season for the area. Heavy snow covered the forest, there was no food for days and porters deserted the climbers as well. Finally they were evacuated by an Army helicopter.
It was in 1985 that Apa Sherpa, who scaled Mount Everest for the 21st time in May 2011, came face to face with climate change. His entire village Thame was washed away in a massive glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) of the Dig Tsho (Tsho-lake), in the western section of the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Khumbu Himal, on August 4, 1985.
The veteran mountaineer, who dropped out of school at 12 to work as a porter for expeditions to support his family, told The Hindu that the lake burst at 2 a.m. and he had a narrow escape. Now his worry is another glacial lake in the Everest region, Imja, which is growing bigger. “Imja Khola is a threat to the entire region and I can't say if it is as safe as is made out to be. We have to do something before it bursts.” Imja, located in the Khumbu region close to the Everest base camp, did not exist in photographs taken in the 1950s, but now has rapidly expanded to 1.012 sq km.
Girimitra Sammelan
Apa Sherpa is in Mumbai for the 10th Girimitra Sammelan, an annual gathering of mountaineers including Mark Inglis, first double amputee to have climbed Everest.
Now 51, Apa Sherpa said his 21st climb to the world's highest mountain would be his last. The first 16 climbs were to support his family, and in the other expeditions he was a climber himself, he says. The education of his three children is paramount. “My family wants me to spend time with them.” He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and teaches climbing skills there though the mountains are like “buns,” he grins. However, his association with Mt. Everest would continue along with Dawa Steven Sherpa, who has been part of the Eco Everest Expedition since 2008 to clean up the mountain. They have recovered five dead bodies and 30,000 kg of waste. He is also planning a clean-up expedition along the entire Himalayan Range in Nepal. Climate change has been most visible to climbers like Apa Sherpa who have noticed big changes since 2008. “Now the snow has reduced and it has become very dangerous especially on the Hilary Step, before the Everest summit. When you wear crampons for the snow and suddenly encounter rock, it gets very slippery,” he says. The rocky patch is increasing over the years. However, his experience saw him through these unexpected challenges.
Since 2007 the ice pinnacles in the Everest area have reduced in height and at the advanced base camp, there has been flowing water in the climbing season, a clear indication that ice is melting. “You no longer have to melt ice to drink water,” says Dawa Steven Sherpa. He too noted that the Imja lake was growing bigger. It is upstream of the Everest Base Camp and above major village settlements. “Imja and its potential threat are in the forefront of everyone's mind since the devastation could be huge,” he fears.
Unpredictable weather is making climbing risky but that did not seem to stop 506 climbers, including 219 sherpas, getting to the top of Mt. Everest in 2011. “Rockfall is increasing and I have seen it break a leg. Ice avalanches are also dangerous.”
However, we are getting good at judging the mountain and we know it so well now which is why there are fewer deaths,” says Dawa Steven Sherpa.
Motup Chewang of Rimo Expeditions said major changes had swept the Karakoram Range as well in the last 20-30 years. The glaciers were retreating much faster and huge glacial lakes were forming there. Central east Bhutan also had a large glacial lake and it could be seen from satellites. Even near the Everest base camp some large cornices were disappearing. The Khumbu glacier had retreated by at least a couple of km.
In terms of weather too, patterns have changed, he says. Passes in the Himalaya in the Baspa Sangla area and in Nepal are riskier with snowfall and rockfalls. In Siachen, it took 30 minutes to get to the glacier in 1986 but in 2004 the snowline went up higher and now it was a distance of three to four km.
Many a broken trail
For climbers, the window or clear period for climbing is coming down, especially on Mt. Everest and even trails in many places are broken. However, satellite communication has advanced and it is possible to get hourly updates on weather, says Chewang.
Divyesh Muni, who has been climbing the mountain for over two decades, has noticed dramatic changes in terrain in the entire Himalayan region and the eastern Karakoram area since 2005. “In one of my expeditions in 2007 to Chong Kumdan, we had a tough time reaching the base camp. The glacier was deeply crevassed and the route had to be changed. It was a sorry state of affairs. In Saser La, a trade route famous for snow, there was none in 2007 making it a simple crossing.”
Uncertainty
There are few places mountaineer Harish Kapadia has not gone to and he has been observing changes in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions. “The last five years have been marked by receding glaciers and even walking is difficult. The uncertainty for climbers and trekkers is increasing in the Himalayan region.”
Mr. Kapadia was stranded in 2009 in Arunachal Pradesh near the Tibetan border in late October, said to be the best season for the area. Heavy snow covered the forest, there was no food for days and porters deserted the climbers as well. Finally they were evacuated by an Army helicopter.
