According to Hindu mythology, the river Kaveri was born when Sage Agastya’s kamandalu (pot) tipped, and thus flowed through the land. The river was a symbol of motherhood, of spirit, and of the nurturer. It is the same mother that we fight over today.
In the middle of a controversial dispute of how the Kaveri will be shared, a film titled “The Story of Kaveri”, has been created by Reforest India, which sheds light on the real question: What are we really fighting for?
Says director, Vinod Eshwer in conversation with The Better India, “From the time of the Cholas, people have been fighting for the Kaveri. What people don’t realise is that it’s like people fighting over who gets to keep a dead body. The river is dying, and once it’s gone, what will we be fighting for?”
The film artfully expresses the struggle of Kaveri, a mother, whose veins bleed with the torture she goes through. It was released in three languages, Tamil, Kodava, and Kannada (coinciding with the regions through which the Kaveri flows).
It forces us to think about what we should be focused on: how we can save our dying rivers.
“We used real locations along the Kaveri. I remember we were shooting along a cracked riverbed when I struck up a conversation with the local villagers. I asked them where the river was. They said it was gone because the gods were angry at them. As I kept questioning them, I realised that these people, who lived off the land, had failed to make the connection that without forests, there would be no water”, recalls Vinod.
While the film was created in April of last year, Vinod was reluctant to release it. The time just wasn’t right. So, the project was shelved, until a later date.
It was on the morning of the Kaveri verdict when he finally realised that it was time to share his message with the world.
With little fanfare, the film was released.
So, what does Vinod think we should do to save our rivers?
“Plant a tree. It doesn’t take much; anyone can do it. If the film inspires people to take action, then that means I made the right connection”, he says.
Recurring outbreaks of fire in the Bellandur Lake in Bengaluru have caused much consternation amongst the city’s residents. How can the city’s largest lake, spread over 906 acres, catch fire?
Until the 1980s, the lake was home to a vibrant ecosystem with various species of birds, insects and fish thriving in it. It was also a popular destination for boat rides and family picnics. Today, the lake has become a cesspool, marked by fires and toxic foam, which occasionally spills over onto the city’s roads.
Last month there was a major fire that broke out on the lake, which raged on for several hours. The Indian Army had to be brought in to douse the fire. Both the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city’s apex municipal body, and the state pollution control board (PCB) suspected that alleged “miscreants” were behind the fire. As per an Indian Express report on last month’s incident, the PCB alleged that “miscreants set dry grass on the lakeshore ablaze.”
Going by this half-baked theory, the BBMP will step up surveillance in and around the lake using ex-army personnel and drones, according to The New Indian Express. They will patrol the areas around the lake, while “pilot camera-mounted drones” will fly over this massive water body. Who are these ex-army personnel? They are from the Madras Engineer Group (Madras Sappers) unit. The BBMP has also requested the service of two ex-Army personnel to operate the drones.
Additionally, the municipal body is also purchasing a motorboat for surveillance in and around the lake at the cost of Rs 2.5 lakh. “I have requested for someone from Madras Sappers to navigate the boat. The water is shallow and slushy, and there is a lot of hyacinths which makes it tough to manoeuvre it, and so we need the Army’s expertise,” said a senior BBMP official to the TNIE.
What these measures don’t resolve are the root causes of the toxic foam and fire that have become a recurring feature of the once-pristine Bellandur lake. Municipal bodies have failed to adequately regulate the explosion in real estate development surrounding the lake, resulting in the unregulated flow of sewage. With industries also mushrooming around the lake, toxic effluents have also flowed into the lake with little resistance.
Bellandur lake fire. (Source: Facebook)
“Discharge of untreated effluents (rich in hydrocarbons) with accidental fire (like throwing cigarettes, beedi) has led to the fire in the lake,” says a recent Indian Institute of Science study.
“Incidence of foam catching fire are due to compounds with high flammability, i.e., mostly higher hydrocarbons and organic polymers from nearby industries…High wind coupled with the high intensity of rainfall leads to the upwelling of sediments with the churning of water as it travels from a higher elevation to lower elevation, forming froth due to phosphorous,” the IISC study added.
The degeneration of Bengaluru’s lakes stems from the notorious builder-politician nexus which has rendered the BBMP and State PCB powerless to do anything about it. If anything, this is about the lack of political will to regulate the spurt of unplanned urban growth. Surveillance by ex-army personnel and drones will do little to prevent such incidents from occurring again.
However, there are solutions that authorities can implement in tandem with various stakeholders dedicated to cleaning up our fresh water bodies. Adding a mixture of nutrients to diatom algae, for example, can aid the process of treating large volumes of contaminants in the lake. There are also techniques like bio-remediation and bio-ozolyte, which were used to restore the Hauz Khas lake in the national capital. Innovative students from Bangalore’s CMR Institute of Engineering, for example, also found way to use fly ash to treat industrially polluted water or waterbodies.
It’s up to the residents of Bangalore to put necessary, and consistent pressure on civic authorities to address these concerns on war-footing. We cannot wait for the next time the lake catches fire.
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As cities across India are facing a severe shortage of water, Coimbatore has been trying to preserve and recharge its groundwater levels. At the forefront of this change is Siruthuli, an NGO that is dedicated to cleaning Coimbatore, and infusing green methods throughout the city!
Coimbatore, which was once a place of abundant rainfall, was shaken to reality following a drought in 2003.
As part of its initiative to recharge groundwater levels in the city, Siruthuli has implemented rainwater harvesting structures (RWH).
“In 2003, Coimbatore received 65% less rainfall than in previous years. This made us release the need to save water, and harvest it when there was adequate rainfall,” says Shruthi Suresh, a representative of the organisation.
The organisation conducted a series of geo-hydrological studies in 2005, to better analyse how to approach the conservation of groundwater in the region. In association with the Corporation of Coimbatore, Siruthuli began conducting rainwater harvesting structures in various locations across the city.
However, one of the significant challenges of the construction was the fact that Coimbatore was primarily a hard rock structure, and thus percolation of water was difficult. The organisation persevered and came up with the idea of drilling bore wells for groundwater.
“We came up with this technique to recharge the groundwater. We recommended two types of structures using this technique. The first simply recharges the aquifers, while the other not only recharges but also pumps the harvested waters so that it can be used,” she explains.
According to Shruthi, the structures are installed in both open spaces, as well as on roadsides.
Today, thanks to the efforts of this organisation, Coimbatore has more than 600 rainwater harvesting structures in different locations across the city.
However, on average it has been observed that the open spaces have seen a much higher level of maintenance than the ones on the roadside ones. There have been instances where some of the roadside RWH structures have been shut down for new roads and construction.
However, the organisation is optimistic and has seen significant growth in groundwater tables, from the time the wells have been implemented. This can be seen in the table below:
The water that is harvested from the ground is what is used extensively for not only daily use but as drinking water. It, therefore, becomes imperative for the citizens of the city, to maintain and use the water judiciously.
Today, even with a shortage of water, Coimbatore maintains stable and sustainable groundwater tables.
This initiative goes along with one of the organisation’s chief objectives, titled, “Water Watch,” under which, they aim to not only recharge groundwater, but also rejuvenate water bodies, and restore the River Noyyal. The river, which once had 34 streams, is now reduced to just four.
In the future, Siruthuli plans to conduct a comprehensive study of the entire region. This will be done to better understand natural drains, vegetation, groundwater levels, land use, and livelihoods. The study will form the basis for developing watershed concepts, RWH structures, and more. These will be applied across Coimbatore, after a series of awareness campaigns.
Siruthuli has also been involved in spreading the message of going green and educating the next generation for the same. You can read about their initiatives here!
If you have seen the frothing lakes of Bellandur and Varthur in Bangalore, and the countless other polluted water bodies that dot the nation, you will know that water contamination is a real issue.
Fortunately, there are ways that we, as active citizens, can consciously make environmentally-friendly choices. One of the main reasons that lakes foam is due to the usage of chemical detergents and soaps. This can be easily avoided by making your own homemade soap. This is exactly what PR Vivek (the Director Editorial of Hill+Knowlton India) does every Saturday.
