REVIVING WISDOM

Rainwater is abundant in India. So is its mismanagement. This has led to a human-made water scarcity. The only way to solve modern India's water crisis is to capture this bounty through traditional community-based and urban water harvesting. A look into this new paradigm that is emerging the world over

water harvesting is no longer a subject for academic discussions or committee room confabulations. It is a living subject today for thousands of devotees whose numbers are growing by the day. Today 5,000, five years later 50,000, and 10 years after 500,000 -- that is, one rainwater warrior in every village of India.

That is my dream and the first steps that India and other countries of the world are taking in that direction are captured in the latest book released by the Centre for Science and Environment (cse) entitled Making Water Everybody's Business: Practice and Policy of Water Harvesting . It was just four years ago, in 1997, that cse had released Dying Wisdom: Rise, Fall and Potential of India's Traditional Water Harvesting Systems , which described India's long-standing but decaying tradition of rainwater harvesting in all its 15 different ecological regions. Within a few months of its release, there were over 50 media reports on the modern relevance of this ancient tradition. Civil society institutions across the country helped cse to spread the book's message by organising release functions. Several eminent Indians participated, including Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh and agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan.

As it is not enough to talk about the existence of a tradition, cse decided to explore the actual practice of water harvesting in modern times A major three-day conference from October 3-5, 1998 was organised on the 'Potential of Water Harvesting: Technologies, Policies and Social Mobilisation'. President K R Narayanan kindly agreed to inaugurate the conference and even asked cse to help undertake water harvesting in the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Numerous people came from India, South Asia and elsewhere to describe their efforts. Indians and foreigners, village people and urbanites rubbed shoulders to discuss their struggles and their innovations to deal with the growing water crisis. The papers presented and the discussions that took place have been captured in Making Water Everybody's Business .

But the book goes beyond the 1998 conference. As those invited from China could not come for it, cse put together a report on that country's interesting work on water harvesting based on papers written by Chinese experts. The 1998 conference had failed to discuss the health implications of water harvesting. Therefore, an effort was made to gather information on the dangers involved and the solutions that exist, especially in Singapore, which has made the most outstanding effort in the world to capture polluted urban runoff for drinking water supply.

The world does not stop when one is writing or editing a book. The failure of the 1999 monsoon led to a serious drought in 2000. Faced with a crisis, not only water harvesting took centrestage in the ensuing parliamentary debate on the drought, the Union government and several state governments also decided to take up crash water harvesting programmes. While Madhya Pradesh had already been promoting water conservation through watershed development programmes on a reasonably large-scale, the governments of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh also decided to take up major water harvesting programmes.From small, ngo-promoted water harvesting efforts, the paradigm was now becoming government mantra -- and not anywhere else but in our own country. It was important to capture these experiences in all their strengths and weaknesses. And, therefore, before the book could go to press, cse researchers travelled extensively in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to prepare reports on these government efforts.

Making Water Everybody's Business captures this rich and diverse tapestry of the modern human struggle to find water for its needs. The book is educative as well as inspiring. Who says there is a water crisis? If there one, it is a crisis of the mind. Nature has given us a lot. All that we need to do is to respect the gifts that Nature has given us and learn to live with them with respect and humility.

Why did we title the book Making Water Everybody's Business? Our first thought was to call it Emerging Wisdom to contrast the title with our last book Dying Wisdom . But in the second book, the central message is not just water harvesting but also community and household management. We did not want this key message to get lost. The Indian tradition in water management was built on two principles: one, rainwater harvesting had primacy over river water or groundwater harvesting; and, two, community and household water management had primacy over government supply of water. While talking about the importance of water harvesting, we did not want our readers to forget the second key principle. A principle that comes out so sharply in the book -- how villagers, ngos, individual households, city authorities, governments, politicians, all are getting involved with water management. Hence, the current mouthful of a title but with a purpose behind it. The message is clear: Whoever you are, get involved with water. You will not only help yourself but also help others. The biggest punya that you can do, as the Hindu texts put it.

