Kerala   

Need for a multi-pronged approach to conserving rainwater

The monsoon has arrived, but concerns remain about harvesting and managing the abundance in order that in the lean months Kerala would be spared the shortages of water that it has periodically faced. Our readers respond:

CONSERVING RESOURCES: Rainwater being harvested at a house.

Individual effort goes

a long way

Every long journey begins with a small step. Efforts must be made by each person to store rainwater. This can later be used for domestic needs. This will also ensure that drinking water supplied through pipes is strictly used for drinking purposes. Rainwater can be collected in cement tanks and plastic containers in individual houses. At district level, huge cement or plastic tanks can be built to store rainwater under the guidance of the Government. Since it is not right to disturb the earth by digging the soil, it is better not to construct ponds.

Deforestation should be checked by all means. The Government should take urgent steps in this regard. If trees are destroyed in large numbers, soil erosion will occur and all the water that falls on earth in the form of rain will be lost.

Water that percolates into the soil increases the water level in wells and ponds.

If deforestation continues, our very survival will be under threat.

Bindu Philip

By email

Government has a

role to play

Rainwater, if harvested, can be used for household purposes and for cultivation. But owing to the wastage of this precious resource, our fields starve for water during summer, causing a crisis in the agriculture sector. The stored rainwater can also be used for domestic purposes such as cleaning and washing.

Different methods can be adopted to store rainwater, such as construction of rectangular tanks to store the water falling on rooftops.

Apart from the individual initiative, the Government should also come forward for this purpose. Rainwater harvesting projects taken up by it will be of great help to people who are fully dependant on agriculture.

Dipin C. Sunny

By email

Water harvesting

holds the key

In order to preserve the copious monsoon rain for the lean season, the following measures can be taken: water harvesting should be made mandatory for new construction, especially high-rise complexes, to enhance the groundwater potential for borewell needs.

Desilting of ponds, lakes and other water bodies should be undertaken so that rainwater can be stored.

Wherever free land is available, artificial ponds should be built for water catchments.

Even now in most Tamil Nadu villages, drinking water is supplied from public ponds, which are protected from other non-potable uses as a norm.

In Chettinad villages, rainwater harvested in huge brass or copper vessels is stored and used for months.

If rainwater is channelised properly into manmade ponds, it will become a boon for the dry summer months.

Ramanathan Muthiah

Thiruvananthapuram

People's participation imperative

Rainwater harvesting, collection of rainwater from roofs in tanks, maintaining the existing tanks to collect as much water as possible, constructing new ones where needed are all necessary to save water. In villages, new technologies of bore-holes should be used so that no water is wasted and the groundwater is recharged. The Government should draw up a plan and implement it with the involvement and participation of the people.

A. Jacob Sahayam

Thiruvananthapuram

Need for collective effort

Rainwater harvesting and watershed management are some of the feasible methods to overcome water scarcity.

We need to follow the example of Tamil Nadu where the Government has made it mandatory for all newly built houses to have water harvesting facilities. It is high time that the Government implemented a similar law in our State.

Shortage of water affects agriculture production and also the day-to-day activities of the people.

Awareness about the importance of harvesting and managing rainwater are important. The media play a significant role in this regard.

All sections of society should come forward to tackle the water scarcity problem.

R. Akhil Ratheesh

Thiruvananthapuram

Build permanent storage facilities

Like many other emergency measures adopted by the Government to divert attention from serious situations created by short-sighted polices, rainwater harvesting has also become a mere slogan, draining crores for digging pits in every household and then closing them after a few days.

Precious little is being done to continue the process of harvesting water for the benefit of the people.

We can have permanent storage facility in every field where large-scale paddy cultivation is a regular feature and utilise this water not only for irrigation but also for domestic and non-domestic purposes after it is filtered and made potable. Rearing fish in these ponds is a profitable proposition, as is done in Orissa.

Not a drop of rainwater should be wasted and this should be the policy of the Government and the local bodies in view of the fact that storage of rainwater was in existence and is still being followed in all paddy fields.

K.P. Karunakaran Nair

general secretary

Confederation of Residents' Associations

Lay stress on water management

It is a paradox that Kerala which receives heavy rainfall annually faces frequent drought and shortage of drinking water. Kerala has perennial and rain-fed rivers and other sources of water.

A simple analysis will reveal that the problem lies in the management of water resources. Water received from nature should be preserved for tomorrow for various purposes — drinking, agricultural, industrial and commercial. But storage as well as distribution of water is not easy. It requires detailed survey, proper planning, time-bound implementation of projects, and huge funds.

If the Government has a will to solve the problem, it has to approach with the proposal any international institution for financial assistance. Individuals have very limited role in this particular field. Wastage of water should be avoided at all levels.

S. Paul Dhason

Thiruvananthapuram

Check run-off into

the sea

It is a paradox that Kerala, which is blessed with lagoons, lakes, rivers and other freshwater bodies, has to undergo spells of shortage of potable water. The paradox becomes poignant as one observes the fact that the State receives seasonal and non-seasonal rain aplenty. The occurrence of water shortage lays bare the miserable failure of the State to tap effectively and fully the natural resources.

