About | History

 

History

Millennium Water Story (MWS) is a demand-driven initiative that came into being on 26 January, 2016 as a result of several successful photographic exhibitions at different international forums by Nandita Singh and Om Prakash Singh on various water issues in India. The exhibitions evoked strong emotional response amongst the viewers, which in turn led to a huge demand from the international community to share the knowledge and resources with different stakeholders in the water sector across the world via the web. MWS stands dedicated to all those who motivated this unique, creative and challenging initiative.

The origin of the concept and content of MWS can be traced back to full-fledged photographic exhibitions on urban water challenges, climate change and water: human dimensions, and urban right to water and sanitation, exhibited at the World Water Week, Stockholm in 2008, 2009 and 2011 respectively.

Also, photographic exhibition on human right to water in 2008, Yanadis' struggle for food in India in 2009, and Mahakumbh Snan: the great sacred bath of India in 2012, further strengthened the idea of MWS. These exhibitions travelled widely across Sweden and also to Belgium, France, Germany and Hungary.

The exhibition on climate change and water: human dimensions was also displayed at International Water Film Festival in Bangalore in 2009, and that on urban right to water and sanitation too was exhibited at the Global Forum on Sanitation and Hygiene at Mumbai organized by Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) of the United Nations in 2011.

The exhibitions were also held at many educational institutions such as Stockholm University in Sweden, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden and Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, to name only a few. The purpose was to help students, teachers and researchers to build an integrated understanding on water resources management.

The exhibitions were very well-received by the viewers at all the forums. They found these to be very illuminating and sensitizing. In fact, the exhibitions helped fill-in their knowledge gaps in the sector, motivating them to rethink about more realistic solutions.

A good number of the viewers expressed the necessity of making the exhibitions available to the larger masses through the web. The couple was highly motivated by this great idea and in order to formalize the idea as an organized and regular activity, MWS has been created as an independent, on-line initiative by them.

Since 2008, the duo has been working relentlessly to build a huge collection of photographic documentation, attempting to present a more complete and holistic perspective on water resources management in India, connecting with issues from real-life situations. From this collection, high quality compelling photo stories are being developed to be presented regularly on the MWS.

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