The country is currently facing a severe water crisis. Large states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, and 21 other states are facing severe water crises for many years. Out of these states, the water conditions in Maharashtra and Rajasthan are highly alarming. Due to acute water scarcity for the past several years, the situation in the Latur district of Maharashtra has become such that there is a ban on gatherings of more than five people by imposing Section 144 around wells and tankers. In Rajasthan, people have started locking the place at night where they store water.
Currently, more than 400 out of 741 districts have been hit by a drinking water shortage. Leaders associated with water shortage programs have vouched that 200,000 people have
died due to the lack of clean water in the country. Needless to say, this catastrophic water shortage has arisen due to a lack of preventive measures. The truth is that this phenomenon
of the water crisis is more a result of human mismanagement and not imbibing a culture of water harvesting than a natural disaster. The history of the last five decades demonstrates that the government applied a superficial healing ointment to the disease but did not find a permanent solution to this crisis.
It is amazing that despite having enough water on this earth, people are suffering from thirst. Two-thirds of the planet is covered by water, and only one-third of it is land. Ninety-seven
percent of the total water reserves of this earth are in the sea. Three percent of the total water of the planet comes from different sources. Generally, this part of groundwater is called clean water. Apart from this, two-thirds of the water comes from glaciers, mountains, and rivers. It is due to the mismanagement of these resources that there is a water crisis.
In the last five decades, due to the increased focus on developing cities under the imported model of development, the migration of people out of the villages has increased. This migration has not only ruined the economy of the villages, but it has also affected the rural culture badly. Therefore, it would be relevant to say here that due to the blind copying
of the modernization of developed countries, the aggressive trend of water consumption has also increased in our country. Research studies related to water conservation show that, on
average, a person needs more than one thousand and seven hundred cubic meters of water in a year. If the availability of water for a person falls below a thousand cubic meters,
then it is assumed that there is a lack of water. When the water consumption goes below five hundred cubic meters, symptoms like water famine begin to arise in that area.
In the regions where there is a water crisis today, the water level has gone down from 500 feet to 1000 feet today due to continuous exploitation of water. Indeed, this has been the result of our arbitrary exploitation of groundwater in the last five decades. After the 1970s, there has been a lot of groundwater exploitation due to no restriction on tube-well installation, construction of five-star hotels and extended colonies, expansion of metros and cities, etc. Apart from this, deforestation is also responsible for the looming water crisis. To get rid of this crisis, we have to return to our indigenous traditional culture of water storage and its prudent use.
It is essential to understand that we get most of our rainfall in about 100 hours. This rainfall then sustains us for the 8,760 hours that we have in a year. Therefore, any changes in the rainfall pattern have huge implications on our water systems and hence on our lives and livelihoods. Today, all of our trouble is due to not correctly collecting, using, and managing these hundred hours of rain.
While Central Government and State Governments have taken many measures to address the impending water needs of the country, our conventional rainwater harvesting (RWH) has emerged as the most efficient and cost-effective means of ensuring water security at the consumers’ end. A simple pit of 10ftx10ftx10ft can store about 28000 litres of rainwater, which can fulfil the drinking water needs of one small family for the whole year. The total cost of constructing such a pit and the required accessories like pipes connecting the rooftop to the pit, etc., is about Rs. 50,000.
To begin with, the municipalities should make it mandatory to make the RWH system in each and every home. Community-based larger systems can also be constructed depending on
the water needs. Tube well recharge structures should also be made by collecting the water from extensive lawns or flat areas with no drainages nearby. Straightforward techniques
are available for such systems. Another novel solution to recharge the groundwater is to make the pits (depth about 25 ft and diameter about 3 ft) near the house and let the water from the bathroom and kitchen flow into them. This will also prevent wastewater from
flowing into the surroundings saving the municipality from maintaining overflowing drainage systems.
Let us resolve to implement indigenous methods of RWH and recharge systems and solve the water crisis problem.
Akhand Jyoti Magazine 2021 Sept-Oct