More than 70% of India's population lives in rural India and the bulk depends on agriculture. Importantly, Indian villages also account for more than 75% of the country's poor. This is enough indication that if India has a vision to be a developed country anytime soon, it needs to nurture this largely agrarian economy carefully. The biggest problem that many of the agricultural communities face is water, or the lack of it; even for their basic needs.
Cut to Raigad district of Maharashtra. More than 20,000 people in about 45 villages and wadis from five talukas have almost become tanker proof. Simply put, they do not have to depend on tanker water for their basic water needs throughout the year and some have enough left over for their agricultural needs too. And this situation will only improve. Reason: They are using water harvesting techniques like making ponds, cordoning springs and making bunds, trenches and plantation to harness water. Interestingly, not a single new bore-well was drilled. Only the existing ones were recharged.
The project commenced five years back. By now 20 villages have become self-sufficient with their water requirements. Some of these villages have also taken to second cropping on parts of their land. With the initial few projects becoming so effective, some 25 more villages eagerly joined in to implement similar projects to eradicate water shortage.
All these villages used to experience seasonal drought and had to depend on tanker water for a large part of the year. The villagers were brought together by SHARE and SCESA, NGOs that have been working together with Dr Gokhale, an environmentalist, to help these people harvest water in a scientific manner. They have used locally appropriate, innovative and environment friendly solutions which were acceptable to the villagers. The entire project has been implemented through 'Shramdan' from the villagers themselves, thus making them the owners of the project. Many experts believe that this is the model to follow pan India.
And it is not only the villages that need to harvest water. In urban areas, unrestricted construction all over has left little exposed earth for water to soak in. Rainwater harvesting in urban areas essentially means collecting rainwater from the roofs of buildings and storing it underground for later use. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was using 288 tankers of water in July, August and September till last year. This year, instead of letting the rain water flow out on the roads, BSE collected it from their roof into a tank. This water was used to fulfill part of their daily requirement, cutting down their tanker water usage to 141 for the same period. The BSE is planning to implement techniques to recharge their bore-well.
