Thread by @JamwalNidhi

As late as Oct 2012, I travelled to Bihar for the first time. Ever since then, thanks to my friend, @Watervagabond, I have been regularly travelling there & reporting on floods & other related issues. A thread on #Bihar & #BiharFloods stories to keep the larger picture in mind.

@Watervagabond 73% of the total geographical area of Bihar is prone to floods. Bihar is India's most flood prone state, too. Embankments have failed to control floods. Some claim these engineering solutions are responsible for flash floods & other problems #BiharFloods

gaonconnection.com/swayamproject/…

@Watervagabond Floods in Bihar are also associated with fertility, as they bring silt that makes the soil fertile. Several poor landless farmers in live on 'diara' lands -- islands inside rivers -- to feed their families. Rivers, which bring floods, also sustain people

thethirdpole.net/en/2018/10/01/…

@Watervagabond Even when there are no floods, rivers in North Bihar keep changing their course. Several villages are trapped inside their embankments and keep relocating with the changing course of rivers. These villages are waiting to drown and have no where to go
thethirdpole.net/en/2018/07/19/…

@Watervagabond Floods in North Bihar mean waist level water for days together in villages inside embankments. Women & young girls suffer the most as there is no safe place to defecate. Flood-resilient ecosan toilets, Phaydemand Shauchalaya are trying to make a difference thewire.in/environment/ph…

@Watervagabond This story of a musahar village in Saharsa trapped between the waters of Kosi's western embankment & Kamla Balan’s eastern embankment broke my heart. Poorest of poor still growing flood-resilient desariya dhan variety. No one cares about their contribution
indiaclimatedialogue.net/2017/10/18/flo…

@Watervagabond Recently, Nitish Kumar, the CM of Bihar said flash floods were a recent phenomenon in the state & nothing much can be done. In Oct 2017, @Watervagabond & I travelled to villages along India-Nepal border which regularly face flash flood & go unreported archive.indiaspend.com/cover-story/wh…

@Watervagabond While Bihar is always associated with floods, we forget that half of the state -- South Bihar -- regularly faces drought. At any given point in time, the state is dealing with both the disasters together. #Climatechange is making it worse indiaclimatedialogue.net/2017/10/02/bih…

@Watervagabond This is a 'strange' story I chanced upon. A village Susta on the India-Nepal border has become a 'no-man's' land as shifting course of Gandak river has brought it from Nepal side towards the Indian territory. scroll.in/article/831576…

@Watervagabond Apart from embankments, ill-planned infrastructure projects have also contributed to floods in Bihar. Gopalganj-Bettiah elevated road and bridge project is a classic example as it has turned land infertile and increased flooding in some hamlets villagesquare.in/2017/02/01/bar…

@Watervagabond North Bihar has a very shallow water table. The typical soak-pit toilets may not be suitable for such a geographical location as it can cause groundwater pollution. This region needs ecological sanitation and promotion of flood-resilient ecosan toilets scroll.in/article/812385…

@Watervagabond Apart from floods, villagers in North Bihar also face another deadly scourge --- cancer-causing arsenic in their groundwater. In an absence of safe drinking water source, millions of people are forced to drink water laced with high arsenic scroll.in/article/768615…

@Watervagabond Some villages in North Bihar have taken a lead and launched programmes to revive dug wells as safe source of drinking water. As compared to handpumps, which give out arsenic-laced water, dug wells are turning out to be safer by adopting some precautions scroll.in/article/804824…

@Watervagabond The end. For now.