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India's Water Scarcity–Is there a solution? Check out India’s ancient scientific methods
Future of India
Year 2050…Curfew is declared in Mumbai…No one is allowed to venture out with storage vessels…Public water bodies are surrounded and protected by army…But even army men are afraid of mass-scale public protest and attack on the so-called guardians of public property – ‘Water’
BMC tried to do everything from charging commercially for drinking water, providing it only twice in a week, cutting off illegal connection, asking commercial establishments to pay at higher rates, recharging ground water blah blah blah!!! But all measures failed in their entirety
The slums mushroomed all across Mumbai in last 40 years can not be entered into by BMC & Police, who fear of their death at the hands of slum- dwellers who want everything free and believe Mumbai is their father’s property!!!
Commercial establishment agreed to pay at higher rates, but bribed government officials to either set- up faulty meters, or to get a lower charging rate, or simply not paying for 12 months and then doing a one time settlement…Even if this one time settlement happens every year!!!
People who pay honestly for the water they consume, store to such a great extent that supply for others fall short…4 member family started installing 1000000 liters tanks in their homes – One room is dedicated to just storage tanks…The share prices of plastic tank manufacturing company are being quoted in 5 figures!!!
Commercial establishments do not care about water treatment, and continue to pollute rivers/ nullahs/ ground water etc., resulting in depleting water sources for villages and small towns
Ground water level is going down 10 feet everyday!!! Thanks to all soft- drink making companies and other such establishments
The scene out there is very bad and none of the politicians have dared to make any statement!!! There are no hopes for things to change, except…(Who knows the solutions, by the way?)
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Sounds a scary situation? THIS MIGHT BE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK!!! – And if we want to avoid this situation, its in our hands to find a solution…Rather implement a solution which our forefathers have already found!!
Rain water harvesting & Earthen water tanks…Yes…That’s the only solution to our problem
But before we get there, let’s look at some statistics
· Avg. rainfall in Mumbai from June to Sep – 80 Inch (2000
Milimeter)
· Based on Mumbai’s geographical location, this amounts to 90000
Crore Litres – Yes, your read it absolutely right…
· This comes to around 236.5 crore litre per day – Even with a
savings ration of 70%, we can have 116 crore litres of water
from rain water harvesting and saving
· & now, Mumbai’s daily consumption is 295 crore litre!!!
So, a 70% of savings of rain water - which otherwise goes down the drain and gets wasted – can provide for close to 40% of daily water requirement of the city!!! Isn’t this amazing?
Yes, amazing and achievable as well…Let’s see some ancient facts
1. 2000 years old Kanheri Caves at Borivli have this system of
storage of rain water, since the times of Buddhist Monks!!!
Earthern tanks made out of carving the stones were used to save
and store rain-water falling on hills named Krishnagiri
2. Famous Jain Temple Palitana have the similar system of storing
rain water, which is used to provide for the drinking and other
uses of all visitors who come there for pilgrimage
3. Some of the old towns of Guajarat like Junagadh, Veraval,
Porbandar also have similar earthern tanks in old building
4. A deserted land like Rajasthan have ample no. of cases where
local people have created miracles by coming together and
creating rain water harvesting and storing tanks, below the
ground, which caters to their water demand all across the
year…& having realized the value of water, they don’t waste
even a single drop (Compare this with educated people like us,
who drink half bottle of packaged water and let the remaining
go to trash!!!)
5. Environmentalists claim that if 70% of rain-water of Mumbai is
stored regularly, next 100 years of water problem will be
solved!!!
So, its time to wake up to the need of rain water harvesting…Else, the imaginary scenario given above may soon turn –out to be the reality of life for Mumbai, and for most other cities of India!!!
