After having gone through a massive 50-year phase of constructing big dams and canals, Indian planners are being forced to look at local water harvesting systems to cope with the emergent water crisis. These systems have been engineered by people over the millennia, from dry cold desert of Ladakh to dry hot desert of Rajasthan, from the sub temperate Himalayas to tropical heights of the Nilgiris to catch and conserve water. These invisible rural engineers have succeeded in securing water where there is none. If official planners flounder on, as they do now and do not conserve and develop these age-old techniques of water conservation there might be none of us to mourn our passing.

The three-day conference on the potential of water harvesting will be organised by the Centre for Science and Environment from October 3 to 5, 1998 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The conference will be inaugurated by the Honourable President of India, Shri K R Narayanan, at a special inaugural session in Vigyan Bhavan (Hall No 5) at 9.45 am on October 3..

Leading water experts from India and around the world will participate in this conference to review the myriad of low cost local water harvesting techniques and their potential to meet the local water needs in villages and towns. Besides, discussing the strength and vitality of these systems, the experts will recommend policy options to develop these structures to meet the local water needs not only in thousands of Indian villages at the mercy of vagrant monsoon and without the comforts of expensive piped water supply but also in Indian cities in grip of severe water crisis.

It is immensely ironic that India is doomed to turn into a nation of thirst when rain captured from just 1 to 2 per cent of India’s land with simple techniques can provide India’s 950 million people as much as 100 litres of water per person daily. Much more than 2.5 litres which Indians need daily to meet their cooking and drinking needs. Warn experts that the per capita availability of water in India in 2001 is expected to be half of its 1947 level.

This, much awaited discussion is being initiated by CSE after sensing a noticeable change in the official attitude towards peoples’ wisdom in water conservation and harvesting. CSE’s earlier effort to document and spur a nation-wide debate on the sustainability of the local water harvesting system has helped to shape opinion on water policy. The planning pundits today are at least ready to admit that these time-tested and cost-effective local engineering systems can be relied upon to cope with the water crisis just not in villages but also in cities.

CSE conference will present evidence on this wind of change. Come to the conference to find out how the city of Chennai has emerged as the first ever Indian city to recognise the importance of rainwater harvesting by mandating that all new houses should have water harvesting systems. Architects in Chennai are already preparing designs to help households. Similarly, Aizawl, the capital town of Mizoram meets most of its water needs by collecting rain water from roof tops. Even Delhi is restoring old bowries to capture run-off to survive. Over 300 villages in the drought prone district of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh have taken up outstanding watershed management programme of the state government -- This is the first time that a government has started a peoples’ movement for combined land and water management.

This is a unique case of government learning from the people. India’s genius in catching rainwater lies in thousands of its invisible rural engineers. In order to honour their significant contribution in preserving and promoting water harvesting systems, CSE has sought out five most outstanding talents -- Chewang Norphel in Leh in Ladakh, Ran Singh at Churu, Magga Ram Suthar in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, Kunhikannan Nair at Kasaragod in Kerala and Ganesan in Madurai in Tamil Nadu. All of them will be present in the inaugural session to receive felicitations and certificate of merit from the Honourable President of India Shri K R Narayanan.

Chewang Norphel has devised innovative methods of making artificial glaciers in Leh to recharge waterbodies; Magga Ram Suthar from Jaisalmer digs beris (which are also called kuis in other parts of the Rajasthan desert ) -- narrow but deep wells to draw sweet water in the harsh environs of Thar desert; Ran Singh of Churu village is known for his great engineering skills in making reliable Kundis -- small covered tanks; Kunhikannan Nair of Kasaragod in Kerela has carved out a surangam, a 300 meter deep and intricate tunnel in rock, which collects rainwater from the ghats and unlike other surangams retains water throughout the year; Ganesan, a neer-katti or water manager from Madurai is known for his acumen in dealing with the intricate sluice valves of the irrigation channels where one mistake in the calculation in waterflow and timing of the valves can ruin a poor farmers’ crop. Yet it never happens.

Water, especially clean water, is fast becoming an elusive resource as pollution is making it increasingly more unsafe for use. Poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water account for a substantial part of the diseased burden in India. The World Bank has estimated that in 1993, the economic costs of deaths and illness caused by water and air pollution alone accounted for Rs 24000 crore, -- an amount equal to cost of two Narmada dams. Water pollution alone accounted for Rs 19,950 crore. Nearly, 44 million people are affected by water quality problems either due to pollution, fluoride, and arsenic contamination of ground water or due to ingress of sea water into ground water acquirer. In search of water people are going deeper into the ground lowering the ground water table leaving wells dry.

CSE strongly believes that it will be a fallacy to think that the Telegu Ganga canal can end the water crisis in Chennai, or Jodhpur can pin its hopes only on the Indira Gandhi canal and Kanpur on the barrage on the Ganga. Most of these projects are environmental disasters and financially unsustainable. Answer lies only in learning from the local communities the time tested technique of catching water where it falls.

For more information please contact Anupama Kumar and Shyam Pandharipande