“I’ve been researching about sustainable living for a long time. I was looking at ways to reduce my wastage, and making my own soap was something I started experimenting with,” he says in a conversation with The Better India.
Initially, Vivek would put soap berries into a sock and throw it in the washing machine, but he was curious about what else he could do.
Through trial-and-error, he eventually created his own concoction of a homemade multipurpose liquid soap, made of all natural ingredients!
The soap berry is part of the lychee family. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Follow this step-by-step guide, to make your own, all-purpose soap!
1. Crack the soap berries
Take about 30 soap berries, and use a hammer to crack them. Remove the pit inside, and use only the rinds.
2. Put the rinds into boiling water
This process not only extracts the juice from the soap berries but also softens the rinds, for the next step.
3. Blitz the rinds
Once the rinds become slightly soft, they should be blitzed and put back into the water to infuse with the liquid.
4. Strain the liquid
Finally, after 30 minutes of boiling, the liquid should be strained. You will know the soap is ready when the consistency is slightly thicker than water, and when touched, has a soapy texture.
Vivek recommends adding a spoon of vinegar so that the mixture will not spoil as easily. Alternatively, you can also use the leftover rinds of any citrus fruits.
Simply place them into the soap, and it adds another cleansing element.
The soap should be used within the week, to prevent fungus or mould from forming. In the off chance that a mould does form, scrape it off, and use the soap. Since there are no preservatives and the ingredients are taken straight from nature, it is best to use it as soon as possible.
It can be used as a detergent, body wash, shampoo, and more! The all-natural ingredients make it compatible with all skin types.
However, the best part of using a natural detergent such as this one is that it can also mitigate the effects of detergent. In a way, it acts as a purifier and does not pollute groundwater! Try this recipe at home, and let us know how it worked for you in the comments below.
With the onset of summer, many places across India have begun to face acute water scarcity and have been buying water from the neighbouring regions that have replenishable water sources.
Pallikkathodu, a village in the Kottayam district of Kerala, is one such place that has been suffering from water scarcity for a while. Even though many government projects were employed for the cause, they all proved to be futile.
However, now there is hope.
One resident’s technological intervention will now provide drinking water to 40-odd families of Pallikkathodu and has become a prototypical example that can be adopted by the state government and local self-governing bodies of other regions grappling with water shortage.
MR Ajayakumar’s water project incorporates a simple concept—the pump house of a well in the village will be controlled by a mobile phone-based software!
Reaching out to families living within a radius of 3 km, the modus operandi of the system rests on motors in the pump house being controlled via the SIM card in the users phone.
The well and pump house was built in the land provided by Chirakkarott Sreedharan, who is one of the residents of the village, reports Mathrubhumi.
Whenever a household requires water, all they need to do is to call that number and the motor will start pumping. Similarly, one has to call the same number to stop the motor. Each family pitched in ₹30,000 to fund the project.
They still have to route the water to the well, but Ajayakumar’s solution has proven to be quite cost-effective, as previously the families had no option but to buy water every single week.
Additionally, most families do not have a well in their compound, and no borewell project came to their respite during the time of intense water scarcity.
The genius of Ajayakumar’s drinking water project, especially in a water-short village like Pallikkathodu, is that these families will no longer require an operator to man the pump with the automatic mechanism. They will only have to pay the electricity charges and can save the water tax.
Kudos to Ajayakumar, as his simple yet impactful idea, will help numerous families who no longer have to suffer from the wrath of summer or burn their pockets purchasing water week after week.
The current process of billing the residents of Mumbai for their use of water is one that takes days to finish. Staff members of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) go from house to house to note down readings. These are then filed into their system, based on which, the residents get their water bill delivered to their home.
There have been several occasions where residents have complained that the bills dispatched to them were incorrect, or that they received them past the deadline. In a few instances, people have also complained about how paying these bills is a cumbersome task.
Taking cognisance of their complaints, the BMC is all set to put an end to these grievances by bringing in a new software that will digitally calculate water consumption, and make the entire process of water billing clear as.. well, water.
Representational image of a man using a hand pump. Source.
Here is all that you should know about it:
1. The basic idea about this update is to involve citizens during the billing process. The BMC staff member will check units using the updated software, and let you confirm the numbers before recording the bill.
2. You will also be able to click pictures of the water metres and send them to a designated email address.
3. You can pay your bill using methods like Internet banking, and e-wallet platforms like Paytm, saving you the trouble of constantly keeping up with the task.
The new water bill system promises to be more user-friendly. Source.
4. One of the main issues with the current system is that the BMC uses an outdated computer platform. For this, it has handed over the responsibility to update the software to a contractor—M/s ABM Knowledgeware—that will also maintain it for five years. They have complete liberty to come up with various ways to make the system transparent, fast and efficient.
5. The new system promises to solve the problem of late dispatch of bills, especially in slums. Speaking to The Hindu, Ramesh Bambale, the Deputy Municipal Commissioner said, “At present, people can pay bills online, but the system that generates bills is outdated. People, even slum dwellers, with a valid water meter will benefit from this method. Our staffer will take the reading on site and generate a bill. They can use any method of payment.”
The user-friendly and transparent nature of the new software is certainly a welcome change!
The proposal was submitted to the BMC standing committee on March 28, 2018, and was eventually passed. It is currently being worked upon, and the BMC is confident that the new method will result in greater transparency, end manual errors, and ensure timely payment.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
Featured image for representational purposes. Source.
Mercury levels are soaring across the country, and Bengaluru is no exception. From early morning to late evening, one is almost always drenched in sweat. Although the scattered rain showers on some afternoons bring some relief, it is only temporary.
Well, these weather conditions are likely to last for another one month or so, and for all those Bengalureans, who are stressing about the lack of access to drinking water, a new form of ‘ATMs’ might be a blessing in disguise.
Even as the IT-hub is a highly developed urban city, thousands of its residents still do not get pipeline access to drinking water and are heavily dependent on bubble tops— 20-litre plastic cans of water that need to be ordered almost every week.
These bubble tops may cost anything between Rs 30 to 80, and for people belonging to the economically backward sections of the society, spending so much money on water on a weekly basis is a cost they would rather not bear.
However, the water ATM project is set to change things.
Started in 2013, and usually funded by MLAs and businesspeople, these water ATMs come as little cans of happiness for those who cannot afford to pay Rs 50 for water every week.
All that you need to do is insert a Rs 5 coin in the machine, place your empty bubble top can under the dispenser and wait.
Representational images of Water ATMs in India. Source.
Speaking to the Times of India, Suresh Kumar, a resident of Shantinagar, said, “This scheme should be extended across the city. I cannot afford to buy a water purifier at home, and water ATM has come as a big relief as the water is safe for consumption. In fact, we do not know if the water supplied by private distributors is safe to drink.”
The project has already grown by leaps and bounds, and enterprises like Piramal Sarvajal have set up over 330 ATMs.
The residents of Bengaluru seem to be satisfied with the scheme and form long queues at the dispenser to get potable water at 1/10th the rate of private distributors. The highly subsidised rates, good quality of water and easy access make the wait in queues worth it!
While metropolitan cities in India can boast about their many infrastructural and technological advancements, and how real estate deals have never been better, there is one aspect that has not seen any development.
The circumstances have spiralled so badly out of control, that if we don’t act soon, the consequences will be severe and irreversible.
Freshwater bodies in most Indian cities, which once were our source of drinking water, have sadly become nothing less than stinking eyesores and one could go as far as to call them health hazards, thanks to indiscriminate trashing and the illegal discharge of toxic industrial effluents.
One of the major cities suffering from this crisis is Chennai.
Across the city, there are about 206 water bodies that have been relentlessly abused, and one can see mounting piles of garbage and effluents across these ponds and lakes.
In a bid to save these bodies, the Chennai Corporation has come up with a unique idea, inviting the local communities and corporates based in the city to adopt and take ownership of these water bodies for a specific time period!
