The Hindu : Puthussery shows the way in water conservation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 28, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Puthussery shows the way in water conservation

By K. Santhosh

CHOONDAL (THRISSUR DISTRICT), FEB. 27. Saraswati of Muthira Parambathu House in the Chemmanthattu village used to walk five kilometres every day to get water during summer. "On my way back, it would feel as if my legs won't carry me any further,'' she says.

Ammu of Karekkattil House had thought of even leaving the village for good. "Returning from work in the fields, one craves for water. But there won't be a drop to drink,'' she says.

When the public water taps in Choondal, 18 km from Thrissur, go dry in summer, the 26 houses in the Puthussery colony rely on a well. "On most days, we would get just a mug of water,'' says Kalyani of Kurumba Veedu.

Today, the colony has a different story to tell, with the implementation of the Kerala Water Authority's (KWA) Varsha rainwater harvesting scheme. Puthussery is one of the two places in the district where the Varsha scheme has been executed, the other being Pattalamkunnu in Mannuthy. With the 1,000-litre tank constructed in each house full and enough water to draw from the well, the residents of Puthussery are bubbling with joy. "The scheme has helped us face the drought,'' says Kunjumol Napoleon, secretary of the Puthussery Jala Samrakshana Samithy.

The overflow from the tanks enriches groundwater. The overflow pipe leads to a channel beside the open well.

The KWA sanctioned Rs. 2.12 lakhs for the scheme. "A sum of Rs. 8,150 was spent on each unit. Of this, Rs. 800 was borne by the beneficiary,'' says Jos C. Raphael, director, Centre for Community Organisation and Development (CECOD), which executed the scheme. Initially, the villagers had resisted the scheme. "We thought it was one of those ineffective Government projects,'' says A.M. Sulaiman, president of the Jala Samrakshana Samithy.

Only Kuruppanveettil Hassan was open to the idea of having a rainwater harvesting unit in his house. Hassan, who works in the Gulf, had read about water conservation, in a journal. "The entire colony derived benefit from the unit, set up last year,'' Mr. Sulaiman says.

Within a year, the rest of the colony installed units. "The full impact of the scheme can be gauged only next year,'' says K. Prabhakaran Nair, a resident.

The success story of Puthussery shows the trickle-down effect of awareness programmes on water conservation, and has inspired organisations such as Lions Club to launch rainwater harvesting schemes in other villages. "We plan to execute schemes in about 5,000 houses in Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram districts,'' says D. Ramanathan, chief executive officer of Sitaram Ayurveda Pharmacy and regional chairman of Lions Club.

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