Thursday, March 22, 2012
Rain water harvesting - World Water Day
Today is World Water Day. As I was reading my subscribed blogs, I came across some socially aware pages in regional languages.
One was in Tamizh, written by Ms.Gomathi Arasu at http://mathysblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-post_21.html
The blogger gave a reference to Sri. Vincent -, who is a pioneer in green movement, in his own simple ways. His blog in Tamizh is informative, with many tips on how to live in harmony with nature and how to ensure, that the land stays green. He has lot of innovative ideas on growing plants, in containers, and on terrrace.
http://maravalam.blogspot.in/2010/03/blog-post_10.html
Here is a video uploaded by Sri. Vincent in respect of water conservation, worth viewing and circulating too.
http://maravalam.blogspot.in/2010/03/40.html
Another interesting historical fact about the fall of Agra fort and the deafeat of ShahJahan, by his son, using the water shortage here
http://maravalam.blogspot.in/
Water conservation - A compulsion of our times , is the blog written by Sri.Mohd. Ali here http://pettagum.blogspot.in/2012/03/blog-post_4408.html
Mr.Ali has been vocal about how to save the rain water, and how to harvest it. I would like to give a gist of what he has explained in the following paragraph.
"Rain water can be harvested, either for direct use, or for storing below the ground level.There are some basic procedures to be followed for storing under the ground level, thus increasing the water table. The rain water harvesting programme instituted by TN government(while Ms.JJ was the CM ) did improve the water table in Chennai.
Another important point is that the existing wells should not allowed to go to seed, or closed. The rain water can easily be channeled for collection in to the wells. This will surely improve the water table in that area, apart from increasing the quality of water.
The borewells which are dug out above the rock table and not too deep, also need to be replenished with rain water harvesting. This will improve the water levels in the borewells and will be useful in summer months"
I would like to share that , ten years ago, we connected pipes on the terrace, to the dried up well and started collecting rain water. We have also left lot of area unpaved around the house. Apart from the well, we also let the water flow into the borewell area, to soak the water in.
This summer there is serious water shortage in Hyderabad . There are no tankers available on demand, and it takes 10 days to even get one . The Government water supply is seriously hampered , and they are distributing tankers , if booked, once a month only.
Needless to say, so far , we are getting water in our borewell, sufficient for our daily use. Thanks to rain water harvesting.:-)
Updated on 30th March 2012
This topic is hot right now, hot due to weather,a nd due to lack of water availability.
Here is another link about rain water harvesting, wish Governments and people take notice.
http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/4026-water-gandhi-in-limca-book-of-records?s=rss
Thanks to Water Gandhi, somewhere someone cares.
Added on 13.05.2012 Motehr's day
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/360-degree/water-starved-water-stressed-008
Interesting ideas from an expert! Hope govt. takes note.
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The amount of built up space that is not used for water harvesting in Hyderabad is enormous. Other than apartment and housing complexes, government offices and utilities like offices, stations, airports, university and college campuses, parks, etc., are ideal places to initiate water harvesting projects. More developers include water harvesting as a feature on their promotional material, but none of them materialize.
ReplyDeleteThanks Subhorup,
ReplyDeleteThis needs to be addressed by all intelligent young and old people. This is life saver itself. Why are we not taking it seriously, is the worry.
Instead of making empty noises, politicians and NGos could do something constructive.
Unless common people pitch in, nothing can be achieved.
this is really an enlightening post for ppl like me who r completely unaware of this issue. thank u so much for sharing the info and i did go through the link on ur wordpress blog as well. will keep these facts in mind.
ReplyDeleteWater conservation is going to be one the most important issues in the next decade!
ReplyDeleteHere is my blog entry about World Water Day:
http://nicholasjv.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/world-water-day-2012.html
Great to be reminded about the urgent need for water conservation.In Punjab we people squander water with impunity.People waste countless litres of water washing their driveways and cars etc.
ReplyDeleteBut worrying signs of water level going down have been taken into account.The Govt. has forbidden farmers from transplating rice saplings before the monsoons as water needs to stand in the fields till it matures.Keep up the crusade as long as you can.
Debajyoti,
ReplyDeleteThanks. We need to educate young people about this issue. In Deccan, there is acute shortage every year.
Uppalji, I understand, Punjab is the land of rivers, and people are not used to conserve water.
ReplyDeletebut here in Deccan, we are having this problem every year, and this year it is more.
Thanks Nick. I have linked your page to my WP blog.
ReplyDeleteLoved your page. Simple and sweet.
Well we all need to work it out. Though water is not a scrcity at this part of the country, there is already a negative balance building up. Harvesting does hold hope for the future.
ReplyDeleteTN govt has enforced a law which advices every house to have rain water harvesting facility. that is very commendable.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your efforts.
Bangalore has grown haphazardly.
ReplyDeleteRain harvesting is the solution to future water crisis.
Good collection of posts on this.
Hi Leo Paw, welcome!
ReplyDeleteyes,it does, and we have to popularise it.
Welcome Mak, I appreciate TN Govt's action. If the Govt. wills, good things happen!
ReplyDeleteWelcome Indrani,
ReplyDeleteTrue, I'm watching tankers plying regularly , in Bangalore city, since three years, Sad!
Very informative post. Nice to see someone writing on issues which have quite a big impact on the future as we know it.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Ramakantji,
ReplyDeleteWater issue is becoming a hot topic for us in Hyderabad this year.
My mom's side family lives in RK Puram (near Sainikpuri area) and I have witnessed myself the water table going down over the last 25 years. The borewells are simply giving up there. I have seen in Germany that if you build a house, by law you are asked to take make proper provisions for rain water. I believe in India, not just government intervention but initiatives from local people are needed foremost.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Orchestra of Life!
ReplyDeleteIn Hyderabad , the citizens are not so worried. I really can't understand why people do not complain tot he authorities. Either they are happy with the present conditions, or have lost faith in the system.
I personally feel that the people have adopted a different and crazy strategy towards such issues.
ReplyDeleteInstead of tacking such problems head-on, we have focused all our energies in making more and more money (by hook or by crook) to pay for alternate solutions irrespective of the dire consequences of such solutions !
True, the Orchestra of life!
ReplyDeleteWe dredge sand from river beds for building our homes, and grumble when flooding takes place.
WE dig deeper bore wells and spoil the rocks and also the water table, and waste the water , with no thoughts for future.
We will go and put money in Temple Hundi and expect salvation!
We desperately need rain water harvesting in Bangalore. Our water table has sunk alarmingly low.It is scary.
ReplyDeletehttp://rachnaparmar.com
Hi Rachna,
ReplyDeleteYes, we need this technique, not only in Bangalroe, in otehr towns and cities too. In villages, we need to continue to conserve water harvesting in ponds and well.
We are neglecting this most important aspect, and we will pay for these acts of omission, through the generations ahead.
indeed post
ReplyDeleteThanks Krishna for visiting my blog. I think there is a problem in commenting on my blog, due to some Google adjustments, it seems. See here http://subhorup.blogspot.in/2012/01/blogspot-url-redirect-country-domain.html
ReplyDelete