“The corporates or the communities can adopt any of the 206 water bodies, develop and maintain them. They can own it for a specified time period. The residents will benefit from the initiative,” said an official to The Hindu.
However, the first phase of the cleanup drive would be shouldered by Chennai Corporation, under which municipal solid waste from all the 206 water bodies and any form of encroachments in areas surrounding these bodies will be removed.
Only after the completion of these tasks, would the permission for adoption and maintenance be entrusted to the local communities and corporates by the Corporation.
A portal to facilitate the process of adoption is already in the pipeline and will enable interested parties to sign up and pool in funds for the pertaining water body’s eco-restoration initiative. The handing over of the water bodies for adoption and maintenance will be in process once the Corporation’s Special Officer’s Council resolution is passed.
The idea to involve the public and corporates in this project had arisen following the financial constraints faced by the Corporation, which has been reportedly spending crores of rupees on eco-restoration of these water bodies earlier but to no avail.
The civic body kickstarted the project by clearing the solid waste from Oma Kulam in the Madhavaram zone, last year.
According to Zonal officers, about 12,000 tonnes of garbage and 6,000 tonnes of silt were removed from the pond, which had previously been the municipality dumping ground, following many complaints of extreme groundwater pollution from residents in neighbouring localities including Sarangapani Nagar, Thirumurugan Nagar, Gilburn Nagar, Omakulam Medu and Shanmuga Sundaram Nagar.
“The corporation has started clearing solid waste from Oma Kulam in Madhavaram zone using its own funds. We will develop walkways near the 3.66-acre pond. The water quality has improved. We have increased the depth of the pond to 8 feet. We will deepen it by another 6 feet. About 70 percent of the work has been completed. However, the project is very expensive,” said another official.
The Corporation authorities will undertake eco-restoration work for other ponds in tangent with the Oma Kulam project, following a study that would evaluate the extent of water quality deterioration and then remove solid waste from these water bodies. They also plan to develop bunds, walker lanes, high mast lamps, parks and children’s play areas across all the water bodies.
Water is a basic human need. However, when we spend most of our days caught up in our busy routines, it is easy to overlook this essential requirement.
In a bid to ensure that employees remember to hydrate themselves at work, Anand Damani and Mayur Tekchandaney, the founders of Briefcase, a design consultancy based out of Mumbai, have come up with a bottle which has an extremely clever feature.
The bottle is fitted with a cap which glows and beeps lightly every hour or so, depending on how often the bottle is opened!
Image for representational purposes. Source: Pixabay
The reasoning behind this is simple. According to the company, a behavioural change can only become permanent when it becomes a habit. For that, three things must come together: trigger, action, and reward, and this idea is the foundation of the Smart Water Bottle.
Here, the trigger is the reminder on the water bottle, the action is drinking water, and the reward is hydration. Over time, this can become a habit.
To test their hypothesis, Briefcase conducted an experiment—which yielded surprising results!
You can watch the video below to know what happened!
Like many indigenous plants and trees, the Moringa tree has numerous benefits. Like did you know, the seeds of the plant can be used to purify water?
Moringa seeds contain a natural cationic protein (MOCP), which has been used as an antimicrobial treatment for water.
But it’s not all that easy. The challenge with using Moringa seeds for purifying water is that they release other water-soluble proteins and organic matter, which increases the concentration of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the water.
Source: PX Here
The presence of this DOM supports the re-growth of pathogens in treated water, preventing its storage and later use. Meaning there is only a limited period in between which the water can be consumed.
Now researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used sand along with the seeds to create a viable water purification system.
The researchers used functionalised sand or f-sand, which is basically charged sand that helps retain the antimicrobial property of the moringa seeds. The dissolved organic matter is rinsed away, inhibiting the growth of bacteria henceforth.
The data indicated that the functionalised sand (f-sand) removes microparticles and pathogens from water, renders E. coli bacteria non-viable, and significantly reduces the turbidity of the water.
The Moringa tree, commonly known as the ‘drumstick tree’ is cultivated for food and natural oils and is native to the Indian peninsula. Every part of the tree is beneficial, from the bark to its roots and now even its seeds.
This technique, the researchers claim, is low-cost with the f-sand being easily reusable.
According to WHO, about 2.1 billion people suffer from lack of safe drinking water. And we can be sure that this number is only expected to rise. However, innovations like these can help curb the danger.
A growing demand for water implies the need for an improved understanding of our resources, and the ability to manage that demand in an equitable and sustainable way.
Wells, not dams, have been the temples of modern India
Picture for representation only. Source: Wikimedia
India is a groundwater economy. At 260 cubic km per year, our country is the highest user of groundwater in the world–we use 25 percent of all groundwater extracted globally, ahead of USA and China.
When we think of water however, our brains have been programmed to think of large dams and rivers, and not wells. This, despite the fact that India has at least four crore irrigation wells and millions of farmers who use well water in agriculture.
India was not the highest extractor of groundwater in the 1960s and 70s; the Green Revolution changed that. At independence, the share of groundwater in agriculture was 35 percent; today it is a startling 70 percent.
Looking at water as a common pool resource
People tend to think of groundwater only through an agriculture or urban water supply lens. This however, is just a supply-side perspective that lacks an understanding of what the resource is, and what we need to do to ensure better use of it.
We need to think of groundwater as a common pool resource; the challenge, however, is that this common pool resource is almost invisible.
In villages, the perception often is, “This is my land and hence the water below it is my water.” But the question we’ve been asking communities to think about is, “How can you own the water below your land, when the water in your well has come from underneath someone else’s land and the water from under your land is naturally going to flow underneath your other neighbours’ lands?”
Once this has been explicitly stated and explained, people are quick to understand it especially if you use science derived from data that has been collected by communities themselves.
But while the science is about hydrogeology and the mapping of water sources, the more important aspect is the application of this science – which is effective only if it involves bringing the resource (aquifers) and communities together in the processes and solutions – what we call Participatory Ground Water Management (PGWM).
Thinking about water as a resource and not just a source
Photo Courtesy: ACWADAM
The conventional thinking is that check dams–which are essentially percolation tanks–will collect water that will percolate and recharge the groundwater. A common misconception among both the communities as well as organisations working in watershed management is that it is the wells that are being recharged.
But wells are only the sources of water and a mechanism to access water and distribute it according to needs and often, demands. Wells are not the resource; aquifers are the resource. (Aquifers are underground layers of porous and permeable rock, capable of storing groundwater and transmitting it to wells and springs.)
If you can identify your aquifer, then you know precisely where to put your recharge structure (or, check dam). So now, instead of four check dams that you would place in areas where ‘water collects’, you could make do with two accurately positioned check dams where the aquifers are, thereby reducing costs by half while also ensuring optimal recharge.
Usually, once the watershed programme is implemented, no one cares about what happens to the water in the aquifer. Farmers tend to dig deeper, make larger wells with the presumption that unlimited water is now available for the taking. Such actions are not necessarily sustainable.
It is therefore important to move the focus from wells (sources) to aquifers (resources). By changing this lens, the focus then shifts from merely looking at what is going in and coming to a variety of aspects: How do you balance livelihoods and ecosystem needs, or what happens to economic returns from groundwater and how does the drinking water security get affected when an aquifer depletes.
Communities need to have this knowledge
Having understood the theory and implications behind aquifers and ground water, communities and villages have been keen on getting trained in these areas. Imparting these key hydrogeological skills to nonprofits and rural practitioners is therefore key to improving decentralised water management in India.
Over the last 20 years, we at ACWADAM, have trained para workers within communities. These individuals are now able to intelligently design the watersheds, talk to their communities, monitor progress, and ensure better decision-making and management of groundwater.
As a result, communities are more aware of the uses of check dams – why they are built in specific locations, what their purpose is, and what that will mean for the villages.
Panchayats are also now asking for knowledge and help. They are even willing to pay for the costs incurred, which for us, signals just how important this is to the village as a whole.
The decisions on water should rest with the people
Photo Courtesy: ACWADAM
90 percent of rural India’s drinking water comes from groundwater and 75 per cent of agriculture is groundwater-based. In urban India, 50 percent of the water supply is groundwater-based.