Schools turn green chapters into reality (Times Of India 17 July 2011)
NEW DELHI: Government Girls Secondary School in Chhatarpur is located in the rocky Aravalli zone where water is scanty. Still the students maintain 105 species of native plants on the school premises. Not only that, there is no borewell but only proper management of MCD water that these girls depend on.
In far west, Salwan Public School at Old Rajinder Nagar recycles paper to make files for administrative use. The students have planted trees on the central verge under the metro bridge stretching from Rajendra Place to Karol Bagh. They even made cloth bags from scrap material and went out to different markets on Sundays to offer them to shoppers using polythene bags.
Rainwater harvesting, waste management, tree plantation, conserving energy were mere chapters in the environmental sciences book till a few schools in the city turned them into practice. Seventeen of them were given the annual Gobar Times Green Schools award by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Friday for their efforts to make sure that the environment lands up in wise hands tomorrow. Five city schools were awarded for making a change over the past few years while five others were felicitated for a successful debut in the Green Schools Programme launched by CSE in 2006. While Salwan Public School (Morning) topped the list of change-makers in the city, the school in Chhatarpur became the best resource manager for effective conservation of land. Other change-makers were St George's School at Alakhnanda, Sadhu Vaswani School, The Pinnacle School at Panchsheel Enclave and Deepalaya School near Kalkaji.
"We have been associated with the green school programme for the past five years. Our students and the environment teacher are really passionate and motivated for this cause. In fact, we had started the plantation drive back in 1993. In 2003, we planted nearly 10,000 trees on either side of the Ridge though they were all uprooted on one side to build a wall for the Commonwealth Games," said Vandana Puri, principal, Salwan Public School (Morning).
Nearly 15,000 schools from 18 states are associated with the green school programme. Of these, 144 qualified for the assessment for awards. There were 20 national toppers this year, including Salwan and St George's from Delhi. Dolly Malhotra, a teacher and eco-club coordinator at St George's, said: "We segregate waste and use it to make vermicompost. Our building is also designed in a way that we have enough sunlight and we do not need to switch on lights most of the times. We have also linked such environment projects with continuous and comprehensive evaluation in school."
According to CSE, schools have gone beyond token gestures for conserving environment. "They are real-time managers now. They took stock of the situation, identified problems, found solutions and are making an impact now. Many have switched to clean transport system, 100% change-maker schools have declared themselves as zero-waste zones while 70% of them are making a shift as far as energy conservation is concerned," said Sumita Dasgupta, programme director at CSE.
In far west, Salwan Public School at Old Rajinder Nagar recycles paper to make files for administrative use. The students have planted trees on the central verge under the metro bridge stretching from Rajendra Place to Karol Bagh. They even made cloth bags from scrap material and went out to different markets on Sundays to offer them to shoppers using polythene bags.
Rainwater harvesting, waste management, tree plantation, conserving energy were mere chapters in the environmental sciences book till a few schools in the city turned them into practice. Seventeen of them were given the annual Gobar Times Green Schools award by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Friday for their efforts to make sure that the environment lands up in wise hands tomorrow. Five city schools were awarded for making a change over the past few years while five others were felicitated for a successful debut in the Green Schools Programme launched by CSE in 2006. While Salwan Public School (Morning) topped the list of change-makers in the city, the school in Chhatarpur became the best resource manager for effective conservation of land. Other change-makers were St George's School at Alakhnanda, Sadhu Vaswani School, The Pinnacle School at Panchsheel Enclave and Deepalaya School near Kalkaji.
"We have been associated with the green school programme for the past five years. Our students and the environment teacher are really passionate and motivated for this cause. In fact, we had started the plantation drive back in 1993. In 2003, we planted nearly 10,000 trees on either side of the Ridge though they were all uprooted on one side to build a wall for the Commonwealth Games," said Vandana Puri, principal, Salwan Public School (Morning).
Nearly 15,000 schools from 18 states are associated with the green school programme. Of these, 144 qualified for the assessment for awards. There were 20 national toppers this year, including Salwan and St George's from Delhi. Dolly Malhotra, a teacher and eco-club coordinator at St George's, said: "We segregate waste and use it to make vermicompost. Our building is also designed in a way that we have enough sunlight and we do not need to switch on lights most of the times. We have also linked such environment projects with continuous and comprehensive evaluation in school."
According to CSE, schools have gone beyond token gestures for conserving environment. "They are real-time managers now. They took stock of the situation, identified problems, found solutions and are making an impact now. Many have switched to clean transport system, 100% change-maker schools have declared themselves as zero-waste zones while 70% of them are making a shift as far as energy conservation is concerned," said Sumita Dasgupta, programme director at CSE.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Yamuna swells as Haryana releases water (Times of India 01 July 2011)
NEW DELHI: The dried-up river Yamuna is coming back to life near Wazirabad. A day after Hathnikund Barrage released water at the rate of 97,000 cubic foot per second (cusecs), the water level went up from the normal mark of 202.02m to 202.48m. Flood and irrigation department officials said there is no cause to worry as the increase is minimal and over two metres below the danger mark of 204.83m. However, the department has begun preparing for the monsoon and identified vulnerable spots along the river bank and set up wireless stations at 24 points.