The most beautiful thing about any decentralised water management paradigm like rainwater harvesting is that it not only promotes mass action -- not mass production but production by the masses, as Mahatma Gandhi once put it -- but also myriads of innovations. Traditionally, people had innovated a variety of water technologies and management systems. The kundi in Rajasthan -- an artificial well connected to a human-made catchment -- could give a family drinking water round the year even in the driest of deserts. The Zabo system of cultivation in certain villages of Nagaland not only harvested streamwater for irrigation but also ensured that forest humus and farmyard manure got mixed with the harvested water to maintain soil fertility. The new book also captures a fascinating innovation of a government field worker in Ladakh to develop artificial glaciers. Rainfall in Ladakh is so low that farming is not possible without irrigation. The farming period is only 4-5 months long. But water in the streams depends on glaciers melting in the high mountains. Farmers can lose weeks waiting for sufficient water to start their cultivation. Now farmers can create artificial glaciers in their own fields as the winter sets in and benefit from the thaw as soon as spring sets in. Which industrial management guru was it who said that Small and Medium Enterprises (smes) are the most innovative? Huge water bureaucracies and technocracies rarely ever innovate to the same extent.

In the end, the book is not just about water or regenerating our water traditions. It is much more than that. Firstly, it is about rebuilding India itself and its economy at its very roots, about eradication of poverty. Water is natural capital and it lies at the heart of the economic capital in rural areas. The rural economy consisting of agriculture, animal production and trees and forests, is built entirely around the availability of water. Water brings land to life and yields biomass in the form of food, fuel, manure, timber and milk. Bringing water to India's villages is infusing a new economic life into our poverty-stricken rural areas and moving towards poverty eradication.

But community-based water management goes beyond rebuilding India's economy. The book is also about rebuilding India's society at its very roots. In rural areas, it is the nurturing of the natural capital that leads to economic capital. But natural capital cannot be sustained with social capital -- the commitment of a society to cooperation and consensus, solidarity and social strength. This is what community-based water harvesting efforts show everywhere. Water harvesting structures work only when village communities get together to develop and maintain them and share the resulting water resources. The message is inspiring: community-based water management can stop the trend towards social atomisation and divisiveness and promote constructive social relations.

The book is, not surprisingly, dedicated to all those who are making Mahatma Gandhi's dream of gram swaraj (village independence or village self-reliance) and of Village Republics (in other words, Dilli me hamari sarkar, gaon me ham hi sarkar , that is, in Delhi, our government; in the village, we are the government) come true. The book is thus about true independence -- freedom from the colonisers and no dependence on the government to the maximum extent possible. In 2001, my hope is that the efforts documented in the book will herald the third struggle for freedom -- the first took place in 1857, which we lost to Britain; the second took place under the leadership of Gandhiji which we won; and now the third, our struggle for self-reliance and independence from a crippling system of governance. This is a far more difficult struggle because it is a struggle against ourselves. But as the book shows, the mindsets are changing and action is beginning. And that is what is so beautiful about the struggle described in the book. Challenging and inspiring. A true discovery of India.

The following pages give a glimpse of what is there in the book.

people's participation. Competitive political populism. A state government urging people to take up rainwater conservation on a big scale. These are the hallmarks of Madhya Pradesh government's effort to take up water harvesting in a big way.

The year 1999 started off with a bad drought in western Madhya Pradesh. Mandsaur, known for cultivation of the water-intensive crop opium, was facing a crisis. "There was panic in the Malwa region as groundwater was depleting very fast," says Narendra Nahata, industries minister, who belongs to Mandsaur district. Some 23 per cent of the district's agricultural land is irrigated. Only two per cent of this comes from government canals, the rest comes from private wells. The groundwater level had dipped from 9-12 metres in 1975 to 18-23 metres in 1999. Local leaders began generating awareness about overextraction of groundwater and ways to deal with it.

The first Malwa Jal Sammelan (Malwa Water Conference) was organised on June 10, 1999. People's representatives from all the panchayat s of the district were invited. The chief minister, Digvijay Singh, who presided over the meeting, called upon each elected representative to build or renovate a tank during his or her tenure. The Ek Panch Ek Talaab programme was, thus, born.

The programme, Ek Panch Ek Talaab, literally means every member of the village, block and district panchayat should become responsible for reviving or constructing a talaab (pond) or tank. The state has 350,000 members of panchayat s in its 51,000 villages. Hence, the programme could theoretically result in 350,000 ponds and tanks. Drought is likely to be the only loser.

Having implemented the Rajiv Gandhi Watershed Development Mission ( rgwdm ), perhaps the biggest programme of its kind in the world, the state has taken the next step towards drought-proofing in the face of a bad drought. As watershed development is only possible in certain areas, the state government needed a new programme of conservation that could reach out to all districts. Like rgwdm, the new programme is also decentralised and serves two purposes:

l Provides a long-term solution to drought.

l Turns water conservation into a people's movement across the state.

