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Drought - a government made natural
disaster
Given 100 mm of rainfall over 1 hectare of land. The
amount of water received is 1 million litres of water, sufficient to meet the drinking
water requirements of 182 people at 15 litres per person for the whole year.
Is it fair to blame the failure of monsoon alone for the current drought
in several states of India? Or is it mismanagement of water resources?
Rarely is there a politician who does not know the importance of water. Unfortunately
none of them know how to solve the problem. Teaching them that is a much more difficult
task.
Politicians and their promises of water go back a long way. Chandrashekhar, after he
completed his Bharat Yatra informed that the most important thing on his development
agenda was water. Vajpayee’s statement in the NDA’s plan for the nation informs
that if there is one thing he is going to do during his five year tenure and that is to
get drinking water to all the villages of India. Rajiv Gandhi actually set up a drinking
water mission.
Many will term what is happening in Gujarat and Rajasthan a natural disaster. Nothing
could be further from the truth. This is really a government made disaster.
The government focus on meeting water demands has been surface and groundwater
extraction, often ignoring the raindrop. On itself playing the role of provider instead of
communities. Puzzling, since there is no village in India that cannot meet its basic
drinking and cooking needs through rainwater harvesting by themselves.
Over the last hundred years there has been two paradigm shifts in the way water has
been managed: the state has emerged as the main provider of water and a simple technology
like catching rainwater has declined. The result? Heavy overexploitation from surface and
groundwater and increasing water shortage. And subsequent drought.
What is needed is a drastic change in mindsets. Rainwater harvesting requires a new
approach to governance itself- from a top- down bureaucratic form to a participatory one.
The way ahead: a mass movement of rainwater harvesting, for the people, by the people.
An exclusive interview of environmentalist and Global Environment Leadership award
recipient, Anil Agarwal by Indian Express is available by clicking here (news.pdf 355 kb)
Down to Earth has over the years, consistently provided information on
the success of community participation in water management. A summary of these reports:
A belief in tradition
It was a unique ceremony for a unique award given to a unique rural community of India. In
what is perhaps the first ceremony of its kind, President KR Narayanan flew to Hamirpura,
a village in Alwar district, to felicitate the village of Bhaonta Kolyala with the first
Down to Earth- Joseph C John award for the most outstanding environment community. The
award, instituted by Down to earth and funded by the Joseph C John Trust, is aimed at
scrutinising community efforts and selecting the outstanding one. Bhaonta-Kolyala
triumphed for its work in rainwater harvesting, rural engineering and revival of the
Arvari river. Indeed, in reviving the culture of valuing every raindrop. This message by
this community is of no mean importance and is a source of tremendous hope.
The 70-odd villages in the Arvari basin have also formed the Arvari River Parliament to
ensure the future of the river and to solve internal disputes.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte20000430/dte_cover.htm
Down to Earth April 30, 2000 p 24
Industrial devil-ution
Maharashtra and Gujarat, the brightest jewels in India’s industrial crown are on the
fast track to hell. Impressive industrial growth figures fail to hide the grim realities
of environmental pollution. Untreated effluents continue to pollute river and groundwater,
water that is then used for domestic consumption and agriculture. Factories continue to
undertake reverse boring of untreated effluents into underground aquifers.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte20000415/dte_analy1.htm
Down to Earth April 15, 2000, p 27
Standing the test of drought
After the 1999 monsoon failed in several areas of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and summer
several months away, riots and deaths over water had started. But there are several
villages well equipped to face the water scarcity. Villages that have built water
harvesting structures do not have a drinking water problem and some have enough even for
irrigation. Villages in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, Thunthi Kankasiya in Dahod
district and Raj Samadhiyala in Rajkot district show the way.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte2000115/dte_analy.htm
Down to Earth, January 15, 2000, p 30
Parched Punjab
India’s most agriculturally prosperous state, Punjab,is staring at an impending
groundwater crisis. Over extraction of groundwater, with tubewells sinking deeper in
search of water, and faulty cropping practices could affect India’s foodgrain
production.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte991015/dte_srep1.htm
Down to Earth, October 15, 1999, p 24
Waters of life
Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) is well-known for its work on reviving traditions of water
harvesting. But few know about the economic advantages of the water harvesting structures
it has built and promoted in villages. For every Rs 100 invested in small earthen
check-dams known as johads, the economic production in villages has risen by Rs
400. And all this prosperity has come through the use of only 3 per cent of the total
rainwater. Five rives now flow perennially, a result of 20 per cent additional groundwater
recharge. The river Arvari now has a Arvari River Parliament comprising of communities
that have revived it to manage the river and its use.
