TALLULAH D’SILVA
We are a water rich state and yet we are heading for a water crisis. We are already water stressed! I was observing a newly built villa in the neighbourhood of the plateau near Kad amba. It has a swimming pool tucked in the corner with a waterfall. It has its filtration system running daily to keep the water clean and free from algal formation. The caretaker waters the garden diligently and washes the paved area of the garden by hosing it down under pressure. Sometimes the overhead water tank is overflowing and goes unchecked thereby wasting a lot of water. Nearby new buildings are coming up. All look like hotels! All are being built of the modern day RCC technology replete with false ceilings and excessive illumina tion making them look like night clubs in the city. In the vicinity, there is also a large event space with new football turfs, a cou ple of large swimming pools and small cot tages to be let out. The garden is lush and well kept and seems to be well watered. This premises has a couple of bore wells, a new one added as water consumption had also increased with more footfalls. On the edge of the parking area, is a long linear laterite composting structure built above ground but all the compartments are filled with piles of empty plastic bottles, shining paper decorations and disposable plas tic cups. The ground around this appears to be black and with evidence of charred remnants. Like with all dry waste littered across the state that remind uncollected or unaddresses, here too it seems to be end ing up in toxic smoke! The plateau earlier had no houses be cause it does not have the provisions of public water supply as well as electrici ty. However in the recent past, there has been a spurt of new developments. The small area of barely less than a kilometre in diameter has nearly six bore wells. And streets of the subdivided property have solar street lights. The older residents lament about how the tube well water is not enough. There is a church at the ridge of the plateau with a fresh water well too. But here too, the community leaders have observed that last year the well had nearly dried up. Another concern is the sewage and untreated waste that is slowing seep ing into the porous lateritic strata from the rising number of septic tanks and soak pits from all the newly built developments scattered on the plateau. The villages below this plateau are quaint and rather self-sufficient. There are lakes that are rain fed and have sluice gates that regulate the release of water from the catchment area, there are numer ous fresh water wells, community wells at the base of the hills and magical springs that are still revered and visited by fami lies and small groups particularly during the summer for respite from the swelter ing heat. The water from these springs is truly refreshing. All the villagers walk to the community wells early in the morning to take home a couple of pots of this nour ishing water as a traditional practice. As the capacities of our villages increase with the burgeoning of new residents and as our protected plateaus get ‘developed’, it is apparent that the solutions seem to stare us in the face as opportunities our ancestors would cleverly use. Our plateaus are like water tanks. They soak up all the rain water and store it in deep aquifers which flow out in the form of streams at the base of the hillocks and as springs of life giving water all year round. Therefore doesn’t it make sense that every structure that is being built should make a provision of a storage tank to harvest rainwater that can provide for water consumption that year round? Did you know that the Gov ernment (Water Resources Department) has a subsidy for rain water harvesting tanks for up to 1 lakh? Besides this there are so many passive rain water harvest ing systems that are very cost effective to install like soak pits, hollow pipes filled with gravel that allow water to feed into aquifers and help recharge ground water. All the roof top water can be collected using gutters and pipes and directed into these recharge pits and help replenish the ground water table. Trees help to bind loose topsoil with its extensive root network, arrest erosion on hill slopes and on plateaus help to enhance ground water percolation. Kumeo, Devil’s Tree, Banyan, Kindal, Bombax, Kanttam (shrub vegetation that is also drought re sistant), etc are part of our rich floral pla teau biodiversity. Therefore it is critical to conserve all the endemic trees and plant as many more to regulate micro climates, provide shade for native biodiversity and secure water. And why do we let waste wa ter into the ground to seep unchecked to pollute ground water when we can easily use it as it is nutrient rich to grow food plants and turn sewage into resources. Humanure is black gold and can regener ate a forest! Dry or composting toilets, bio digesters are excellent for plateau regions where waste can be turned into a rich re source. It is foolish that we are knowingly al lowing all the toxic materials like cement, plastic, sewage laced with carcinogenic cleaners leach into the ground that is wa ter rich and then try to blame everybody but ourselves of the looming crises of wa ter pollution and drought as a result of our apathy and careless actions. Time to wake up. (Tallulah D’Silva is an Architect and silver awardee of the Golden DoorAward 2020 for truth and integrity.)