The evening rain on Thursday added to the volume of water.
While those living on the riverbed, most of which is still dry, go about their daily chores, senior officials of the flood and irrigation department said they have started stocking relief material like wooden poles, wire mesh, boulders and empty cement bags to deal with any emergency.
Eight vulnerable points along the Yamuna embankments have been identified and locations that were affected during monsoons in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2010 have been identified. These fall in areas covering Shahdara, Najafgarh, Mehrauli, Alipur and Kanjhawala. Some of the colonies from these sectors that have suffered during monsoon include Bawana Village, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla, Sarai Kale Khan, Jaitpur Extension, Sangam Vihar, Bijwasan Village, Geeta Colony and Gandhi Nagar.
While the highest rate of water release from Hathnikund stood at 97,000 cusecs on Wednesday, it had slowed down to 9,000 cusecs on Thursday. The officials expect the flow to reduce further.
"There is no cause for worry. Warning mark for floods is 204. The danger mark is 204.83 metres," a senior official said. Data available with the department shows that in 2010 the river crossed the danger mark and rose to 207.11. Before this, in 1978 the Yamuna touched a level of 207.49 as per data from 1963 onwards. But in 2010 the rate of discharge of water was higher than in 1978.
To deal with floods the state government has set-up an apex committee for supervision of operations. The apex committee, headed by chief minister Sheila Dikshit, will be assisted by a central flood control room. The nine districts of Delhi have been divided into nine sector offices with control rooms. These will be supervised by the six cabinet ministers. Social welfare minister Kiran Walia has been assigned south and New Delhi district, urban development minister Raj Kumar Chauhan will monitor operations in northwest and west district. Power minister Haroon Yusuf will supervise southwest district. Labour minister Ramakant Goswami is in charge of north and central district, transport minister Arvinder Singh will supervise northeast and revenue minister AK Walia will be in charge of east district.
The evening rain on Thursday added to the volume of water.
While those living on the riverbed, most of which is still dry, go about their daily chores, senior officials of the flood and irrigation department said they have started stocking relief material like wooden poles, wire mesh, boulders and empty cement bags to deal with any emergency.
Eight vulnerable points along the Yamuna embankments have been identified and locations that were affected during monsoons in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2010 have been identified. These fall in areas covering Shahdara, Najafgarh, Mehrauli, Alipur and Kanjhawala. Some of the colonies from these sectors that have suffered during monsoon include Bawana Village, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla, Sarai Kale Khan, Jaitpur Extension, Sangam Vihar, Bijwasan Village, Geeta Colony and Gandhi Nagar.
While the highest rate of water release from Hathnikund stood at 97,000 cusecs on Wednesday, it had slowed down to 9,000 cusecs on Thursday. The officials expect the flow to reduce further.
"There is no cause for worry. Warning mark for floods is 204. The danger mark is 204.83 metres," a senior official said. Data available with the department shows that in 2010 the river crossed the danger mark and rose to 207.11. Before this, in 1978 the Yamuna touched a level of 207.49 as per data from 1963 onwards. But in 2010 the rate of discharge of water was higher than in 1978.
To deal with floods the state government has set-up an apex committee for supervision of operations. The apex committee, headed by chief minister Sheila Dikshit, will be assisted by a central flood control room. The nine districts of Delhi have been divided into nine sector offices with control rooms. These will be supervised by the six cabinet ministers. Social welfare minister Kiran Walia has been assigned south and New Delhi district, urban development minister Raj Kumar Chauhan will monitor operations in northwest and west district. Power minister Haroon Yusuf will supervise southwest district. Labour minister Ramakant Goswami is in charge of north and central district, transport minister Arvinder Singh will supervise northeast and revenue minister AK Walia will be in charge of east district.
Donors shun water projects (The Hindu 29 June 2011)
The Hindu ECONOMIC BENEFIT: Investing in water and decent sanitation has been found to be one of hte most effective uses of development aid. Photo: M.A. Sriram
More than one billion people will not get the basic sanitation and the clean water promised as such projects shrink sharply as a proportion of global aid budgets.
A key development goal to halve the number of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015 will be missed because donor countries have diverted aid money away from unglamorous water projects, according to the World Bank and the charity WaterAid.
Aid to give people in developing countries access to clean water and sanitation has been shrinking as a proportion of global aid budgets, new research has shown, with the result that more than a billion people will not get the help they were promised by rich countries under the Millennium Development Goals.