Given this high dependence on groundwater, it is extremely important that we bring democratic processes to groundwater management. When we share our hydrogeology results with communities, we at ACWADAM don’t influence the decisions, we don’t tell them what to do.
We share the results – this is saline and is a larger aquifer; this other one has fresh water and gets used faster. And we give them ‘protocols’ – a menu of possible options to decide upon. We tell the villagers that these are the limitations, and these are the possibilities.
This information serves as a starting point for a dialogue. The community then decides what they should do and what they should avoid.
When communities collect data and you derive knowledge from that data, they will trust the data. And they are more likely to change their behaviour and practices. When you move the decision-making and power to the people themselves, change is not as difficult as we make it out to be.
It also then becomes change that is based on scientifically informed decisions; there is seldom total failure from such decisions.
Since it’s about water, there are always power dynamics at play
The science of groundwater is not only about hydrology; it’s sociology, psychology, politics, economics and ecology as well. The power dynamics around sharing are about people as well as the stakes involved–who has how much stake in what. The landless have more stake in ecology, the large farmers have a stake in economics, the small marginal farmers in sociology.
The first step towards getting people to even think about sharing is to have them cooperate in some formal-informal capacity. Unless people and communities cooperate, you can’t protect the resource, you can’t make it sustainable.
It, therefore, needs good governance
Photo Courtesy: ACWADAM
Surface water is typically characterised by conflict–who’s getting what water, how much, where is it coming from, do we want to bring it from further and further away. Being above ground and visible, people are quick to fight over it!
With groundwater, there is limited conflict; instead, people compete with each other because one can compete endlessly over invisible resources; you can go deeper, and you can have as many water sources as you want on your land.
Our social narratives, in fact, are built around groundwater. The woman of the house who manages drinking water and her husband who handles agriculture are often managing water from two different sources for two different activities. Often, these sources tap the same aquifer. Hence, the couple are in tacit competition without being aware that they are; both their needs are met by the same underlying aquifer. So, if you use up too much water for agriculture, then drinking water is a problem and scarcity results. How do you tackle this?
All of this, therefore, needs good governance and good management. And governance itself is based on science, participation management and institutions in the village. The Panchayat, which usually makes these decisions, is therefore critical to the success of this approach. We don’t go and work in an area unless we have formal permission from the Panchayat.
This approach needs more supporters
Participatory groundwater management needs more support. Corporates often say that it is a high hanging fruit – since it is dependent on the annual rain-cycle, it takes a year for the research/hydro-geological study, and only then can any of the actual work start on building check dams or changing usage patterns. The results take time to ‘show’.
Moreover, results are usually in the form of aggregated small changes—drinking water security, improved crop yields and so on–and given the invisible nature of the resource itself, these visible changes are often difficult to perceive. However, such changes are longer lasting, making the effort sustainable and efficient.
It is much easier to invest in the digging of bore wells and building of tanks. But if we, as a nation, want to ensure that the access to water is adequate, equitable, and sustainable, we must look at both science and community participation for answers, rather than building more and more infrastructure in pursuit of visibility.
This shift is perception will go a long way in changing the way we look at groundwater in India.
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About the authors:
Dr Himanshu Kulkarni is the executive director and secretary at Advance Centre for Water Resources Development and Management ACWADAM, Pune. He has been actively involved in the advocacy for stronger programmes on groundwater management in India, through his inputs, more recently as Chairman, Working Group on Sustainable Groundwater Management for India’s 12th Five Year Plan.
Uma Aslekar is a senior scientist with ACWADAM. She has been working with ACWADAM since 2002. A geographer by education, Ms Alsekar completed her M.Sc. in Geomorphology from the University of Pune.
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Featured image for representation only. Source: Flickr
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With skies opening up on Mumbai, heavy downpour has been lashing the financial capital of India for the last few days. But did you know that these billions of litres of rainwater have an enormous electric potential, if tapped the right way?
Well, they do, and Reyhan Jamalova — a 15-year-old girl from Azerbaijan — has successfully invented a smart device that harvests the energy of raindrops to generate electric power!
The idea for Rainergy (as Jamalova has named her device) came to the 9th grade student after her father wondered aloud, “If you can make energy from wind, why not from rain?” Prodded into thinking about the answer to this question, she paired up with her friend, Zahra Gasimzade, to build a device that could harvest energy from rainwater.
The duo were assisted by their physics tutors during their four months of designing and calculations, with the government of Azerbaijan providing the seed money (USD 20,000).
Simply put, Rainergy is a 9-meter-high device with four main parts: a rainwater collector, a water tank, an electric generator and a battery. Once the tank fills up with the help of the collector, the rainwater is allowed to flow through the generator at high speed. The electricity generated by this process is stored in the battery and can be used for household purposes.
Based on this simple system, Jamalova and her friend have designed two prototypes that use only seven litres of rainwater: a small one that can light up three LED lamps and a bigger one that can light up nearly 22 LED lamps. As such, they can be combined to relieve pressure on the local power grid and create a backup source of electricity.
In addition to the fact that Rainergy is effective even when there is no rain (thanks to its battery storage), it is also very eco-friendly — it emits only about 10g/kwh of CO2 during electricity production, a low amount compared to other alternative energy solutions.
Moreover, while piezoelectric rain generators produce only 25 mW of power, the more efficient Rainergy produces 22W of power. In fact, according to Rainergy’s website, the low-cost device can generate roughly 3,626 kWH of electricity in a year, enough to light up a small family’s household.
“We designed Rainergy to produce electricity from the rain, to solve the problem of energy deficiency in rainy and low income countries,”Jamalova told Haaretz, adding that her motto is to “Light up one house at a time”.
Unsurprisingly, Jamalova’s innovation has attracted interest from countries that receive heavy rainfall and have several underprivileged communities that lack access to electricity, such as Philippines, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Rain clouds hovering over Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli sea link
In India especially, it garnered much appreciation when it was first presented at the Global Summit of Entrepreneurship in November 2017. In fact, Jamalova also received a special mention in Ivanka Trump’s speech on the occasion.
Rainergy’s young creator also received an honourable mention at the Model UN Conference in Azerbaijan in 2017 and made it to the final stage of the competition at ClimateLaunchpad, Europe’s largest green business idea competition. Moreover, Jamalova also earned a place on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List 2018 – the first Azerbaijani person in history to make the prestigious list!
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India is the largest user of groundwater with an estimated 230 cubic kilometers of groundwater per year, which is more than a quarter of the global usage.
But groundwater is rapidly becoming a threat to the population rather than a boon with harmful substances such as agrochemical residue leaching into the water table.
With a majority of the population in India, especially the rural communities, depending upon groundwater for their everyday use, it is becoming critical by the hour to develop techniques to clean underground water.
With this objective in mind, IIT Jodhpur has developed a low-cost, environment-friendly solution that uses the sun and Rajasthani clay to purify contaminated water.
Describing the technology, Sharma told The Times of India that when photocatalysts are exposed to sunlight, reactive oxygen is formed which destroys the contaminants present in the water.
“However, present set of photo catalysts are expensive and practically not viable. Also, they are very fine particles and difficult to retain after treatment of water,” he said, describing the previous conventional methods of using photocatalysts.
It was found that Rajasthani clay-based photo-catalysts are excellent specimens that can be used for this purpose. They maintain an inherent surface activity and can recover up to 99% after-water treatment.
And since it is natural clay, it has practically no threat to the environment or the human body.
Sharma said that another key feature of these clay photocatalysts is that they work well for pharmaceutical industry effluents.
The developed technology can be used to clean water from the textile industries, which have been subjugated to dyes and chemicals. This contaminated water is a major problem for Western Rajasthan.
With this cheap and environmentally friendly method, IIT Jodhpur is aiming to provide technical solutions for water purification in the local and remote communities by using a van, equipped with a photocatalytic water purification system.
They are also aiming to license the technology to businesses and organisations that can carry forward the technology to be implemented across India.