In January 1999, Singh had written to all collectors in the state to take up cleaning of the state's tanks and rivers. He asked the members of parliament ( mp s) and members of the legislative assembly ( mla s) of the state to contribute to this end from the local area development funds at their disposal. He called for a people's movement for restoration of waterbodies during the dry months of April and May. The reaction varied from district to district. The political leadership saw sense in this. The failure of the 1999 monsoon added urgency to the efforts. "The drought came as a blessing in disguise," recalls Nagendra Yadav, member of the Shahdol district panchayat . "People realised the importance of water and there was an immediate acceptance of the programme with people contributing generously to it. "

The beginning
By the time the 2000 monsoon arrived, five districts, including Mandsaur, were reviving tanks (see p35). Since June 1999, 3,412 of the state's 21,319 existing tanks have been renovated and some 500 new ones have been built with an investment of Rs 16.1 crore from rural development funds allocated to the panchayati raj institutions. The voluntary labour put in by the community was worth Rs 4.85 crore. The state government has set a target to revive all existing tanks in the coming five years.

"It was assumed that the new village-level leadership that took over after the panchayat elections in December 1999-January 2000 would be more positive towards this programme," says an aide to the chief minister. The state government has decentralised planning and has allocated a major portion of its planned expenditure to village councils, which are the nodal bodies for implementation and take all the important decisions. It is not binding on the panchayat s to spend money on water conservation. Yet they do it. As part of its drought relief operations, the state government directed district rural development agencies to spend a part of their money on water conservation. "It is a decentralised programme and depends on the panchayat 's decisions. In the absence of extra funds, communities have volunteered to fill the gap," says Anupam Rajan, chief executive officer of Shivpuri District Rural Development Agency.

Three reporters involved in the preparations of Making Water Everybody's Business , travelled through various districts of mp to get first hand information about the implementation of the programme. They found that the programme had already started showing results by early 2001. There were reasons to make a big effort to assess the performance of the programme. The economy of mp is primarily agrarian and people -- especially the poorest and the most vulnerable -- rely heavily on livestock. Agriculture and livestock both depend entirely on water, the only source of which is rain. Water scarcity in mp is so serious that in the drought-affected dry winter of 2001 only 30 per cent of the agricultural area has been sown with rabi (winter) crops. "The 2001 drought is so serious that we have not witnessed such a drought for a century," says Singh.

The state government has banned the use of water in the existing tanks for irrigation. In October 2000, the entire state was declared water-scarce. But the Union government's Scarcity Relief Committee has found that the 2000-01 drought is manageable in areas where extensive watershed development has taken place. In the drought of 2000, it had become clear that villages, such as Gelhar Choti in Jhabua district, that had undertaken rainwater harvesting were better prepared to face the drought (see 'Standing the test of drought', Down To Earth , January 15, 2000).

Making an impact
The reporters came back with positive stories. They saw competitive political populism -- politicians vying with each other to contribute to the programme. The level of mobilisation among common people was just as impressive. They were raring to take proactive measures to match each effort of the government with two of theirs. Voluntary labour was complemented with financial contributions and donation of land to clean up silted ponds and make new ones.

In Shahdol district, tank restoration work had started even before the programme was announced. In September 2000, while he was flying down to Shahdol to attend a public meeting, the chief minister saw thousands of tanks reflecting sunlight, shining like jewels. Now, he barely misses an opportunity to speak about the 'shining' example of Shahdol, which literally means one thousand lakes (see p35). Didawali village in Shivpuri district has reaped a rich harvest of wheat -- no resident can recall a similar harvest in the past. A web of check dams built under rgwdm has made this possible.

Managing with available funds
District authorities help in estimating the cost of the job for each and every panchayat. An engineer is given charge of a cluster of village councils for making estimates and giving technical assistance if required. No contractor is involved.

Funds are mobilised from various schemes. According to guidelines issued in February 2000, the programme should get priority funding from the budget for rural development. In any case, the cost of renovating old tanks is small, ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 70,000 per tank. The state government facilitates fund use by prioritising the programme, spending all its drought relief money on water conservation. This is routed through the district authorities to panchayat s for water conservation activities. Similarly, under the state's Jan Sahoyog Nidhi Niti (a state government programme implemented by district authorities), the Ek Panch Ek Talaab programme gets priority -- the annual budget of Rs 30 lakh of every district under this scheme is being used for water conservation.

