Mass fish Death in Delhi’s Sanjay Lake in May 2026 due to Mismanagement

May 26, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Mass fish death in Sanjay lake. Source: TIE)

Several reports in past few days have attributed the mass fish death incident in Sanjay Lake of Mayur Vihar phase II in East Delhi to the ongoing intense heat spell also linking it to adverse impacts of climate change.

However, following updates and a ground visit by concerned citizens reveal the primary reason to be a sharp decline in lake’s water levels for past few weeks. This raises serious questions about the sorry state of affairs concerning management of lakes in the national capital.

Continue reading →

Yamuna Manthan May 2026: Ken-Betwa Linking Needs Urgent Reassessment

May 16, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Featue Image: Protesters express anger by staging symbolic hangings during the protest during April 5 to 16, 2026. Photo: Amit Bhatnagar/DTE)

Fresh protests over the past month by tribal communities affected by the Ken-Betwa River Linking Project have again raised serious concerns about its environmental impact and social costs. The project is going ahead despite questions over its hydrological assessment and environmental, forest and wildlife clearances. Moreover, the govt has not even explored the available cost effective and better alternatives.

Continue reading →

Environmental Flow · Floodplain · Floods · Urban Rivers · Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan 0426: Will Govts Ensure Survival of Chambal River Sanctuary?

April 9, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Index map of Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal River Interlinking Project. Souce: NWDA)

Two critical developments over the past month have once again highlighted the scale of threats undermining the ecological integrity of the Chambal, the largest tributary of the Yamuna. The rich aquatic life in the Chambal Sanctuary has already been adversely affected by the gradual decline in river flows and unabated illegal sand mining.

Continue reading →

Groundwater

Groundwater: Govts Actions to Recharge, Regulate in 2025 in India

April 1, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Principal Aquifer Map of India. Credit: CGWB’s Annual Ground Water Quality Report 2025, Figure 02, Page 09)

This overview highlights the top ten measures undertaken by various governments to protect groundwater in India in 2025. At the central level, the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) has a master plan for artificial recharge, targeting the construction of 1.42 crore structures. As per MoJS, 21 states and UTs have adopted Model Groundwater Management Bill 2020. The MoJS is also piloting pressurized irrigation systems and water accounting technologies to improve efficiency, especially in agriculture, which consumes 87% of extracted groundwater.

Continue reading →

Groundwater · Rural Drinking Water · Water · Water Options

WWD 2026: Collective Groundwater Conservation Efforts in India

March 22, 2026March 22, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: In Rajasthan’s Chambal, wives of ex-dacoits lead revival of water sources and hope. Source: The Tribune)

On the occasion of World Water Day (WWD) 2026, themed around water and gender, this overview highlights ten stories of collective efforts by communities, experts, and government agencies to conserve groundwater from across India. These examples show how decentralized actions such as reviving wells, recharging aquifers, harvesting rainwater and managing surface water bodies offer simple yet effective alternatives to large-scale infrastructure projects to address the water scarcity. The compilation demonstrates that sustainable groundwater management depends on collective action, local knowledge and active participation of local people.

Continue reading →

Urban Water Bodies

Hyderabad Lakes 2025: Degradation Continues Amid HYDRAA Efforts

February 17, 2026February 17, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Lakes in Hyderabad are infested with heavy growth of hyacinth and algae, reflecting the terrible condition of the water bodies. Surya Sridhar/Telangana Today)

The historic network of lakes in Hyderabad city has been under stress from increasing pollution and encroachment for past many years. In response, the govt in July 2024 formed Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) to protect lakes, nalas and public assets from encroachments and address urban flooding problems. Since then, the agency is actively involved in lakebed reclamation, demolition of illegal structures, desilting, flood-management interventions and selected lake rejuvenation projects. So far, it has attracted both support for removing encroachments from several lakes and criticism for lacking holistic approach and sustainable outcome.

Continue reading →

floodplains · Free flowing rivers · River Restoration · Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan June 2025: Positive water, river stories from Yamuna basin

June 19, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

POSITIVE YAMUNA REPORTS

Uttar Pradesh’s Noon river runs again Jalaun farmers in Bundelkhand will not have to toil too much this season to get water for crops. They have almost revived an 81km-long local river that had dried up completely. Community members have restored the drainage basin over a 14km course of Noon river to create a funnel through which water has again entered it. The river had dried up to encroachments and poor rainfall. The revival commenced in 2021 and reached the final stage only recently, with voluntary labour contributions from thousands of local men and women. Officials said the water would start flowing through the entire course of the river in a fortnight. The river is expected to help more than 15,350 farmers.

Continue reading →

Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan 090525: Will we STOP Commercialization of River Floodplains?

May 9, 2025May 12, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Redstone stuctures at Vasudev Riverfront site on Yamuna. BS Rawat, SANDRP/ April 2025)

The rhetoric of Sabarmati type river front project for Yamuna in Delhi is getting louder. For over a decade, the DDA has already been working on 11 projects disguised as ‘floodplain restoration’. In recent past, none other than the NGT has flagged concerns over permanent structures and concretization work in some of these projects. Notably, all these cosmetic projects have suffered huge damages in the July 2023 floods.

Despite this, showing no regard to laws and sanctity of floodplains, DDA (Delhi Development Authority) has commercialized some of the projects including the Vasudev riverfront and the Baansera park. Since there is no autonomous body functioning in Delhi to hold the DDA accountable, every week there is news about a new riverfront or park project aiming at further commercializing the Yamuna floodplain.

Continue reading →

Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan 050225: River Needs Attention beyond Politics & Elections

February 5, 2025February 5, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Yamuna river downstream Okhla barrage in Delhi on Jan 29, 2025. Bhim Singh Rawat/SANDRP)

Political blame games surrounding the Delhi assembly election have brought Yamuna in focus for about past one month. Disappointingly, the central and all state govts in basin are responsible for continual degradation of river and none of the parties have offered practical solutions to improve the condition of the river in the national capital.

It’s a fact that the pollution from Haryana drains, namely Dhanaura Escape in Karnal, Drain No 2 in Panipat and Drain No. 6 and 8 in Sonipat have been bringing untreated effluents in increasing amounts in the river upstream of Delhi, ultimately severely crippling the Wazirabad barrage based potable water supply in the city. In addition to diversion of river waters for industrial, irrigational and potable demands from Hathni Kund Barrage, increasing unsustainable mechanized mining for about past eight years have been ruining lean season flows in the river in upper segment. The concerned central govt departments and Haryana government are required to address these issues effectively as part of a solution to improve the health of river in Delhi.

Continue reading →

Wetlands

World Wetlands Day 2025: Govts Projects, Apathy Damaging Ramsar Wetlands

February 1, 2025February 3, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: A road is being laid allegedly by a private realtor inside the Perumbakkam marshland. Photo Credit: TNIE, June 2023)

‘Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future’ is the theme for World Wetlands Day 2025. Wetlands are ecosystems, in which water is the primary factor controlling the environment and the associated plant and animal life.

Indian government seems focusing more on increasing Ramsar wetlands number than ensuring the protection and conservation the existing Ramsar sites in country. Over the past one decade the numbers of Ramsar wetlands in India have sharply gone up from 26 in 2014 to 89 as of January 2025. Amid the thrust to increase the number, several existing or even recently declared Ramsar wetlands across the country have been facing multiple threats mainly due to governmental projects and constant negligence from the concerned authorities as can be seen from the reports from 2024 in this annual overview.

Continue reading →