The first and foremost source of water we can depend on is the rivers. Requiem for the Bharathapuzha has been sounded. Not much different is the fate of some other rivers and rivulets, owing to human intervention. Measures must be adopted to save these rivers. Statistics reveal that much of the river water escapes utilisation and goes into the sea. Mini-dams are useful to harness the rivers.

Harvesting of rainwater is now confined to a state of mere lip service. Its genuine implementation is imperative. The installation of facilities to harvest rainwater must be made mandatory for each house that is newly built.

Lakes and freshwater bodies merit immediate attention. They should be protected from rampant pollution and their indiscriminate exploitation by moneybags and vested interests should be precluded.

N. Sadasivan Pillai

Kollam

Arrange for rainwater storage facilities

We can prevent the shortage of water by providing proper rainwater storage facilities.

The Government should take steps to provide such facilities to farmers who are not aware of them so that their crops can be saved in dry months. The Government should also help these farmers financially.

We are aware of the shortage of water, so we should take preventive steps. The Government should introduce `save water policy' in every district so that no one can waste water.

Reshmi Raveendran

Thiruvananthapuram

Effective planning

is significant

Kerala's geography is a mixed blessing to its water potential.

Rain, the primary source, falls on a narrow landmass sandwiched between the mountains, which help cause abundant precipitation, and the sea, into which the water gets rapidly discharged and lost.

This abundance and dynamism make a macro-view of the matter inevitable.

The key to ensuring perennial water availability is to manipulate the flow in the waterways by an efficiently conceived system of regulation (check dams, sluices) and diversion (pipelines, open channels) to store and spread/distribute water as desired.

This approach improves the potential of watersheds and catchments in isolation, by trying to connect them as much as feasible by diversionary devices to create a State-wide, integrated drainage system.

Where such networking is unviable (sections along the coast), establish desalination plants on a scale not degrading the environment.

When necessary, seawater, as a standby source, can reduce the pressure on the primary source to deliver.

If households resolve to harvest rainwater and to minimise consumption waste, the situation is better secured.

Devraj Sambasivan

Alappuzha

Conserve water resources

The rapid development of cities and population explosion in urban areas has led to depletion of surface sources. Whatever sources available now are at a distance, forcing the corporation to spend more money and time on exploiting them.

Allowing rainwater to drain away results in over exploitation of surface sources like wells. It causes a drop in water levels or sea water intrusion because of the imbalance of inflow and outflow equation for sub-surface water.

The rains have become irregular because of disturbance in natural cycle. Also, the quantity of rainfall is erratic, reduced and uncertain. Hence, the need for conservation is felt much more than before.

Conservation and augmentation of the renewable natural groundwater resources is necessary for our survival, for these are not unlimited if exploited beyond a limit.

The methods of rainwater harvesting that can be adopted are recharge through pits, trenches, borewell shafts by directly diverting run-off water into existing or disused wells or conserving the rainwater by artificial storing and using the same for human use. Local hydrological and soil conditions and ultimate use of water govern the choice and effectiveness of any particular method. The Government should sternly implement the law of rainwater harvesting in new constructions.

S. Padmanabha Mallya

Kochi

Adopt various strategies

Though scientific conservation of water has been included in the Government agenda, it is yet to be implemented effectively. Preservation of water should be given topmost priority.

Water received during the monsoon should be preserved through different methods, including arresting its free flow in rivers, construction of as many tanks, wells and pits as possible, and protecting it in natural reservoirs such as lakes, lagoons, backwaters and canals.

This will boost storage of both surface and groundwater so that it can be used in the lean months. The water-harvesting scheme in artificial reservoirs should be accelerated scientifically. Constructions of check dams and afforestation in catchment areasare also useful for conservation of water. Efforts should be made to increase groundwater levels. Unscientific reclamation of lowlands and inland water bodies for construction purposes should be forbidden. At the same time, waste treatment plants must be set up in different parts of the State so as to keep the available water sources free from pollution and contamination. Maximum utilisation of available water without any wastage should be ensured.

V. Viswanathan Nambiar

Thrissur

Implement rules for water harvesting

The topography of the State favours the flow of rainwater directly into the sea. So for complete utilisation of rainwater, methods such as rainwater harvesting should be adopted.

In the past, people used to make small troughs (holes) in the hilly regions for the conservation of rainwater. Now, modern measures such as collection of water on the rooftops of buildings, construction of tanks, ponds, and so on should be taken up. The Government rules for rainwater harvesting during the construction of new buildings should be implemented.

Sana Nair

Thrissur

Check wastage of water

The monsoon is the best time to initiate water conservation programmes as we receive the maximum rainfall then. Special cells should be opened in every block, panchayat and corporations to adopt rainwater harvesting methods. Long-term measures include cleaning of wells and ponds. Residents' associations can organise seminars, rallies and street shows to instil the message of rainwater harvesting in the public. The media too has a significant role to play.

Misuse and reckless wastage of water should be checked and should invite penalty.

K. Krishna

Ernakulam

By email

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