The district authorities find funds through schemes like the Employment Assurance Scheme ( eas ) and the Jawahar Gram Samrudhi Yojana ( jgsy ). The village assembly decides on the community's contribution. At least 50 per cent of the Rs 1-1.5 lakh that each panchayat gets can be spent on water conservation. As most of these schemes are meant also for generating employment by creating infrastructure like roads and schools, no contractor is involved in the execution of the work and landless villagers are employed for manual work. They also get rights to fish in the tanks.

Building on past programmes
The Ek Panch Ek Talaab programme is now seen as an extension of the rgwdm . "It is a second generation mission. Water conservation should be a mass movement and should be powered by local initiative," explains R Gopalakrishnan, secretary to the chief minister and director of the Rajiv Gandhi Missions.

The watershed mission's reach is limited as it is funded by certain schemes, which allow implementation only in specific blocks -- only 12 per cent of the state's area is covered. In the past two years there has been no extension of the programme to new areas as no extra funds are coming. "So we had to embark on a programme which reaches each and every village of the state and which uses internal resources," says Sudha Chaudhury, deputy secretary, department of panchayats and rural employment. "Villages need not depend on one mission forever," explains Gopalakrishnan. The state has now initiated Pani Roko Abhiyan (Catch water campaign), to push for water harvesting in all the villages of the state (see 'Water revolution', Down To Earth , Vol 9, No 20).

But the most remarkable aspect of the programme has been the response of the political leadership. "It is an opportunity for politicians to restore their credibility with the people," says Nahata. "There is competition among mla s to support tank restoration in their respective constituencies," says a top official in the chief minister's secretariat.

The fallout of this effort is also visible in cities that face water shortage. The local administration, along with academics and the publishers of the popular Hindi newspaper Nai Duniya are making efforts to involve people in water harvesting in Indore. The groundwater table is falling rapidly in this industrial hub of central India. Just above half the city's water requirement can be met today. A declining rainfall and growing population have led Indore to overexploit its groundwater. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the Nai Duniya group set up the Nai Duniya Seva Trust. The proprietors have promised to pay five paise to the trust every day for each of the 130,000 copies of their newspaper.

singapore is blessed with a good rainfall of 2,400 millimetres. But the land area is limited to 61,000 hectares -- less than half of Delhi. The city is sparing no means to harvest this gift. This capitalisation of rainfall has been possible only after considerable research and adoption of strict pollution and quality control. As most cities are polluted, there is constant danger of utilising water harvested in polluted environments, especially for drinking water needs.

The value of urban catchments
In Singapore, the location of impounding reservoirs is usually far from highly inhabited areas. Catchment areas were once relatively clean, hence, the water captured was of good quality. Specific locations have now been notified as areas where pollution-contributing activities are prohibited. However, with the city growing at rapid rates and encroaching on the hinterland, pollution levels in runoffs are increasing. Suitable measures had to be taken to curb such pollution levels so as to minimise the impact on the quality of raw water -- urban runoff.

Water use in Singapore has been steadily increasing. Utilisation of the catchment in terms of total land area has increased from about three per cent before 1969 to about 44 per cent in 1986. Limited land and competing demands for its use from a growing industrial sector has led to the maximisation of land use in Singapore. This includes some urbanised areas with a high intensity of high-rise buildings, light industries and paved areas.

Before 1969, legislation ensured that 'protected' catchments were demarcated only for the development of water resources. Immediately after this, the remaining two per cent of the protected area was used along with an additional four per cent of unprotected area in the Seletar Scheme area of the city. This unprotected area was strife with pollution from the farm sector. Hence the combined area was considered 'partly protected'. By 1981, a large tract of almost 26 per cent of the total land was used to establish two major water supply schemes. These areas were totally unprotected and led to the establishment of a number of laws to control water pollution.

By 1986, the growing demand for water led to the establishment of the Lower Seletar-Bedok Water Scheme that used almost nine per cent of the total land area (see box: Singapore's rainwater reservoirs ). The most important feature of this scheme is that almost one-quarter of the catchment is in an urban area with high-rise buildings and industries. The surface runoff is subject to a wide variety of contaminants. Hence, control of water pollution and relevant technology are the main priorities in the scheme. This scheme is an example for Indian cities where water scarcity is compounded by water pollution.