The achievement of TBS and community participation has not been because of the
government, but in spite of it. 6,500 square kilometers across 650 villages have been
regenerated. Wildlife has returned in the forest as have fish in the revived rivers.
Thanagazi, declared as a ‘dark zone’ by the irrigation in the q980s is now
reclassified as a ‘white zone’, indicative of the wealth of groundwater.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte990315/dte_cover.htm
Down to Earth March 15, 1999, p 29
Perpetual thirst
It has been 45 years since the first national water supply programme. This and many
thousand crores of rupees later, more than half of India’s population is still
languishing in thirst. And where there is water, there are water-borne diseases. Tall
claims have been the government’s record till now. Government figures do not speak
the truth. With increasing demand and overexploitation of groundwater and surface water,
future scenarios can only worsen.
But does it have to be this way? Down to Earth analyses the problem and ways of
quenching thirst.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte990228/dte_cover.htm
Down to Earth February 28, 1999 p 32
A social force called
water
The state is struggling to meet the rising water demand. It is time to learn from the days
when people arranged their own water. In cities and in villages. Valuing the raindrop.
Rainwater is as usable in to the industrialised North as well as to the underderveloped
South, to the poor, rural households as to the gardens and kitches of the rich. The value
is universal.
This report traces rainwater harvesting efforts across Japan, the Philippines,Germany,
the Carribean, Denmark, Thailand, China and Kenya to India, in Chennai and Mizoram
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte981015/dte_analy.htm
Down to Earth, October 15, 1998, p 21
The house that Digvijay
built
Governments and the masses have very rarely worked together successfully in modern India.
In Madhya Pradesh, chief minister Digvijay Singh has managed to do just that. The state
government’s watershed management programme in Jhabua district has married
environmental regeneration with economic well-being. It has been successful because power
was directly given to the people by the government. Jhabua today is far removed from the
lunar barren moonscape it was two decades ago, an outstanding contribution of Anna
Hazare’s work in the village of Ralegan Siddhi. Agricultural produce is being
exported out of the region and distress outmigration has reduced significantly.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte981231/dte_cover.htm
Down to Earth, December 31, 1998, p 29
CSE briefing paper on
Potential of water harvesting, traditions, technologies, policies and social mobilization.
This paper informs about the water crisis and how water harvesting can help. It gives
information on the history of water harvesting in India, the diversity of these systems,
causes of their decline, ongoing efforts at a revival of these systems and exemplary
efforts that stand out.
(A printed copy can be obtained by sending an email to Indira at indira@cseindia.org)
President’s speeches
President’s speech at Hamirpura village on the occasion of giving the Down to Earth
– Joseph C John award.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte20000430/dte_cover1.htm
Down to Earth April 30, 2000 p 29
President’s speech on the occasion of the National Conference on the Potential of
Rainwater Harvesting held in October 1998 by the Centre for Science and Environment, New
Delhi.
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/extra/twhs_president.htm
For more information contact Indira Khurana at indira@cseindia.org or Eklavya Prasad at eklavya@cseindia.org or Rahul Ranade
rahul@cseindia.org.
Rainwater Harvesting Campaign Happenings Page
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