The residents of Moodbidri, a small town which lies 34 km northeast of Mangaluru, Karnataka, and is famous for its Basadis, or ancient Jain temples and shrines, have seemingly done a tremendous job by reviving its once perennial water bodies that had gone dry.
What’s even more impressive is that residents are doing this without any help from the Karnataka government.
Dependent on the Puchchemogaru dam set up across the Phalguni river for their water, the alarm bells went off when water levels dropped precipitously. The inflow of tourists during the summer makes matters worse, as the water consumption in the town rises by 30%.
“We realised that we could not depend on the river forever. So, we started looking inwards and found out that the 18 water bodies that were feeding our town for centuries could be our hope,” said Dr Muralikrishna, the driving force behind this endeavour to revive water bodies to Indiatimes.
Among the first water bodies which saw a revival in its fortunes was the Mohalla Kere tank, which is spread across 1.7 acres. Defunct for nearly 50 years and filled with waste because of rapid urbanisation and shoddy maintenance, the tank today is filled with clean and usable water, reports Indiatimes. Thanks to local efforts, there are over 100 dug wells that can supply water to an additional 200 families in addition to the 100 households they had earlier supported on a daily basis.
“Dug wells, bogs, and other minor water bodies are also coming back to life. The revival of all 18 tanks will cut our dependency on the Puchchemogaru dam for domestic use by at least 50%. It will also take care of at least 35% of Moodbidri’s drinking water needs”, says Dr LC Soans, a water conservationist who saved the nearby Kadala Kere tank from going bone dry, and pioneered the cultivation of pineapple through drip irrigation in the area, to the online publication.
Following the Mohalla Kere success, a local group took up the task of renovating Uliya Kere, a multi-level water body. “The system of holding the water in different tanks nearby was already in place. All we had to do was to open up the channels and desilt the tanks. Now, we have not one but three tanks full of fresh water,” says Dr Muralikrishna.
Helping him along the way were organisations like the Rotary Club and Dharmasthala temples, and even local colleges, students and their teachers have played their part.
Next on Dr Muralikrishna’s list is the Subhashnagar Kere.
“Reviving and maintaining these water bodies with people’s participation has been a herculean task. In some places like Ankasalay, there were no traces of a tank. Large portions did not show the legal boundaries, but we had to dig and expose the boundaries to establish the legality. We had to convince the people living around the place of the importance of revival of the tanks. Today, we have the full support of the people living around all 18 water bodies in Moodbidri,” he explained.
Karnataka state capital Bengaluru could learn a thing or two from Moodbidri.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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Earlier this year in June, the NITI Aayog delivered some concerning news for Indians.
If immediate remedial steps aren’t taken, India could face its ‘worst’ water crisis in history with the demand for potable water rising above supply by 2030.
Over 600 million people in India face high to extreme water stress (when the demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period or when poor quality restricts its use). In fact, inadequate access to potable water reportedly causes nearly 200,000 deaths every year.
Nearly 40% of India’s water supply comes from groundwater resources, that are being depleted at “unsustainable rates.” The NITI Aayog report states that 70% of India’s water supply is “contaminated.”
Aquifers are affected by biological contaminants like microbes and pathogens that can result in troublesome waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid.
Going further, government data states that “under-served rural areas,” which account for 650,000 villages, rely on groundwater for 85% of their requirements.
In the midst of these realities, Anjan Mukherjee, a former marine chief engineer, has developed the Taraltec Disinfection Reactor, a ‘fit and forget’ device, which converts contaminated water from borewell handpumps at the source to clean water by killing 99% of the microbes present in it.
A man of science and innovation, Anjan Mukherjee, an IIT dropout and IIM graduate, started Taraltec Solutions with his wife Piyul Mukherjee on January 23, 2017, to address the problem of contaminated groundwater in India’s poorest regions.
Since its inception, the startup has garnered various awards and prizes, winning the India Innovation Growth Program 2.0 Challenge earlier this month organised by the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology (DST), Lockheed Martin Corporation and Tata Trust.
Speaking to The Better India, Anjan is at pains to explain that the reactor isn’t a filter, but employs certain scientific principles inspired by bio-mimicry.
“The device converts the kinetic energy of the fluid into millions of targeted micro-bubbles each acting as localised reactors. This generates extreme heat, pressure and turbulence that release intense energy packets during the collapse of bubbles. The resultant shockwave, marked by a bang sound, lacerates and kills the microbes. The water, which is 99% safer than it was earlier, then emerges from the borewell or pump into the hands of those drawing it,” he says.
At present, Taraltec Solutions has priced this product at less than Rs 7500 per piece. The startup has few pending patents for this innovation.
The beauty of this innovation lies in how simple it is to fit and use. In under 30 minutes and without possessing any scientific knowledge or technical skill, one can retrofit the reactor into a hand pump or a motorised borewell, thus eliminating nearly any chance of waterborne diseases making their way. The maintenance cost of this device made of specially treated steel and engineering plastics is virtually non-existent, and it requires no fuel or electricity either, says Anjan.
“The pumping strokes done by a human being while withdrawing water from the hand pump powers the device to do its job,” says Piyul Mukherjee.
For the time being, the startup isn’t selling these reactors to individual customers, but is focusing on bulk buys to CSRs of companies, philanthropies and high net-worth individuals, says Anjan.
For example, villages in the Junnar Taluka of Pune district, Maharashtra, recently purchased 12 such reactors without any aid or assistance from government authorities or major corporations. Residents of the villages reportedly polled in their money and bought these reactors for their hand-pumps.
Going by startup parlance, Taraltec Solutions is of the bootstrapped variety. However, it is quite remarkable that it has managed to go from strength to strength with virtually no external funding and built the company from their personal finances.
“Manufacturing is done by third parties. There are some in West Bengal and Maharashtra. We presently have an assembly cluster in West Bengal and would be developing others in different parts of the country,” Anjan informs TBI.
(Source: Taraltec Solutions)
Surviving by word of mouth and major collaborations with big corporations, the company has thus far sold several hundreds of units impacting directly the lives of more than two lakh of people already. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) arms of major Indian corporations like Lupin, Godrej, Reliance, Tata Trust, Nalanda Foundation, Water Aid and Jubilant have teamed up with the startup to deploy the reactors in various parts of rural India. This process is on the verge of takeoff.
The Taraltec Disinfection Reactor is a zero maintenance and simple device that requires little technical skill to be installed in your hand pump or borewell and can be done by the local fitter without any specialized tools or training.
Considering the warning signs that the NITI Aayog has laid out before the Indian people, both the Centre and State governments could do a lot worse than at the very least explore the potential of this innovation in their plethora of public works schemes. Major corporations have seemingly bought into it. For India’s 650,000 under-served villages this could be the solution to their water woes.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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Citing its own data, the Central Government of India earlier this year stated that millions of people in India are at risk of consuming drinking water with high arsenic content.
According to the World Health Organisation, long-term exposure to arsenic-contaminated water can result in cancer and skin lesions.
Arsenic contamination has also been linked to cardiovascular disease and restricting cognitive development and lowering of IQ in children. The problem is widespread in multiple states, especially along the Indo-Gangetic plain.
Six states are considered arsenic affected by the Central Ground Water Board – West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Chhattisgarh.
Arsenic ends up in water by the dissolution of arsenic-bearing sediments and silts into groundwater aquifers that are in contact with arsenic-bearing strata.
Arsenic is tasteless, colourless, odourless, and highly toxic. Lifelong consumption of drinking water with arsenic even at its allowed maximum contaminant level (“MCL”) of 10 ppb (parts per billion) produces far more internal cancers than those produced from the next most hazardous regulated waterborne carcinogen at its MCL.
“For illustration, lifelong consumption of water with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) at their allowed MCL concentration causes 0.5 excess internal cancer per 100,000 people; arsenic causes 700. For 100,000 people drinking water, for their lifetime, at 250 ppb Arsenic level, 18,000 more people are predicted to suffer from internal cancers, compared to the baseline case of the same population drinking arsenic-free water,” says Dr. Arkadeep Kumar, a member of the Research team from the famous Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in a conversation with The Better India.
