Environment Ancient Indian
Water Harvesting Systems Can Stop Water Wars
by
Madhusree Chatterjee
Harnessing the existing water resource of India by harking back to
ancient water harvesting systems is the only way to pre-empt the
impending waters war of the 21st century and end the acute water
scarcity ailing the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, experts
said at a conference in Bangalore. The occasion was Sangam 2008, the All-India
NGO Summit for the Protection of Environment and Access to Social
Justice, which ended here Saturday with a call for a countrywide
federation of non-profit groups to work on key environment issues and
water conservation.
India has nearly one-third of the world's water resources with the
largest volume of river flow and rainfall at 2,000 million cubic meters
and 4,500 millimeters respectively - more than that of the entire
continent of Europe put together.
According to Pamela Gales Malhotra of the Safe Animal Initiative (SAI)
Sanctuary, a voluntary organization working for the protection of
wildlife in Karnataka, water is at the root of all forms of poverty in
the world which is confronting an acute crunch of fresh water.
"Financial prosperity is based green wealth and abundant water.
Protecting water sources is vital to conservation of environment and
species. We are witnessing the sixth wave of species extinction now and
are losing species 1,000 times faster than before," Malhotra warned.
"Over the last 200 years, the country has lost most of its one million
big and small traditional water harvesting sources and wetlands (which
are natural water collection points) owing to indiscriminate
construction of big concrete dams and filling up of land following a
real estate and infrastructure boom," conservationist and resource
expert H. Hari of Chennai-based Bharath Gyan, a multi-media traditional
knowledge data base, told IANS.
Delhi, the country's capital, has allowed nearly 274 stepwells or 'baolis',
built during the Mughal rule, to dry up. Of these 190 are beyond repair.
The state has 611 listed water bodies. Bharath Gyan is trying to revive
the country's ancient scientific systems and give them contemporary
color to combat eco-degradation and water scarcity.
Agrasen Ki Baoli near Connaught
Place, New Delhi (courtesy: Wikipedia.com)
In a data-based collative study, 'Water harnessing throughout India
through the ages', Hari dispels the notion that India is water-scarce
state through scientific evidence and suggests four ways to effectively
harvest natural water and use it as a multi-task resource. The steps are
rain water harvesting, recycling of effluent water, creating a network
of rivers and their distributaries and immediate closure of desalination
plants in coastal India, which spells doom for marine life.
"Wastage of water has been tremendous," says the report. Data from the
Chennai municipal corporation shows that the city lets off nearly
2,54,880 cubic liters of water to the sea every year which is more than
its annual requirement of 2,46, 375 cubic liters.
"We have a 5,000-year-old heritage of conservation engineering in the
form of tanks, canals and bunds. History cites that the earliest dams in
the country were built in Harappa and Mohenjo Daro around 800 BCE
(before common era). Every village in the Sindhu-Saraswati basin (site
of the Mohenjo Daro civilization) had a tank known as Pushkarni
(source of fertility). Some of these structures still stand today. Why
can't we revive them to store natural water and distribute it equitably?
" Hari said.
Water harvesting initiatives, points out the study, can be of two kinds:
individual enterprises where natural water is harvested and recycled at
homes using zero budget techniques and bigger community initiatives
involving public or government property.
The study cites a simple domestic water harvesting model. It says
rainwater can be harvested at home by collecting it in rooftops which
can be diverted through a channel (made from the roof) into the garden
and discharged into a well. To prevent rainwater from running off to the
streets and cause water-logging, soak pits (syringe-like borewells) can
be sunk at the lowest spots in the gardens to collect the discharge and
divert it back to the well.
Similarly, communities can come together to harvest rain water along the
roads and highways by sinking soak pits to collect the run-off from
higher gradients and later divert it to the nearest canal. It can serve
two purposes - prevent flooding and ensure more harvested water for
future use, the study recommends.
It also advocates recycling of "grey water" from wash room showers,
kitchen sinks and wash basins at home by using the root zone treatment.
"The process is simple. Channel the water into soak pits at the roots of
banana, yam or any plantain tree in the kitchen garden. Banana and
plantain trees contain certain types of bacteria and microbes that break
down the dirty water and cleanses it of impurities," explains Hari.
The study lastly makes an appeal to return the water rights to women,
the traditional custodians of the lifeline of humanity. "They have been
managing the country's waters for thousands of years, let them do it
again," the report appeals.
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