Water ways
A fair amount of research and development work has been done in Singapore to maximise abstraction of rainwater. Schemes have included the utilisation of the roofs of high-rise buildings, of runoff from airports for non-potable uses, and integrated systems using the runoff from industrial complexes, aquaculture farms and educational institutions. There are some notable examples.

SINGAPORE'S ROOFTOPS: High-rise buildings in cities house 86 per cent of Singapore's population. In all cases involving collection of water from rootops, a simple input/output model has been used to determine the available quantity of rainwater. In a system implemented in a 15-storey building, water collected on the roof was diverted to two rainwater tanks and the water was used for only toilet flushing. An important concern, particularly in the case of tanks at ground level, is the abundance of mosquitoes. A fine-mesh screen incorporated at the water inlet prevents mosquitoes from flying out of the tank rather than curbing the ingress of eggs through the input. Breeding of mosquitoes can be overcome by dousing the stored water with paraffin oil.

In another case, a detailed study was carried out and a computer programme was developed. In this case, a simple dual-mode system was incorporated in the collection tanks placed on the roof. The programme took into account varying demand, overflows and the amount utilised. An economic appraisal established that there was an effective saving of 13.7 per cent of water. The cost of the rainwater was about 0.395 Singapore dollars (S$) or us $0.25 per cubic metre (cum), as against the cost of potable water, which was S$0.535 (or us $0.33).

Another study involved high-rise buildings in an urban residential area of about 742 hectares with a total of 49,000 flats. Using a further modified programme, it was possible to compute the volume of potable water to be pumped, when there was no stored rainwater, and determine the frequency of such pumping. This dual-mode system showed how tanks placed on the roof resulted in lower water costs.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: Most polytechnics or universities have some land and rooftops. In one of the teaching institutions in Singapore with a total land area of 30 ha and the roofed area of 1.5 ha, a rainwater collection system has been successfully implemented. Runoff collected from the ground and rooftop waters are directed to a collection chamber where the water is subjected to some chemical treatment followed by sedimentation and chlorination. The treated water is then used for watering sports fields. Untreated water is used for irrigation. The annual saving in water at current costs amounts to S$74,000 ( us $46,250).

AQUACULTURE AND INDUSTRIAL LOTS: Aquaculture farms have large tracts of land and can utilise rainwater as the quality is acceptable. A case study was undertaken on an aquaculture farm, where ornamental and edible fish and aquatic plants are extensively cultivated. The rainwater collected helped reduce the contaminant level in waterbodies subjected to high nutrient loads.

AIRPORTS: Catchment areas in airports are much larger than roof areas and involve harnessing of both surface runoff and roof water. In the Singapore Changi Airport, built in 1986, the runoff is collected from runways, the associated turfed area, and roofs of buildings.

In a catchment area of 530 hectare, two reservoirs were necessary, one of which retained most of the runoff. Raw water from this main reservoir is pumped to a pre-treatment plant and the treated water is used for firefighting and toilet flushes. As the airport is close to the sea, the second reservoir is used for storm relief when the time of incoming tide and the storm discharges coincide. Annual savings in water usage amounted to about S $390,000 ( us $243,750). The main finding was that the existing storage volume of 3,888 cum was grossly underdesigned. Consequently, only 13 per cent of potable water could be used. By increasing the storage volume to 80,000 cum, all current demands could be met.

Pollution control
Pollution control has been central to Singapore's water harvesting effort. The first step to control water pollution was inter-departmental coordination. At least six government and quasi-government groups met frequently and chalked out programmes for strict pollution control. Activity in the catchment had to be regulated. Among the challenges of regulation was appropriate design of storm diversion and collection methods. In the case of the Lower Seletar-Bedok Water Scheme, various departments involved in planning, public housing, sewerage and drainage systems, pollution control, and other agencies got together to ensure that certain industries did not operate in the area. The drainage system was designed to channel water to suitable collection points.

An integrated approach to planning is essential in urban catchments. In areas where pollution is inevitable it has to be controlled and where there are chances to avoid it, necessary action has to be taken. The water authority of the region is best equipped to coordinate all such activity.

Scientific approach
In order to deal with problems of chemical contamination in urban runoff, a highly scientific approach was adopted.

HYDROLOGICAL SIMULATION: Two specific computer models were used to determine appropriate designs of suitable storm diversions and collection methods. It was found that about 60 per cent of the rainfall ended as surface runoff. Relevant pumping schemes were designed from the collection ponds to the Bedok reservoir.

