Thanks to a grant raised by Akvo www.akvo.org , the Urdu school with 70 students is getting a lagre 7000 rainwater harvesting tank. This will give good water for drinking and cooking and for ablutions too making safe sanitation possible.
When irrigation pumpsets are replaced with energy efficient ones, when drip irrigation systems are introduced and farmers benefit with labour savings groundwater levels can come up and rivers can be revived. This is one example in the Arkavathy basin.
A simple clean roof catchment, a small rainwater gutter and a down-pipe connected to a rain barrel and you have the cleanest water which when filtered is great to taste .
Welcome to the world of rainwater harvesting. Its child play.
Some of the oldest water lifting devices from wells were developed around the Indus and the Saraswati river in India. The Chadas or the Mott as it was known in North India , still continues to work in a few pockets. Pretty soon they will disappear and with it a water heritage.
Byrapura is near Vijaypura Town about 45 km from Bangalore. here is how the primary school manages its water and sanitation challenge.
A rainwater harvesting tank will be put up here to supplement the water requirement.
Dr. Dipak Gyawali is an Academician, an Author, a Hydro- Electric Power Engineer, an Ex- Minister for Water Resources Nepal and in his own words a Mad-hatter. Here he speaks on the cultural context of the waters we manage in a river basin ..and the 'planning' we do around it.
Beet root is increasingly being favoured as a crop which is remunerative to farmers. Beet sugar too can become a good alternative to sugarcane . They take around 90-100 days to grow and require relatively less water as compared to sugarcane.
Productivity is good and the farmer reports he gets between 10 to 15 tonnes per acre.
Preserving wetlands and lakes, treating sewage, reinvigorating wells , integrating groundwater into the water needs of a city, harvesting rain all are steps needed for sustainable water management.
A May thundershower , albeit a small one, is enough to collect some rainwater .
Once stored in a rain barrel from a clean catchment, the water will be tested for quality, filtered and used for drinking and cooking
Bangalore generates 720 million liters of sewage everyday. How is it managed? This is a story of the honeysuckers.
A film by
Celine Thizy
Gautam Vishwanath
It's easy and its fun and it tells you a lot about the availability of rain and water in your area. A rain gauge however needs discipline since a reading is needed every rainy day.