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WATER WISE
Understand the worth of water
S. VISHWANATH
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Every house in Mohenjo Daro had an open well and more than 700 have been counted during excavations, apart from common wells too.
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— Photo: AFP
Preserve it: A large open well is the best bet during a water crisis.
The understanding of water in the environment is the bedrock on which civilisation has built itself up and thrived across the world. The use of water has always been determined by its ecological availability and the ingenuity which humankind has developed in storing it, extracting it, channelling it and using it. It then enmeshes itself with life and becomes a culture.
Understanding the localness of water and water culture is crucial in maintaining water sustainability.
Tunnel systems
In the deserts of Iran originated the ‘qanat.’ Known in many other parts of the world as ‘karez’ or ‘foggar,’ these are tunnel systems which bring water from alluvial aquifers or snow melt up on the mountains through tunnels all the way down to the deserts.
The water then makes domestic living and agriculture possible. A remarkable feat of hydraulic engineering perfected 3,000 years ago.
Every house in Mohenjo Daro had an open well and more than 700 have been counted during excavations. There were a lot of common wells too.
Property and water
What has that to do with property and modern times, one may ask. The city of Belgaum faced a severe water crunch some years ago. The water from the reservoirs far away was not sufficient and people in distress stole water from the pipes.
An astute engineer then turned to the open wells in the city dug by the British. Identifying and cleaning the open wells, working with people to stop them from polluting the wells by throwing garbage, checking the well water quality and determining the hydro-geological availability resulted in close to 30 per cent of Belgaum’s water needs being met through these centuries old, beautiful and functional open wells.
A practical answer to today’s needs coming from the wisdom of history. The best part is that the cost of water was only Rs.0.76 per kilo-litre.
The wells were not only providing good water but the cheapest water too.
Ecological and economical
In a large campus of a software giant near Mangalore, there is a beautiful suranga, India’s equivalent of the qanat, underground tunnels in laterite stone, tapping groundwater and bringing it to the surface for irrigation.
Preserving this suranga will provide a lot of water for the campus requirement and also be a water-culture and water-history education point.
A large open well also provides lots of water, meeting the entire campus needs for most parts of the year.
Scouting around and learning from nature is critical to understanding how to be engineering smart and be water wise!
Nature and the locals know all of this.
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