Today’s Rain Water, Tomorrow’s Drinking Water
Water is the
gift of God for use of all. It is one of the basic needs for survival. In
villages there are deep wells, shallow wells and ponds that clearly point to
the high priority the ancients gave for water conservation. With large scale
and haphazard urbanization, the values of simple and effective traditional
techniques of water conservation were ignored. Now the people have realized
these values and are taking steps to revive the old and trusted techniques.
For centuries
rivers and tanks met the drinking water and irrigation needs of the people. In
those days people living far away from the river course and wetlands conserved
rainwater in large walls and regulated the rainwater to fall into ponds and
lakes. During the summer months they utilized the stored rainwater for drinking
and irrigating thousands of acres of agricultural land. The community controlled
the water use.
Rainwater
does go waste if it is not properly regulated. Cheerapunji in Assam receives
almost 12,000 mm of rainfall per annum, yet people there face drinking
water scarcity while in arid Rajasthan it hardly rains for a month. However,
the industrious villagers store rainwater in large natural and man made reservoirs
by adopting rainwater-harvesting techniques for use during the months of
scarcity.
Tanks and
ponds that adorn the villages are now shrinking in numbers. Many water bodies
are facing the threat of extinction. Natural reservoirs have slowly been fading
away due to encroachment, land grabbing, and poor planning.
In urban
areas, concrete buildings and asphalted roads prevent water from seeping into
the ground. When it rains the rainwater just gushes out into the drains.
Because of this the ground water is not replenished and the water table does
not rise.
The need for
conserving rainwater is now more vital than ever before. In these days of water
scarcity the traditional techniques must be revived for saving precious water.
Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is the technique of collecting and storing rainwater
wherever it rains instead of allowing it to go waste. Rainwater recharge is a
method to increase rainwater infiltration in the soil surface to raise the
ground water table.
How to conserve rainwater? Collecting water from the rooftops
through pipes and discharging into we11s, recharging of defunct bore wells and
open wells through percolating pits, regulating it to flow into ponds and lakes
are some of the efficient and cost effective methods to augment water supply.
The cost of making
percolating pits around a 100 sq m house with filter tank and underground pipe leading
to the well works out to approximately·Rs.6000/-. For a 20 m x 30 m multistoried
building the cost of making 1 m x I .5
m deep percolating pits around it with drain pipes, filter tank and underground
piping to the well will be around Rs.75, 000/-. For row houses and business complexes
it works out to approximately Rs.2, 00,000 and Rs.90, 000 respectively.
An independent
house in Bangalore can on an average save about 40,000 liters of rainwater per
year after meeting all the needs. Rainwater conservation augments ground water
level; raises water level in the existing wells; re- charges defunct bore wells
and open wells; prevents cracking of building walls due to presence of moisture
in the soil; decreases the salinity of soil and increases the quality 'of ground
water and the moisture content of the soil; increases soil fertility due to growth
of vegetation; stops seepage of seawater into the ground water; stops soil erosion
Conserving rainwater not only solves the drinking water problems the people
face during the summer months, but also irrigates several acres of agricultural
land in draught affected areas.
While granting
license to construct new buildings the authorities must ensure that the building
plan has provision for rainwater harvesting. If it is not provided, then the authorities
shall not grant license to the builders. This is not sufficient. Government's propaganda
machinery must galvanize in to action to popularize this inexpensive and very efficient
technique of water saving concept.
Lakes must be
de- silted and deepened to hold more water; In villages too this concept must
be popularized. The World Bank has warned of severe drinking water scarcity in
India in the year 2025. Scanty rainfall in the recent years is perhaps indicating
the shape of things to come. It is high time government acted with all seriousness
to ward off the impending disaster. Having a green belt without any water scarcity
is known as a blue belt area, that is when we recharge the ground water and change
the conditions of a place from one of scarcity of water to one of sustenance. This
can be achieved through RWH techniques and this will save Bangalore from water
scarcity. Bangalore's topography is particularly suitable for rainwater harvesting.
Though about
700 million liters of water from Cauvery and other sources are being generated daily,
yet there is a wide gap between supply and demand. At current rate of consumption,
the city needs additional 150 million liters daily. In a few years from now water
supply as high as 2200 million liters daily would be needed. RWH is a less expensive
affair. Anyone can adopt this technique.
Government
buildings, large educational institutions, hospitals, satellite ownships,
condominiums and independent households must adopt this technique. In so doing,
water scarcity during the summer months can be contained to a great extent. Reports
say that government is preparing action plans in all districts to tackle the problem
of drinking water shortage on account of failure of monsoons. There are about 56,000
villages and hamlets in the state, which face drinking water crisis one time or
the other. The problem accentuates when there is scanty rainfall.
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