A collaborative team of top-notch researchers from University of California, Berkeley, led by the famous Dr. Ashok Gadgil—the man responsible for developing low cost water disinfection system (UV Waterworks) and cooking stove (Berkeley-Darfur Stove) for the poorest citizens of the world, and Global Change Programme of Jadavpur University led by Prof. Joyashree Roy, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) national fellow and member of Nobel Peace Prize winning panel of 2007 IPCC—have set up a very efficient and cost-effective system called Electrochemical Arsenic Remediation (ECAR) for removing arsenic contamination from drinking water.
Since 2016, this team of researchers from the two countries have operated an ECAR based water treatment plant out of a government school at Dhapdhapi village in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, delivering arsenic-free drinking water.
Water distribution to students of Dhapdhapi high school.
West Bengal, particularly its three districts of North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas, are among the worst affected in India when it comes to such contamination. The ECAR Project offers a viable solution for locals to get rid of arsenic contamination.
So, how does it work?
“ECAR works with steel electrodes immersed in the water to be treated, and a low-voltage power supply connected to them. During water treatment, rust is created. The rust oxidizes and captures arsenic, coagulates, settles, and is filtered out,” says Dr. Arkadeep Kumar, a team member of the ECAR research team.
Backed by multiple peer-reviewed scientific papers by the researchers and implementation handled by a technically proficient licensed entrepreneur, the ECAR offers locals affordable access to arsenic-safe drinking water.
Besides undergoing multiple long-term design tests across different locations, their water is regularly under the microscope at nationally accredited water-testing laboratories, adds a researcher from Global Change Programme, Jadavpur University.
“The key components of the ECAR plant are the rust formation chamber, coagulation and settling chamber to remove settled sludge, post-treatment filtering and UV treatment to provide additional layers of protection to ensure the product-water is fit and pleasant for drinking. There is careful management of arsenic-bearing sludge so that arsenic does not re-enter the environment. Finally, the system comes with a simple distribution system,” says a team member of the ECAR project.
As per the WHO recommendations, the upper limit for arsenic in drinking water is 10 micrograms of arsenic per litre of water (10 ppb).
Arsenic removal Reactor Tank.
“We have monitored the arsenic levels in the product water at our pilot ECAR plant at Dhapdhapi all along and have found it to be consistently producing treated water with arsenic level well below the WHO guideline levels of 10 ppb. The periodic testing carried on by Global Change Programme of Jadavpur University through NABL lab also found the product water to meet India’s potable water quality standard defined by IS 10500:2012. Results from our testing of product water at UC Berkeley facility for its arsenic content are displayed in the figure below, and these are consistent with the NABL results on file with the research team,” says Dr. Ashok Gadgil.
The data starting from April 2016 to January 2017 depicting the continuous effective removal of arsenic from initial arsenic levels of 250 parts per billion (ppb) to less than 10 ppb (WHO’s maximum contaminant level MCL is 10 ppb) during both pilot and distribution phases.
Funding for the project has come from diverse sources including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at University of California Berkeley, Jadavpur University, University Grants Commission of India, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), USAID’s Higher Education Solutions Network, and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, among others.
Professor Ashok Gadgil & Professor Joyashree Roy inspecting the reactor tank.
In constant coordination with governments at the district, panchayat, State and Central level, the project has developed over this two-year period.
The results on the ground have been pretty evident. Locals on the ground are talking about buying this water at Rs 6 per 10 litres, and seem generally satisfied with this intervention.
“We are satisfied with buying water for Rs 6 per 10 litres. We don’t use this water to cook and other activities, but just to drink. For cooking and other activities, however, we use tube well water. Yes, it may have arsenic, but we cannot afford to buy so much water. The family will need to spend at least Rs 600 per month to buy water just for cooking,” says one tea stall owner in the village, speaking to researchers on the ground.
Professor Joyashree Roy and project team member Sreeman Mypati tasting water from ECAR plant.
However, he goes onto state that some families can afford to buy this water, while there are others who don’t have the mentality to buy it for purposes like cooking.
“People come from far to buy their drinking water. They (a third-party private entity) ask us how much water we need on a monthly basis. Initially, they gave us a container of water for free, and now they take a monthly advance. The remaining money is carried forward for the next month. All these purchases happen with a card they give us like a ration card. Every family has a separate card,” he adds.
“Long before starting to operate the full-scale pilot plant on a regular commercial basis with a sustainable business model, Global Change Programme of Jadavpur University took due care to make private license holder to apply for and receive from the state government bodies documents providing the Consent to Establish (COE) and Consent to Operate (COO) for the licensed private entrepreneur at the plant,” says Prof. Joyashree Roy, speaking to The Better India.
Concerns do remain over the cost of water, but the price is way below Rs 10/ litre for any bottled water in the market and that’s the price average consumers will have to pay to drink arsenic-safe water and prevent health consequences from arsenic.
Arsenic removal Tube Settler.
However, this price should be offset by lower medical bills with arsenic out of the water. Moreover, the University of California, which owns the patent rights to ECAR, has made the license to ECAR non-exclusive.
This means multiple entrepreneurs can license the technology and set up and operate as many ECAR plants as they like, and operate them commercially. Further, innovations on the ECAR technology, and healthy competition among licensees of ECAR technology, could also assist the process of lowering the cost.
Students from Dhapdhapi High School taking arsenic free water using her electronic card.
“We hope that this enables fast penetration through multiple efforts to accelerate the solution especially before the 2030 deadline for meeting SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), which include safe drinking water access as a desirable target to be achieved,” adds ECAR team correspondent Dr Arkadeep.
These are the solutions we need to access clean drinking water better. There cannot be any compromise with regards to safe drinking water. This is our health we’re talking about.
(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)
(Update: The headline of an earlier version of this article had stated that the cost of water was Rs 3/Litre. It has been updated to 60 Paise/Litre. The error is regretted.)
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Scientists at the Bharathiar University engaged in studying the ecology of soil microbes that colonize plant roots, have isolated a fungus that can enhance plant growth even in water deficit conditions.
Numerous types of soil microbes colonize plant roots. Among them, Arbuscular Mycorrhiza (AM) are predominant and they are well-known for mobilizing soil nutrients, particularly phosphorous.
Of many of soil microorganisms that are found associated with the plant roots, some may be disease-causing pathogens too. Sometimes two groups of soil microorganisms can be found in the same plant roots.
Researchers examined this phenomenon in the roots of tomato plants that hosts both Arbuscular Mycorrhiza and a dark septate endophytic fungus.
Image for representational purposes only.
Endophytic fungi live inside the plant tissue symbiotically. The researchers have identified this endophytic fungus as Nectria haematococca. The melanin pigment produced by the fungus gives its characteristic dark colour and hence it is called Dark Septate Endophytic Fungi.
The researchers cultured this fungus in the lab and subsequently assessed its role in promoting plant growth in water deficit conditions. They maintained two sets of potted tomato plants, one set treated with fungus inoculum and another set without any treatment.
They used field soil as such in the experiment, so as to ensure that native soil microorganisms can still colonize the plants. They induced water deficit condition by restricted watering to the plants.
After eight weeks, the team measured the plant height, stem thickness, leaf area, biomass and proline content. The level of proline content directly corresponds to the abiotic stress tolerance level.
The team recorded better growth parameters and higher proline concentration in the potted tomato plants treated with N. haematococca culture. Simultaneously, they examined the roots under microscope, which revealed that colonization of dark septate endophytic fungi did not inhibit native arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization.
Scientists believe that secondary metabolite production in plants due to endophytic fungi colonization did promote plant growth.
Speaking on the scope of taking this research output to the field, Dr T. Muthukumar says “We have done preliminary studies on development of user-friendly carrier-based formulations ready for use in fields. This would benefit 29% of non-mycorrhizal vascular plant species which includes a large number of crops in the cabbage family. We are working on a bioformulation involving elite fungal strains that could be used for a wide range of crop and forestry species”.
