India Water Portal
India Water Portal is a web-based interactive platform for sharing water management knowledge amongst practitioners and the general public. The portal is an initiative of Arghyam, a foundation set up by Rohini Nilekani to promote sustainability efforts in water sector. The thought of a knowledge repository for the water sector in India was felt at the first Arghyam conference held in February 2005. Endorsed by the National Knowledge Commission, the portal took shape over next two years and was finally launched in February 2007 by the Prime Minister Mr.Manmohan Singh.
Features
The portal covers topics closely related to the challenges in the water sector in India and practical solutions for day to day water related problems faced in the country. The topics broadly covered in the portal include rainwater harvesting, agriculture, drinking water, urban water management, sanitation, wastewater management & water quality.
For researchers in the sector, the portal offers a wealth of information and data in field of water sector. The portal has meteorological data of India for over hundred years. Users can download the data based on the following parameters.
- Precipitation
- Minimum temperature
- Average temperature
- Maximum temperature
- Cloud cover
- Vapour pressure
- Wet day frequency
- Diurnal temperature range
- Ground frost frequency
- Reference crop evapotranspiration
- Potential evapotranspiration
The portal also has comprehensive data on the river basins of India, and water policies and laws in India. There is a dedicated section on maps and statistics.
The portal provides a free to public service called - Ask a water question1, to cater to the needs of citizens. The questions are answered by an eminent team of water experts. The India Water Portal blog serves as a place for healthy discussion and also a mirror to the latest conferences/research papers/jobs in the sector too.
Regional Language and Theme based Portals
In 2008, India Water Portal launched regional language portals in Kannada and Hindi. A separate portal dedicated to Water conflicts also came into existence in 2008. In 2009, India Water Portal team launched a portal for school children - The schools water portal. Schools water portal compliments academia with practical projects and fun filled IDeaS to spread awareness related to water.
Though India Water Portal team is committed to evolve as a repository of all water knowledge related to water in India, it is facing problems in increasing community contributions that could sustain the growth of the portal.