India: A report on the state of groundwater in Andha Pradesh should be fully compiled by March 2004 by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in Hyderabad. Nearly 70% of the "Jaladarthi" project has already been completed so far, according to Dr. S.M. Dutta, GSI head of south zone operations.
Groundwater potential and availability in all the districts are being surveyed using geological methods. The GSI is being equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to undertake these tasks. GSI laboratories in Hyderabad are among the first to get major funding for the organisation's upgrade initiative with nearly US$ 660,000 invested to set up a modern chemical laboratory that will undertake extensive geochemistry activity.
New Zealand: The Auckland Regional Council recently approved Stormwater Management's patented StormFilter, an underground filtration system, as a Best Practicable Option" (BPO), and is being installed at four new developments. StormFilter is the first proprietary filtering system to pass the water quality standards set by regulators in New Zealand, providing a cost-effective alternative to traditional, precast sand filter solutions.
New Zealand's water quality standards are very strict. Its Resource Management Act requires that 75% of total suspended sediment be filtered from stormwater on a long-term average basis. Other BPO-approved practices in New Zealand include ponds, wetlands, swales, sand filters and rain gardens.
Pakistan: Wastewater treatment plants will soon be established in the city for treating sewerage water and making it usable for irrigating land and parks, according to the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) of Pakistan.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB)'s financed Rawalpindi Environment Improvement Project (REIP), the second phase of the recently completed Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project (UWSSP), will improve water purification plant operations at Rawal Dam, according to Shakeel Ahmed, the ADB project coordinator. This project also includes establishing wastewater treatment plants and relocating slaughterhouses.
The Rawal Dam was getting polluted from increasing sewage discharges into water sources leading to the dam as a result of growing population in catchment areas.
Papua New Guinea: Water company Eda Ranu and the National Planning Department of Papua New Guinea are trying to insert the US$ 93-million Port Moresby sewerage project into the 2004 budget.
Eda Ranu Chairman Timothy Bonga reports that Itochu of Japan was still committed to collating the funding for the project which follows a US$ 1.2- million feasibility study funded by the Japanese government.
The project is expected to begin in mid-2004, and is considered essential to stopping increasing sewerage overflows affecting Kilakila and Horse Camp areas.