Both arbuscular mycorrhiza and dark septate endophytic fungi occupy the same niche within the roots, although arbuscular mycorrhiza is more abundant than endophytic fungi in roots of tropical plant species.
Nevertheless, dark septate endophytic fungi have certain advantages in addition to the production of phytohormones. Researchers believe dark septate endophytic fungi may act as a backup system to help plants under conditions where AM fungi may be nonfunctional.
The research findings have been published in Indian Journal of Microbiology and the team included Piramanagayam Prema Sundara Valli and Dr T. Muthukumar from the Root and Soil Biology Lab of Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.
Farmers in Punjab have a hard time disposing of rice husk ash; the major by-product left after the burning of rice husk.
Fortunately, the Hoshiarpur-based Lambra Kangri Multipurpose Cooperative Service Society, adopted by KS Pannu, a stellar IAS officer and the current Secretary of the State Agriculture Department, has found a way to use rice husk ash to purify water.
According to The Tribune, the society has started a pilot project in Lambra village, whereby instead of employing cost-intensive measures to dispose of rice husk ash, they’ve found a technique to treat water that “could also be used in fields as it would be beneficial for crops.”
“As compared to the other techniques, this is natural and cheaper. Under this technique, waste and unclean water will be passed through rice husk ash,” said Jaswinder Singh, the Project Manager of the society, in a conversation with The Tribune. Also, thanks to this society’s efforts, these villagers from Punjab don’t use LPG cylinders anymore, and instead use biogas.
This isn’t the first time that rice husk ash has been used to purify water in India.
“Rice-husk-ash is used as the base material for developing novel compositions to deal with the challenge of purifying drinking water in low-income households in India. For example, rice-husk-ash cast in a matrix of cement and pebbles can be formed into a filtration bed which can trap up to 95% of turbidity and bacteria present in water. This innovation was proliferated in villages across India as a do-it-yourself rural water filter,” says this studyposted on Research Gate.
“Another innovation involves embedding silver nanoparticles within the rice husk ash matrix to create a bactericidal filtration bed which has now been commercialized in India as a low-cost for-profit household water purifier,” the study goes onto add.
Rice husk ash. (Source: Flickr/chiefdulia)
To double-check the efficiency of the water purifying system, the society sent samples to the Civil Engineering Department of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) for testing. According to Jaswinder, these samples have been approved.
“Rice husk was used as a fuel in mills, which produced ash. Disposing ash is a big issue in the state, but we have found that [it] is a good source of cleaning water. They are experimenting, and if successful, we can expand it further,” said KS Pannu, in a conversation with The Tribune.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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Six kilometres away from the Maharashtra-Karnataka border lies the tiny village of Halgara in Latur district. This is the village that US-based engineer Datta Patil calls home.
He may be a resident of California’s Santa Clara with a lucrative annual package as the Director of Engineering for Yahoo USA, but Halgara remain close to his heart for a very important reason.
Why?
Because it was due to this young man that the drought-hit village embarked on the path of becoming jalyukt or drought-free in the last three years.
Building new low cost Gabion check dam – built at 1/10th cost compared to government estimate.
Sounds straight like the plot of award-winning film Swades, right?
Much like Shah Rukh Khan’s character Mohan Bhargava in the award-winning film, Datta spent the better part of the last three years recharging the groundwater level and putting Halgara on the map as a model village.
The Better India got in touch the engineer to document his extraordinary journey.
Humble Beginnings
Datta was the first of three children of two marginal farmers in Halgara, who, apart from toiling in their own two-acre field, worked extra hours in other fields to put food on the table.
But even with the little they had, Datta and his siblings never complained. They were taught to live in a content manner.
“My mother is a class 4 dropout. She couldn’t read or write, but she always ensured that I read good books. She wouldn’t let me or my siblings ever skip school to work in the fields. She always emphasised that education was the only tool that could empower us to break away from the cycle of poverty. She wasn’t wrong,” says Datta.
He had always been a bright student. He studied at the government school in his village and came to the limelight after he topped class 10. He joined the Science stream and secured the third rank in Class 12.
When he applied for a computer engineering seat at NIT Surathkal, he hardly knew about engineering.
He recalls, “I still remember how clueless I was when I sat in front of the computer for the first time and the teacher told us to log in with our ID and password. I never had anyone guide me about these things and the exposure in the village was limited. This, coupled with the fact that I was surrounded by some of the brightest students from cities across the country, and struggled with a regional schooling background and lack of English speaking skills was very taxing.”
“But now, when I look back,” he continues, “I realise that being surrounded by people better than I helped me challenge myself positively. I worked twice as hard. I did not speak to anyone in my college for a month because I felt insecure and out of place. But one day, when the teacher gave out the results of a test and told the class I had topped, I told myself: ‘There is no looking back’.”
It was his determination that helped him work for top MNCs like Microsoft and Yahoo. It was five years ago that he moved to the USA.
The incident that triggered his journey into watershed management at Halgara
State of canal after the first moderate rainfall
Although he moved to the USA, Datta never forgot his roots. He would make it a point to travel to India once a year, visit his family in Halgara, and take them on pilgrimages.
It was during one such visit in 2016 that he forayed into transforming Halgara.
“When I was in the USA, I would often read about the increasing farmer suicides in India. Although it stirred a reaction within me, the feeling fizzled out because I had no touch with the ground reality in rural Maharashtra. In visited Halagara in 2016 just around the time when Latur saw one of its worst droughts. National newspapers flashed headlines of how Latur had to rely on trains with water tankers even for drinking purposes.”
When he first landed, Datta’s 15-day plan was set. He would take his family for a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, meet his friends in Bengaluru and return.
Little did he know that the five hour trip to Pandharpur would turn this plan on its head.
“We woke at 5 am that day, boarded the car and packed some breakfast for the way. It was a family tradition to halt on the way near a lush field, sit in the shade and devour our homemade food. But that day, we drove and drove. And for hours, there wasn’t a green patch in sight. It felt like we were on a parched desert stretch in Rajasthan. This was nothing like the place I grew up. It was then that the gravity of the drought sunk in. When I enquired, my father lamented the distress of farmers in our village. I just kept quiet for the rest of the trip and retrospected about what I could do.”
When he returned to California, he decided to research the annual rainfall of Halgara. Incidentally, California too is classified as a drought-hit region in the USA. So he started drawing parallels.
“California has been affected by drought for five years, but never did I have to order a tanker or face water cuts. We bathe in bathtubs and have numerous green patches around us. In 2016, the annual rainfall in Santa Clara was 400 mm, whereas Halgara received 800 mm of rainfall, which is almost double. Then what was it that we were doing wrong?” Datta wondered.
When he dug deeper, the engineer realised that California’s groundwater level was at 70 ft, but Halgara was dug as deep as 800 ft in search of groundwater.
So clearly, the definition of drought, when based upon groundwater levels and the locations, was jarring.
This is an annual competition between different villages for watershed management.
With Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao
Datta returned to Halgara with his family and spent almost three lakh rupees from his own pocket to start the watershed activities.
His idea was simple. To preserve every drop of rainfall in his village by helping it seep into the ground and recharge the groundwater table, rather than allowing it to run off.
The first step was desilting the 20 km canals in Halgara. It was only when the silt covering the riverbeds was cleared, that the water seeped into the layers of the ground below.
“Even if we manage to ensure that 30 per cent of this water (that runs off from the river beds into the sea) recharges groundwater tables, we can bring over 50 per cent of Indian agricultural land under the secure water zone,” informs Datta.
The work was on a large scale and the funds, very low. Around the time, he also hosted a meeting with the villagers. His vision ensured that the villagers not only committed an amount of Rs 5 lakh in the first meeting but also put in two hours of shramdaan (donation of labour) to do the work on the ground.
Datta also created an extensive presentation on the Halgara project and presented it to top authorities at Yahoo USA. Moved by his passion and determination to revive his village, the MNC’s Corporate Social Responsibility wing extended help to the tune of over one crore rupees in the next three years. Till date, his personal contribution to the project has been over 22 lakhs.