Instead, donors are restricting aid to projects such as schools and hospitals — even though the benefits of those are diminished if their recipients have no clean water or toilets.
If the millennium goals were reached, of the 2.6bn people without access to sanitation today, at least 1.7bn would be equipped with decent facilities by 2015. But on current trends, only about 700m will gain such access in the timeframe.
“It shows how far water and sanitation have slipped down the list of donor priorities,” said John Garrett, senior policy analyst at WaterAid, which compiled the research using information from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. “Yet the global sanitation crisis is so massive — this is totally insufficient to tackle the problem.” This lack of effort on water and sanitation is also having an effect on the economies of developing countries, which can be quantified for the first time. The World Bank has recently shown that more than six per cent a year is being wiped off the GDP of countries failing to provide their citizens with adequate sanitation, because of health effects and the resulting lack of education and work opportunities.
Women, girls most affected
“When you think that two per cent of GDP is the difference between growth and recession, we are having the equivalent of three recessions every year in these places. But no one is taking any notice,” said Julia Bucknall, the World Bank's water chief. “It's astounding.” Women and girls are hardest hit by the failure to provide water and sanitation, a newly published study by the World Bank has shown. Because they are more likely to be responsible for water collection, time spent fetching water is spent away from school or other productive activities. The bank found that a 15-minute reduction in the time spent collecting water increased the proportion of girls attending school in Ghana by between eight per cent and 12 per cent.
Water and sanitation projects shrank as a proportion of total aid in the last 20 years, according to research from WaterAid due to be published next month. In the mid-1990s, water and sanitation made up about eight per cent of global financial aid, putting it ahead of issues such as reproductive health and population growth. But between 2007 and 2009 — the last year for which comprehensive figures are available — it was just over five per cent.
Investing in water and decent sanitation has been found to be one of the most effective uses of development aid. The UN estimates that every $1 spent on sanitation reaps an economic benefit of at least $9, because of improvements to health and because it frees people to be more economically active.
Although more aid is being devoted to water and sanitation in absolute terms than in the 1990s — about $8bn last year compared with $4bn—$5bn then — that comes against a background in which aid spending as a whole has increased markedly. The diminishing proportion of aid devoted to sanitation shows donors unwilling to address what is seen as a difficult and unglamorous area of policy, according to people working in the field.
“It just does not attract donor funding,” Bucknall said. “It seems to be easier for people to talk about disease, and ignore sanitation.” Jae So, manager of the water and sanitation programme at the World Bank, said at least $7bn a year was being lost in economic productivity in South-East Asian countries through neglect of the issue. The majority of the losses in some areas came not from the ill health but tourism. “Tourists don't want to come if they think they might have contaminated water or inadequate sewage. It's a huge lost economic opportunity.” Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011
More than one billion people will not get the basic sanitation and the clean water promised as such projects shrink sharply as a proportion of global aid budgets.
A key development goal to halve the number of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015 will be missed because donor countries have diverted aid money away from unglamorous water projects, according to the World Bank and the charity WaterAid.
Aid to give people in developing countries access to clean water and sanitation has been shrinking as a proportion of global aid budgets, new research has shown, with the result that more than a billion people will not get the help they were promised by rich countries under the Millennium Development Goals.
Instead, donors are restricting aid to projects such as schools and hospitals — even though the benefits of those are diminished if their recipients have no clean water or toilets.
If the millennium goals were reached, of the 2.6bn people without access to sanitation today, at least 1.7bn would be equipped with decent facilities by 2015. But on current trends, only about 700m will gain such access in the timeframe.
“It shows how far water and sanitation have slipped down the list of donor priorities,” said John Garrett, senior policy analyst at WaterAid, which compiled the research using information from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. “Yet the global sanitation crisis is so massive — this is totally insufficient to tackle the problem.” This lack of effort on water and sanitation is also having an effect on the economies of developing countries, which can be quantified for the first time. The World Bank has recently shown that more than six per cent a year is being wiped off the GDP of countries failing to provide their citizens with adequate sanitation, because of health effects and the resulting lack of education and work opportunities.
Women, girls most affected
“When you think that two per cent of GDP is the difference between growth and recession, we are having the equivalent of three recessions every year in these places. But no one is taking any notice,” said Julia Bucknall, the World Bank's water chief. “It's astounding.” Women and girls are hardest hit by the failure to provide water and sanitation, a newly published study by the World Bank has shown. Because they are more likely to be responsible for water collection, time spent fetching water is spent away from school or other productive activities. The bank found that a 15-minute reduction in the time spent collecting water increased the proportion of girls attending school in Ghana by between eight per cent and 12 per cent.
