WATER FOR ALL
In recent times, the citizens in Mumbai have lost lives, business and property worth crores due to heavy rains and consequent floods. Ironically, the water stress in the city is slowly but inexorably reaching threat proportions. And clearly, and not as slowly, the authorities are losing this battle. Already there is talk of reducing per capita supply to citizens in the near future.
The time has come to review the futile “allopathic” approach adopted so far, which is resulting in huge amounts of public funds going down the drain! The crux of the problem lies in capturing the rain precipitation flowing away into the drains. When we get bountiful, clean water on our heads, we let it run away – onto the road creating floods! It might appear naïve to point out, like the boy who declared the emporer was nude, that if we were able to harness the rain, we would be eliminating both these vexatious issues at one go. It will be relevant to point out that in Israel a fine is levied if rain water runs out of the compound!
As responsible citizens, we can keep ahead of the water crisis by taking recourse to the following time-tested schemes:
I. Rain-water harvesting
There are 3 essential vectors for harvesting rain, viz rooftop and paved areas, trees and ground-water recharging.
1. Rooftop / Paved areas run-off: Mumbai is spread over 437 sq.km (approx) and blessed with over 900/600 MLD easily catchable precipitation, after discounting Borivli National Park, efficiency, etc.
2.Trees:
For us city slickers who use water coming from villages upto 100 km away and base our life aspirations on concrete, a change of perspective is imperative. Any child in Rajasthan will tell you that the tree is the father of water. Trees perform multiple functions for the environment to tick:
• Attract rain precipitation
• Provide the path for water, via the roots, to reach the ecology in the earth, which sustains all living organisms
• Release oxygen into the surroundings
• Remediate excess carbon and nitrogen in the air
• Regulate ambient heat (ever wondered why one sweats in Mumbai even after prolonged rains?)
(for more, one would only need to bone up from a Class V book)
3. Ground-water recharging:
Depleted ground-water cause sea-water ingress, leading to non-potable water from existing wells. This causes unseen danger to building foundations across the city. Hence, percolation of rain into the ground is to be greatly increased on roads, paved areas, parks et al.
II. Re-Cycle waste water
Liquid waste, including sullage and sewage, can be profitably recycled by organic methods to yield bio-rich water for secondary applications like gardening, flushing,etc. This reduces the water demand all round.
III. Reduce consumption
The simplest solution is also the most difficult to practice. Leaky taps, “long showers”, hosing cars, windows, floors, etc lead to avoidable wastage of this precious element so vital to Life.
In conclusion, it seems the dual problem of flooding and water shortage can be resolved with age-old, non-technology-driven practices of treasuring water. And at a low cost too.
Traditionally one's worth was not measured in money, but "kitne paani mey hai"? Like the wizened red Indian chief said, until man destroys all the forests, contaminates all the soil and pollutes all the rivers, he will not realise he cant eat money!
(for more info, visit www.jalsangrah.org)
Water Community India, Mumbai Paani
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