Apart from desilting canals with his motivated team which consisted of friends, families, and villagers, Datta built 26 check dams.
Canal desilting – created 200 cr water liter capacity in 3 years
This ensured that the flow of the water in the rivers was slowed, thus giving it more time to seep into the ground. They also used about 1,500 hectares of farmland to create compartment bunds to store water during the monsoons.
The success of the project helped Halagara save over two hundred crore litres of water.
The impact of the project is visible in how the groundwater level of Halgara, which was previously at a depth of 800 ft has now risen to 100 ft.
Moreover, in the last two years, Halgara has been receiving more rainfall too!
From gathering funds at Indian temples abroad to walking into a Marathi Cinema theatre and requesting the owner to allow him to speak to the audience to seek support, Datta did it all for his village. He also connected with youngsters from the village who had migrated elsewhere to extend their help to make the dream of conserving water a reality in Halgara.
Each day, he would keep aside three hours in his schedule, coordinating with experts, seeking technical guidance and documenting the work happening on the ground.
“There were several pessimists who thought I would never be able to do it. It was difficult at the start, but I stuck to my gut. Once I reached out to more people, the support for my vision amplified. Wherever I spoke in India or the USA, whether at a festive gathering or before a film screening, I never returned empty-handed. And I cannot thank any of these well-wishers enough,” he smiles.
If you were to look at the satellite images of Halgara before 2016 and after 2018, you’d be stunned at the green cover that now graces it.
Today, many of its hard working farmers are earning 300 times more than ever.
Datta signs off with a message for changemakers, “Bringing positive change is not easy. You will face hurdles that can break your enthusiasm within a month. There will be naysayers and pessimists who will tell you that your effort is a waste. But if you believe in your vision, don’t give up. Stick to the fight and be persistent. Once you have your pace set, the support will amplify. But it will all happen in due time.”
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
If this story inspired you, get in touch with Datta Patil on dattap@yahoo.com.
This article has been sponsored by L&T Financial Services.
Sambhaji Neharkar’s world lies in his village in Beed district of Maharashtra. For the farmer, life revolves around his crops, which in turn depend on nature for the water they need to grow.
But nature is not always bountiful. And when nature fails, the results can be very harsh. Back in 2014-15, the Marathwada region of Maharashtra was so parched, it was a struggle to arrange even a few litres of water for day-to-day use – never mind the tens of thousands needed to irrigate crops.
Agriculture in Beed came to a halt, and thousands of farmers lost their year’s earning in only one monsoon season. For thousands, like Sambhaji, there was no option but to cut their expenses to survive through the year- even if it meant skipping a meal every day.
Such situations also lead to hundreds of farmers migrating to other parts of the country to work as daily wage labourers in the areas of sugar cane cutting, brickwork, etc.
There was a shortage of rainfall in 2018 as well. But things were very different in Sambhaji’s village this time around. The wells did not go dry, and neither did their crops wither on their stalks.
So what brought about this dramatic ‘water revolution’?
Deep Continuous Contour Trenches.png
After the disastrous drought of 2014-15, there was a general feeling that something had to change at the fundamental level. And one such change that would prove critical in the long run was the ‘Jalvaibhav’ project, launched by L&T Financial Services (LTFS).
Their aim was to bring sustainable solutions to farmers so their crops would thrive even if rainfall was scanty. The project that started four years ago worked to help over 15,000 farmers in 32 villages across Beed. It began with 12 villages initially and later expanded to another 20 by 2016-17.
Steps towards a revolution
An Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) system, Jalvaibhav focused on creating ex-situ (interventions are usually carried out on water streams and waste lands mainly for rain water storage and harvesting) and in-situ (interventions are carried in and around the farm to conserve rain water which aims to maintain the moistures for crop growths) watershed structures.
Along with NGO partners Manavlok and Dilasa Pratishthan, LTFS’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team visited villages to understand what exactly their needs were and how they wanted them to be addressed.
Foremost among the concerns was the desire of farmers to find a way for irrigation without actually losing their lands.
To address such concerns, a participatory approach was followed to identify the needs of the community, and the available resources to fulfil them. It also helped to have community ownership which leads to the sustainability of project activities.
So what was actually done?
Water Structure DOHA
Speaking to The Better India, Sameer, the Project Manager of Manavlok said, “An important aim of the project was to stop the erosion of the fertile soil and to maintain soil moisture that helps in crop growth with less water required from external sources,”
With that focus, LTFS has undertaken interventions like compartment bunding and silt application. It has also created watershed structures like ‘Deep Continuous Contour Trenches’, ‘Loose Bolder Structures’, ‘Gabion’ and ‘Dohas’. It has also undertaken desilting at ridges and valleys, along with in wastelands.
A ‘Doha’ is a water storage and harvesting structure created on a water stream without acquiring the land from the farmers. The structure involves a lower cost and is very useful to harvest rainwater. It also makes water available for crops during dry spells and can accumulate and harvest up to one crore litres of rainwater.
“Beed has hilly as well as plain terrains. Both terrains experience large magnitudes of soil erosion. This leads to less water availability and fertile soil for agriculture. Less rainfall and more soil erosion together became the biggest crisis for farmers here,” Sameer added.
However, Jalvaibhav tried to change this situation by implementing irrigation techniques in the villages so water can be percolated for future use.
“During rainfall, water gets harvested and percolated and flows into wells and borewells increasing the water table,” says Ankush Adsul, the technical officer of NGO partner Dilasa Sanstha.
Joining hands with the farmers
Since LTFS began a dialogue with farmers before starting these projects, it brought the villagers closer to Jalvaibhav, ensuring their involvement in the process. Their ‘More Crop Per Drop’ concept weaved the traditional knowledge of farmers along with innovative techniques of irrigation to bring suitable results on the fields.
Under the project, LTFS also encouraged farmers to change the varieties of seeds in their fields. They have installed water tanks in the village for cattle too. One person is assigned to take care of the tank, and domestic animals of several farmers use the sustainable tanks.
In addition to this, LTFS linked their IWRM programme with the 13th Sustainable Development Goal that focuses on taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.
Through IWRM, LTFS tried to bring business to rural communities while helping save the environment. In order to build climate resilient communities in Beed, they trained residents to detect early warnings of drought and to monitor them.
When they detect an onset, people are also trained to design contingency plans for drought-proofing of crops and integrated watershed management. This way, farmers could be well-equipped to maintain their livelihoods without huge losses, even though they have no control over the climate.
A happy result for all, year-on-year
Sambhaji Neherkar
And through the years, these combined efforts have been yielding great results too.
Speaking to TBI, Sambhaji said, “This year, we didn’t have much rainfall. But even then, the cotton crops are flourishing. In normal circumstances, we would have chopped it down because it wouldn’t have given any yield anyway. But because of LTFS’ intervention and the new variety of cotton they suggested, I am looking at an amazing harvest. I have been working alongside LTFS and helping farmers understand their work in Beed. And we are pleased to see the increase in ground water level as well as the increase in productivity.”
Another farmer, Jayraj Munde, reflects Sambhaji’s experience with the change in water tables. Munde owns two acres of land and he grows cotton on half of it. The other half has depleted fertility mostly due to decreasing groundwater levels.
LTFS helped him by desilting the earth and giving the desilted soil to Munde and farmers like him whose lands were infertile. Munde had to bear the transportation cost, but he believes his investment was certainly worth it because his land is slowly becoming fertile.
The desilting has also increased water levels in the wells surrounding his farm, thus empowering him to water his cotton crops.
So overall, farmers don’t have to rely on water tankers as much since their farms are self-sufficient, water-levels are rising and infertility rates of the lands are declining — the three concerns that were affecting villagers the most.
Thanks to this project, there has been an increase in the annual household incomes of the beneficiaries along with an increase in water storage created by water structures. Jalvaibhav has shown how united efforts can help resolve the complicated issues of irrigation, crop yield and migration in one go. And the impact created in Beed can be an example for many regions of the country on how to change conditions for good.
(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)
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