Water and sanitation projects shrank as a proportion of total aid in the last 20 years, according to research from WaterAid due to be published next month. In the mid-1990s, water and sanitation made up about eight per cent of global financial aid, putting it ahead of issues such as reproductive health and population growth. But between 2007 and 2009 — the last year for which comprehensive figures are available — it was just over five per cent.
Investing in water and decent sanitation has been found to be one of the most effective uses of development aid. The UN estimates that every $1 spent on sanitation reaps an economic benefit of at least $9, because of improvements to health and because it frees people to be more economically active.
Although more aid is being devoted to water and sanitation in absolute terms than in the 1990s — about $8bn last year compared with $4bn—$5bn then — that comes against a background in which aid spending as a whole has increased markedly. The diminishing proportion of aid devoted to sanitation shows donors unwilling to address what is seen as a difficult and unglamorous area of policy, according to people working in the field.
“It just does not attract donor funding,” Bucknall said. “It seems to be easier for people to talk about disease, and ignore sanitation.” Jae So, manager of the water and sanitation programme at the World Bank, said at least $7bn a year was being lost in economic productivity in South-East Asian countries through neglect of the issue. The majority of the losses in some areas came not from the ill health but tourism. “Tourists don't want to come if they think they might have contaminated water or inadequate sewage. It's a huge lost economic opportunity.” Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011
The oceans and the monsoon (The Hindu 29 June 2011)
The monsoon, a complex and chaotic phenomenon, involves an intricate interplay among the oceans, land and the atmosphere. Much though needs to be deciphered.
UNDERSTANDING A SUBTLE CHOREOGRAPHY: One part of that puzzle is the role that the oceans around India — as seen in this area of the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam — play in bringing and sustaining the monsoon.
Keralites call it “ Idavapathy,” the rains that come in the middle of the Malayalam month of “ Idavam.” It marks the arrival of the South-West monsoon in India, the end of a long, hot summer and the start of a four-month season that provides well over three-quarters of the rain that this country receives each year. Once the monsoon sets in, its changing moods, be it the torrential downpours or maddening lulls, are closely watched, endlessly discussed and fretted over.
The monsoon is a hugely complex and chaotic phenomenon that involves an intricate interplay among the oceans, land and the atmosphere. Scientific understanding of the subtle choreography that decides how the the rainy season unfolds has grown by leaps and bounds. There is, nevertheless, much that must be deciphered. One part of that puzzle is the role that the oceans around India play in bringing and sustaining the monsoon.
‘An ocean drama'
“There is a drama going on in the Indian Ocean,” remarked P.V. Joseph, a veteran meteorologist who has continued to pursue his research interests after retiring from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Dr. Joseph was speaking at a meeting on the monsoon organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Met. Office in May this year.
About a month and a half before the monsoon arrives in Kerala, the central Bay of Bengal warms. An extensive cloud band then forms in the southern Bay, which produces pre-monsoon rains in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and moves north-east, taking the monsoon to Myanmar and South-East Asia.
The Bay cools as a result while a large stretch of the central Arabian Sea grows steadily warmer. Then, to the south of this warm patch of ocean, rain clouds begin building up near the equator. “It is those clouds that develop, move north and bring the monsoon to Kerala,” he said.
Onset over Kerala
The timing of the onset over Kerala is strongly influenced by temperatures on either side of the equator in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, Dr. Joseph told this correspondent. If the southern side near the equator is unusually warm while the northern part is cold, the monsoon will be delayed.
The sea surface temperature has a critical bearing on cloud formation. In 1984, Sulochana Gadgil, an honorary professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Dr. Joseph, and N.V. Joshi, also on the faculty of the IISc, published a paper in the journal Nature that showed that over tropical oceans, the propensity for occurrence of deep cloud systems, such as depressions, becomes high once the sea surface temperature crosses 28° Celsius.
Warm oceans are a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for such cloud formation (a process scientists term as convection). When ocean temperatures are maintained at above the threshold of 28° degrees Celsius, as is the case with the Bay of Bengal much of the time, it ceases to be the limiting factor for convection, noted Prof. Gadgil when she spoke to The Hindu.
Atmospheric conditions then influence the extent of cloud formation. Water that evaporates from the ocean surface must be able to rise high up into the atmosphere and form deep clouds. Gradients in temperature across the ocean surface can, it appears, play a significant role in creating such conditions in the atmosphere above them.
When the rains failed
Consequently, these temperature gradients can strongly influence the course of the monsoon. In 2009, for instance, the rains failed and the country suffered one of the worst droughts in over a century. That year, the rains had been especially poor in June and the shortfall in nationwide rainfall that resulted was not made up in the rest of the season.
During a monsoon's onset and subsequently, a cloud band develops near the equatorial Indian Ocean from time to time and then migrates northward across India. This vast cloud belt, which will typically stretch from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal and beyond, is what provides large-scale rain.