WATER QUALITY: Technical systems were designed to ensure that only acceptable quality water gets pumped to the water reservoir. This requires the designing of systems that can monitor water quality and trap water only if it is of the quality desired. The raw water in the Bedok reservoir is actually a mix of runoff from urban and semi-urban areas. It compares to water captured from a 'protected' catchment.

TRAPPING URBAN RUNOFF: Studies have shown that dry weather flows are of poor quality in urban areas. Such flows are not collected. These dry weather flows are usually made to go through rectangular channels. Storm flows often exceed the capacity of these channels. Hence, there is a need to remove the debris before diverting the stormwater to detention ponds where it is allowed to settle. These functions are carried out as follows:

l Removal of debris: During a downpour, storm runoff collected in the drain increases the normal water level and overflows into the gratings that serve as a debris filter. Stormwater is then collected in a pond and pumped or allowed to flow by gravity into the Bedok Reservoir.

l Diversion of stormwaters: Tropical storms tend to peak very early and first flushes tend to carry a lot of debris, particularly after a dry spell. But when storms follow one after another during the wet season, the debris levels fall. A system that relies on a chain of sensors prevents the reservoir water from flowing out into the monsoon drain when the reservoir water levels are high. When the levels in the monsoon drain and the diversion channel come to the same, the level differential computer causes the sluice gate to close.

l Sediment Removal: Despite all those precautions, wet weather flows can be full of sediments. These are trapped in detention ponds. Therefore, the first one metre of water that accumulates in ponds during small rainfall events is also pumped out. Detailed settling column analyses are carried out. A computerised system calculates the data and accordingly adjusts the rate of pumping. This improves the ability to remove suspended solids.

Urban water harvesting: lessons
The most crucial aspects of urban water harvesting are the quantity and quality of the water diverted. Hence, water diverted to detention ponds should be of acceptable quality. The Singapore experience shows that urban catchments can be tapped with high rates of efficiency if the system is well planned, maintained and monitored. But it requires a strong scientific support system. Those interested in finding local answers to urban water shortage should note:

l The projects should to be workable and economically viable.

l The success of the scheme to harness runoff in Singapore Changi Airport in the past 10 years shows such projects should be adopted at all airports, even when the airport is close to the sea, as in Singapore.

l Coordination among different departments is essential. A programme's success depends on the ability of the water authority to regularly monitor the quantity and quality of the water.

l The correct calculation of the amount of water to be impounded and the amount that can be withdrawn is also of importance. If done well, this can increase the reliable yield. Analyses must become a regular feature for any water authority. Improving operational strategy and optimising output could be far less expensive than embarking on new schemes.

Adhityan Appan is a consultant and researcher with the Nanyang Technology University, Singapore. He specialises in rainwater collection in urban areas

When I was speaker of the Lok Sabha, I called a special session to discuss serious issues confronting the country. I don't think water was discussed in this special session. We never thought of it. We talked about corruption and criminalisation. Experts and politicians will have to come together at some forum to discuss this. Parliament is not a forum. I don't know how many years it will take parliament to become a serious body again.

-- P A SANGMA,
Former Chief Minister, Meghalaya, and former speaker, Lok Sabha

There is no real reason why there should be any conflict between the state government and the panchayats as to who should do this job of water harvesting. I doubt there are very many MLAs who would like to run around in tin cans collecting raindrops; there is not much in it for them. Therefore, I would imagine that to collect drops of water that fall off roofs, there might not be any major political objection to it.

-- MANI SHANKAR AIYAR,
Congress Party Member of Parliament

On paper the government may have succeeded. Only recently, we came out with an advertisement saying that 95 per cent of the villages have been provided drinking water but we all know that the figure is not more than 50-55 per cent; there are many villages with a chronic problem. So why is there a gap between actual reality and the figures that we have in our record? The reason is that the sustainability of our investment today is very much in doubt.

-- N C SAXENA,
Member-secretary of the Planning Commission

In Maharashtra, in 12 years, Rs 3,500 crore has been spent on watershed development but we read that 17,000 villages didn't have drinking water just two years ago. There is no involvement of the people. The work, which had to be achieved with the help of the people, did not take place and because of these lacunae, the work in the last 50 years could not reach the stage, which it should have reached.

-- ANNASAHEB HAZARE,
Noted Social Worker

Each village is different. Somewhere you have to make a check dam, somewhere a gully plug, in other places you have to make different structures. But we have in our mindset that by sitting in Delhi we can decide what is appropriate. This only creates a lot of hassles in our work.

