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National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur 76. The Public Awareness on Rainwater Harvesting Voltaire has said, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. In the face of fast depleting water resources re-inventing conservation techniques is no longer only a likely option but an essential imperative. Of all the options available for renewing water resources, rain water harvesting (RWH) is clearly the most ancient and viable option for India both in terms of implementation and cost-benefit analysis. The government, both at the centre and the state levels, has introduced policies to promote and even enforce RWH but unless the public is aware and consciously recognizes the need for RWH, implementation will pose problems. This paper explores various measures for creating public awareness about RWH both at the micro and the macro level in an attempt to inspire and motivate various urban citizen groups to undertake the same. This paper will restrict itself to the need as well as the benefits and viability of RWH in urban areas and the role that educational institutions and other organizations can play in spreading the awareness. Fr. Agnel Technical Education Complex will serve as a case study for RWH on the micro level.The Vashi unit of Agnel Seva Ashram(ASA)which is the social wing of this organization has already geared itself up to promote the concept of water conservation. Its impressive week-long programme, ‘Save Electricity and Water Abhiyan’ (SEWA), which was launched as a multi-pronged attempt to impress upon our students the need to use these scarce resources judiciously, is fast gathering momentum. A seminar on Rain Water Harvesting and a pilot RWH project for the staff quarters of the complex are next on the anvil. The long term goal is to extend RWH to meet the water requirements of the entire complex and subsequently to other Fr. Agnel Complexes in the country. Through net-working *Bertha Fernandes **Sandip H. Deshmukh with other organizations(private and government as well as NGOs) each Fr. Agnel Complex could serve as a model and a centre of informative action for other institutions and organizations in their respective zones. As the old saying goes, example is always far more effective than precept. “Unutilized or underutilized plant capacity is the costliest form of waste in developing countries. Under developed countries are always under managed countries”, said a management guru. I think this statement very apt in the context of water because under utilized or unutilized water capacity is the costliest form of waste in any country. Most of the developed world has taken cognizance of this and has already got its water management systems in place but developing countries like ours have a long way to go in harnessing this waste. Despite being in a monsoon region, availability of water is already a serious problem in most Indian states irrespective of their physical terrain and other geographical features. Infact, Cherapunji which receives the highest rainfall in the country (1100mm annually) has serious drinking water shortages. This is a clear indication of mismanagement of natural water resources and this mismanagement is evident through the length and breadth of the country barring a few geographical pockets where communities have worked to put their resources to good use. We have heard of the recent farmer suicides in Vidharba because of drought related debt burdens. The Government finally took note of the situation and offered monetary assistance. But is this the real solution to the problem? “Give a man a fish and you give him a meal , Teach him to fish and you give him a living” , goes the familiar axiom. The need for and the techniques of rainwater harvesting are the ‘lessons’ that will give our farmers a living. *Sr.Lecturer ** Asst.Professor Fr.Agnel Technical Education Complex, Sector 9A, Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400703 E-mail: berthaf@gmail.com, sandiphk@rediffmail.com 424
Infact, these are ‘lessons’ that cannot and must not be confined only to farmers but to all communities in all parts of the country – rural and urban because the availability of potable water is becoming increasingly scarce. In urban areas where people depend mainly on the municipal supply, residents of housing complexes shell out up to Rs. 1000/- per tanker to meet their hygiene and sanitation needs while educational institutions are often not able to maintain desirable standards of hygiene because of the lack of water. These are costly temporary solutions to permanent problems. Hence the need for Rain Water Harvesting which is not only much cheaper but also far more effective . Infact, it is I think, the only solution to present and future water problems – a solution that has its roots in our historical past. And this solution will not catch on unless a concentrated effort is made to create awareness of the benefits of the solution. Thus arises the need for a nation-wide collaborative effort to spread Public Awareness about Rain Water Harvesting. “Change”, it is said “is inevitable. The great question is whether it is by consent or by coercion”. Through Public Awareness we can ensure that it is by consent. Having touched on the general need for Public Awareness, the paper will focus on the modalities of Public Awareness campaigning at the macro and micro level. In an attempt to answer basic questions like what about rainwater harvesting needs to be publicized; to whom and how do we publicize, we have divided this paper into the following segments: a) The importance of public awareness. b) A brief historical perspective of rainwater harvesting from our ancient past to our present. c) The causes of water depletion. d) Methods of creating public awareness. e) Public awareness measures adopted by Agnel Seva Ashram (ASA) through its Save Electricity and Water Abhiyan (SEWA) at the Agnel Technical Education Complex, Vashi. The importance of public awareness : The Key component of rainwater harvesting is storage. In a Monsoon country like India “where on an average we get 100 hours of rain and then nothing for the remaining 8660 hours in a year 1 , water has to be captured and stored in large catchments using tanks and ponds or as groundwater 425 by facilitating percolation. The centre for Science and Engineering (CSE) in its intensive study of rainwater harvesting has gathered strong scientific evidence to show “that village scale rainwater harvesting will yield much water than big or medium dams” 2. Due to loss through transmission for instance, Michael Evenari has conclusively proved that water collected from small watersheds per hectare of watershed area was much more in quantity than that collected from large watersheds. A study conducted by the Central Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute (CSWSRI) in Dehradun shows that just increasing the size of the catchment area from one hectare to two hectares reduces the water yield per hectare by as much as 20%. Thus it is clear that rainwater harvesting in small catchments is the effective solution to our water problems. Such water structures call for a social process of self-management in village communities or co-operative housing societies and individual organizations in urban areas. This naturally implies social mobilization- creating awareness and confidence among all sections of the community that rainwater harvesting works. Another reason for creating public awareness is that the concerned community-rural or urban – must be closely involved at every stage of the decision making process regarding their rainwater harvesting system , right from the choice of the site and the technical and financial parameters of the construction to the equitable distribution of the collected water. This could go a long way not only in ensuring adequate water supply but also in generating a community spirit (- very essential in these strife–ridden times) and building up what economists call “ Social capital”. Measures to create public awareness must include Government bodies and political leaders. Apart from funds which the concerned communities can, by and large, generate for themselves as, for example, they did in Jamnagar, Rajkot and Aizawal in Chennai, Government support is essential in the form of incentives for implementation of rainwater harvesting schemes (The Municipal Corporation of Thane, for instance, gives property tax deductions). Even more significantly, Government assistance is required in the form of flexible Government rules that facilitate social mobilization. The Government will have to “review and revise old British-time laws
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National Seminar on Rainwater Harve
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once subsoil water starts draining
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The plantation process starts with
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DOLASANE , SANGAMNER RANGE I, SANGA
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Table 1. Present land use of waters
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the determination of specification
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Hydrological Parameters (mm) 140 12
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Drainage Engineering, 129(3): 184-1
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March to July, 2004 in the field si
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mm in 4 lph drip followed by 755.25
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Table 3 : Seasonal water use (mm) i
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pinnata) Aquatic plants are represe
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the base of the trench to assist dr
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SUDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems)
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Figure 3 : Cascade model of constru
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H eff = H R - H aq - H f ……..
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• Layers of gravel/media laid hor
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Page 73 and 74: CASE STUDY The Salem Municipality i
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for subsequent use of water for irr
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years. These beels can also be conv
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ody through water conservation and
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contribute to increased fish produc
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Figure 1 : Map of Bangladesh showin
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end uses and the intentional manage
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INTRODUCTION Indian water sector is
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ut definitely they are not substitu
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having the height greater than 50m
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ain. There is no conducive evidence
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chase food self sufficiency as a go
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REPORTB OF WORLD COMMISION ON DAMS
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