As the cloud band moves over the country, weather systems, such as lows and depressions, form in the Bay and move westwards across the land, bringing much rain. Ample convection over the surrounding oceans is therefore essential for the northward propogation of the cloud band as well as for generating weather systems over the Bay and sustaining the rain they produce.
Generally, in May and June during the monsoon's onset, the Bay is warmer than the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and convection is favoured at the former location. However, in June 2009, the surface waters of the Bay were colder than usual while a large stretch of the equatorial Indian Ocean was exceptionally warm.
Consequently, convection over the Bay appears to have been suppressed, resulting in the massive deficit in all-India rainfall that was observed, pointed out P.A. Francis of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) at Hyderabad (an autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences) and Prof. Gadgil in a paper published later that year. Such an adverse gradient in sea surface temperature was a rare event, they noted.
During the course of a monsoon, weather systems spawned over the Bay deliver a great deal of rain over large parts of the country. Researchers have found that a gradient in the surface temperature between the northern and southern part of the Bay can be a crucial trigger for convection and rainfall over the central Bay.
The temperature in the northern Bay can rise and fall by as much as 1° to 2° Celsius, sometimes in just a few days. Such oscillations in temperature are possible because the top layer of water in this part of the ocean has low salinity. This low-salinity layer acts like a thin plate that can heat up and cool rapidly, explained D. Shankar of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO).
Temperature changes
In a paper that appeared in the Journal of Earth System Science in 2007, Dr. Shankar, along with S.R. Shetye, the NIO director, and Dr. Joseph, looked at temperature changes during the monsoon in the northern and southern Bay and correlated that with rainfall events in the central Bay for seven years, from 1998. They reported that when the northern Bay was warmer than the southern part by more than 0.75°, it began to rain in the central Bay shortly afterwards (the lag was seven days or less in most cases).
The north-south gradient in the ocean surface temperatures led to an atmospheric pressure gradient, which, in turn, drew in winds from the west. The result was a swirling cyclonic circulation in the atmosphere that enhanced convection and produced rain, the scientists explained in their paper.
But to better understand how the oceans around India are influencing the monsoon, scientists need know more about what's happening below the waves as well, not just the temperature at the surface.
The sea surface temperature is only an expression of what happens to the top layer of the ocean, observed P.N. Vinayachandran of the IISc. This upper strata, which varies in depth, is known as the “mixed layer” because it is stirred and mixed well by the winds. As a result of such stirring, temperature and salinity are uniform in this layer. Warmed by the sun's rays, it also has the highest temperature. Below it, the temperature of the ocean falls sharply with depth.
Rain, river discharges
As the Bay of Bengal receives more rain as well as greater river discharges than the Arabian Sea, its surface waters are much less salty.
With the less salty and therefore less dense water floating on top, the stirring created by winds produces a much shallower mixed layer in the Bay than in the Arabian Sea.
“That helps the Bay remain warm,” he said. During the monsoon, once a weather system develops and then moves over to the land, it cools the Bay only a little. The Bay also has the advantage that, unlike in the Arabian Sea, upwelling, that brings up colder water from deeper down in the ocean, is very inefficient. Since the mixed layer in the Bay is shallow, it heats quickly with solar radiation and is soon ready to support the next weather system.
Consequently, the Bay is able to sustain weather systems right through the monsoon and beyond, remarked Dr. Vinayachandran.
Given the importance of the mixed layer, the temperature and salinity profile in the oceans around India need to be monitored at least up to a depth of 100 metres, according to Dr. Joseph. This was vital for understanding the monsoon and thereby to increase the capability to forecast its course.
UNDERSTANDING A SUBTLE CHOREOGRAPHY: One part of that puzzle is the role that the oceans around India — as seen in this area of the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam — play in bringing and sustaining the monsoon.
Keralites call it “ Idavapathy,” the rains that come in the middle of the Malayalam month of “ Idavam.” It marks the arrival of the South-West monsoon in India, the end of a long, hot summer and the start of a four-month season that provides well over three-quarters of the rain that this country receives each year. Once the monsoon sets in, its changing moods, be it the torrential downpours or maddening lulls, are closely watched, endlessly discussed and fretted over.
The monsoon is a hugely complex and chaotic phenomenon that involves an intricate interplay among the oceans, land and the atmosphere. Scientific understanding of the subtle choreography that decides how the the rainy season unfolds has grown by leaps and bounds. There is, nevertheless, much that must be deciphered. One part of that puzzle is the role that the oceans around India play in bringing and sustaining the monsoon.
‘An ocean drama'
“There is a drama going on in the Indian Ocean,” remarked P.V. Joseph, a veteran meteorologist who has continued to pursue his research interests after retiring from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Dr. Joseph was speaking at a meeting on the monsoon organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Met. Office in May this year.