-- DIGVIJAY SINGH,
Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh

There has been too little effort to conserve and make effective and efficient use of the available water. This is, in part, due to the defects in the way we have planned projects. But fundamentally, they reflect the fact that the pricing policies which the government has followed in respect to practically all sources of water, has served actively to encourage its wasteful and inefficient use. In other words, with the current pricing of water and electricity, no one has any incentive to use less water and use water for more productive purposes.

-- A VAIDYANATHAN,
Former Member, Planning Commission and now head of a study on tank management of the Madras Institute of Development Studies

india 's ancient tradition of community-based water harvesting is declining and being replaced by the role of the state in water management. This is promoting a wasteful and profligate consumption pattern in the country. Not only surface water, even groundwater resources are also being overexploited and polluted. Therefore, it has become necessary to revive community and household management of water. The people themselves must play a more active role, as the state is not being able to succeed. This has to be done both in towns and villages because a growing number of towns are also facing the problems of water mismanagement.

It is only by mobilising people as well as enacting legislations that promote water harvesting can these aims be met. To mobilise people, it is important to promote research that is people-oriented and not just technology-oriented. Research on extending and improving local systems through techniques like rooftop water harvesting, storage of local runoff and recharging of groundwater aquifers in a framework of integrated land-water development is the need of the hour.

This does not mean that we believe that the state has no role to play in water management or there is no role for centralised water supply systems. We have to urgently restore a balance between the role of the state and the individual. There is a need to give more importance to harnessing water locally to achieve this balance.

Fortunately, some efforts are bearing fruit, thanks to some state governments and non-government organisations (ngo s). A survey of developments, in both India and abroad, shows that numerous projects have been undertaken to promote local water harvesting both in urban and rural areas. There have been outstanding efforts in South Asia, Japan and Germany. Water harvesting is proving to be a technology fit for arid regions, poor nations and rich and prosperous ones as well. Even certain state governments like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have begun to encourage rainwater harvesting and have been inspired to undertake watershed management on an integrated basis by rural communities. Water harvesting should be combined with village ecosystem management as it can start a chain of highly synergistic and substantial ecological and economic changes, giving rise to the adage that water is wealth.

But a variety of measures need to be undertaken to promote rainwater harvesting in urban areas where it can help to increase water supply, recharge groundwater and reduce storm water runoff. While several measures like creating a new building code and imposing fiscal incentives have been set up by governments such as in Chennai, India, Sumida City, Japan and in Bonn, Germany, a lot more programmes still need to be undertaken.

At the same time, there is potential for a huge mass movement on water harvesting. Households and individuals can increasingly get involved in managing their water supply to increase community self-reliance. ngo s and individuals can easily take up the work of increasing awareness, educating people and mobilising local action, thus paving the way for increased food and livelihood security. Therefore, a national campaign on water literacy is required to spread the message that water is a very precious natural resource. This investment in a literacy campaign is vital to ensure people's participation without which several crore rupees can be spent on projects without adequate results. Also, there is a need to increase the awareness and understanding of the officials dealing with rural and urban development on a nationwide basis to strengthen the water harvesting component of these programmes. In rural areas, water pricing should be left to user committees and Panchayati Raj institutions to decide and implement. Several states have legal provisions that prevent rural and urban communities from undertaking water harvesting activities. There is a need to replace these with laws that promote water harvesting and clearly think about the institutional mechanisms needed to promote water harvesting at all levels of Indian society.

Given the welcome emphasis on local institutions following the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Indian Constitution, it is important to educate village and urban leaders also about the importance of these programmes. Water harvesting should be a compulsory subject in schools and for engineers and town planners. National awards should be instituted for persons and communities to recognise outstanding work. The government should also be prepared to provide free access to water-related information available.

The state should also provide the necessary technical and financial assistance to communities and households. Priority regions should be identified to undertake such programmes. They should ideally be areas that have a high intensity of land degradation and low productivity of rainfed agriculture.

For urban areas, development bylaws have to be suitably formulated or modified and the masterplans of urban areas should clearly demarcate the catchment areas and leave them undisturbed. All building plans should provide for water harvesting and builders and planners should be given clear technical guidelines. Strong laws should be promulgated for the protection of waterbodies.

A clear strategy is needed to promote the judicious use of water, encourage use of treated wastewater and promote a national-level network to push for water harvesting.

India