About a month and a half before the monsoon arrives in Kerala, the central Bay of Bengal warms. An extensive cloud band then forms in the southern Bay, which produces pre-monsoon rains in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and moves north-east, taking the monsoon to Myanmar and South-East Asia.
The Bay cools as a result while a large stretch of the central Arabian Sea grows steadily warmer. Then, to the south of this warm patch of ocean, rain clouds begin building up near the equator. “It is those clouds that develop, move north and bring the monsoon to Kerala,” he said.
Onset over Kerala
The timing of the onset over Kerala is strongly influenced by temperatures on either side of the equator in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, Dr. Joseph told this correspondent. If the southern side near the equator is unusually warm while the northern part is cold, the monsoon will be delayed.
The sea surface temperature has a critical bearing on cloud formation. In 1984, Sulochana Gadgil, an honorary professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Dr. Joseph, and N.V. Joshi, also on the faculty of the IISc, published a paper in the journal Nature that showed that over tropical oceans, the propensity for occurrence of deep cloud systems, such as depressions, becomes high once the sea surface temperature crosses 28° Celsius.
Warm oceans are a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for such cloud formation (a process scientists term as convection). When ocean temperatures are maintained at above the threshold of 28° degrees Celsius, as is the case with the Bay of Bengal much of the time, it ceases to be the limiting factor for convection, noted Prof. Gadgil when she spoke to The Hindu.
Atmospheric conditions then influence the extent of cloud formation. Water that evaporates from the ocean surface must be able to rise high up into the atmosphere and form deep clouds. Gradients in temperature across the ocean surface can, it appears, play a significant role in creating such conditions in the atmosphere above them.
When the rains failed
Consequently, these temperature gradients can strongly influence the course of the monsoon. In 2009, for instance, the rains failed and the country suffered one of the worst droughts in over a century. That year, the rains had been especially poor in June and the shortfall in nationwide rainfall that resulted was not made up in the rest of the season.
During a monsoon's onset and subsequently, a cloud band develops near the equatorial Indian Ocean from time to time and then migrates northward across India. This vast cloud belt, which will typically stretch from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal and beyond, is what provides large-scale rain.
As the cloud band moves over the country, weather systems, such as lows and depressions, form in the Bay and move westwards across the land, bringing much rain. Ample convection over the surrounding oceans is therefore essential for the northward propogation of the cloud band as well as for generating weather systems over the Bay and sustaining the rain they produce.
Generally, in May and June during the monsoon's onset, the Bay is warmer than the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and convection is favoured at the former location. However, in June 2009, the surface waters of the Bay were colder than usual while a large stretch of the equatorial Indian Ocean was exceptionally warm.
Consequently, convection over the Bay appears to have been suppressed, resulting in the massive deficit in all-India rainfall that was observed, pointed out P.A. Francis of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) at Hyderabad (an autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences) and Prof. Gadgil in a paper published later that year. Such an adverse gradient in sea surface temperature was a rare event, they noted.
During the course of a monsoon, weather systems spawned over the Bay deliver a great deal of rain over large parts of the country. Researchers have found that a gradient in the surface temperature between the northern and southern part of the Bay can be a crucial trigger for convection and rainfall over the central Bay.
The temperature in the northern Bay can rise and fall by as much as 1° to 2° Celsius, sometimes in just a few days. Such oscillations in temperature are possible because the top layer of water in this part of the ocean has low salinity. This low-salinity layer acts like a thin plate that can heat up and cool rapidly, explained D. Shankar of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO).
Temperature changes
In a paper that appeared in the Journal of Earth System Science in 2007, Dr. Shankar, along with S.R. Shetye, the NIO director, and Dr. Joseph, looked at temperature changes during the monsoon in the northern and southern Bay and correlated that with rainfall events in the central Bay for seven years, from 1998. They reported that when the northern Bay was warmer than the southern part by more than 0.75°, it began to rain in the central Bay shortly afterwards (the lag was seven days or less in most cases).
The north-south gradient in the ocean surface temperatures led to an atmospheric pressure gradient, which, in turn, drew in winds from the west. The result was a swirling cyclonic circulation in the atmosphere that enhanced convection and produced rain, the scientists explained in their paper.
But to better understand how the oceans around India are influencing the monsoon, scientists need know more about what's happening below the waves as well, not just the temperature at the surface.
The sea surface temperature is only an expression of what happens to the top layer of the ocean, observed P.N. Vinayachandran of the IISc. This upper strata, which varies in depth, is known as the “mixed layer” because it is stirred and mixed well by the winds. As a result of such stirring, temperature and salinity are uniform in this layer. Warmed by the sun's rays, it also has the highest temperature. Below it, the temperature of the ocean falls sharply with depth.
Rain, river discharges
As the Bay of Bengal receives more rain as well as greater river discharges than the Arabian Sea, its surface waters are much less salty.
With the less salty and therefore less dense water floating on top, the stirring created by winds produces a much shallower mixed layer in the Bay than in the Arabian Sea.
“That helps the Bay remain warm,” he said. During the monsoon, once a weather system develops and then moves over to the land, it cools the Bay only a little. The Bay also has the advantage that, unlike in the Arabian Sea, upwelling, that brings up colder water from deeper down in the ocean, is very inefficient. Since the mixed layer in the Bay is shallow, it heats quickly with solar radiation and is soon ready to support the next weather system.
Consequently, the Bay is able to sustain weather systems right through the monsoon and beyond, remarked Dr. Vinayachandran.
Given the importance of the mixed layer, the temperature and salinity profile in the oceans around India need to be monitored at least up to a depth of 100 metres, according to Dr. Joseph. This was vital for understanding the monsoon and thereby to increase the capability to forecast its course.
Gehlot moots law on “Right to Shelter” (The Hindu 29 June 2011)
Revive national river-link plan, says Chief Minister
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot
JAIPUR: Advocating the need for “Right to Shelter”, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has sought a new legislation to ensure affordable homes to the country's citizens. The United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre had taken the initiative to provide the Right to Information, Right to Education and Right to Food Security and this law would be a natural corollary to that, he said in Mumbai on Monday speaking at the conference of Western States on preparing the approach to the 12th Five Year Plan.
The conference found Mr. Gehlot talking about revival of the much-debated National River Link Programme, now buried by the UPA Government, by taking it up in the 12th Plan. He also made a request on the implementation of the Sharda-Yamuna link project. Discussing the gap between demand and supply of water in Rajasthan, he said the State would need Rs.50,000 crore to provide quality water to the people. He reiterated the State's demand for setting up an oil refinery in Barmer.
Talking about the shelter, Mr. Gehlot said the State Government had set a target to provide houses to five lakh people under the ‘Affordable Housing Policy'. Besides, Rajasthan has borrowed Rs.3,400 crore as loan from HUDCO for “Mukhyamantri Gramin BPL Awas Yojana”.
Emphasising the need for a refinery, Mr. Gehlot said new estimate had put the crude availability in Barmer wells at 900 million tonnes which would amount to 20 per cent to the total domestic production in the country. When even the States which did not produce oil had refineries a major producer like Rajasthan should not be deprived of one, he asserted.
The Chief Minister thanked the Union Environment Ministry for giving environmental clearance to two coal blocks for seven new super critical power projects in the State. The State's Solar Energy Policy-2011 had led to registration by more than 650 private investors for setting up projects having capacity of more than 15,750 MW and Rajasthan has made its identity as a solar hub, he observed.
He sought cooperation of the Centre to develop a power transmission for the wind energy plants and solar plants of a total capacity of 2000 MW and 4000 MW respectively.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot
JAIPUR: Advocating the need for “Right to Shelter”, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has sought a new legislation to ensure affordable homes to the country's citizens. The United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre had taken the initiative to provide the Right to Information, Right to Education and Right to Food Security and this law would be a natural corollary to that, he said in Mumbai on Monday speaking at the conference of Western States on preparing the approach to the 12th Five Year Plan.
The conference found Mr. Gehlot talking about revival of the much-debated National River Link Programme, now buried by the UPA Government, by taking it up in the 12th Plan. He also made a request on the implementation of the Sharda-Yamuna link project. Discussing the gap between demand and supply of water in Rajasthan, he said the State would need Rs.50,000 crore to provide quality water to the people. He reiterated the State's demand for setting up an oil refinery in Barmer.
Talking about the shelter, Mr. Gehlot said the State Government had set a target to provide houses to five lakh people under the ‘Affordable Housing Policy'. Besides, Rajasthan has borrowed Rs.3,400 crore as loan from HUDCO for “Mukhyamantri Gramin BPL Awas Yojana”.
Emphasising the need for a refinery, Mr. Gehlot said new estimate had put the crude availability in Barmer wells at 900 million tonnes which would amount to 20 per cent to the total domestic production in the country. When even the States which did not produce oil had refineries a major producer like Rajasthan should not be deprived of one, he asserted.
The Chief Minister thanked the Union Environment Ministry for giving environmental clearance to two coal blocks for seven new super critical power projects in the State. The State's Solar Energy Policy-2011 had led to registration by more than 650 private investors for setting up projects having capacity of more than 15,750 MW and Rajasthan has made its identity as a solar hub, he observed.
He sought cooperation of the Centre to develop a power transmission for the wind energy plants and solar plants of a total capacity of 2000 MW and 4000 MW respectively.
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