A Drop of Hope for Women
 

All over the world women share a special relationship with water, as a life-sustaining resource, as a means of production, and as a cultural idiom. ‘It is estimated that over 10 million person-years are spent by women and female children carrying water from distant sources every year.’ (Johannesburg Summit 2002, cited in Water Aid/WSSCC)

Supporting this fact is another study commissioned by UNICEF and carried out by the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, 1990. The principal collectors of water in Indian households are women, usually between the ages of 15-35 years. They gather about 192 litres of water a day for an average household of seven members.

Thus, the scarcity of drinking water and the impact of drought are a crisis in the lives of poor and marginalised women due to their gender-defined roles. These issues impact a woman’s health, time and energy spent in collecting water, income-earning opportunities, child-rearing capacities and social status.

India is a country with very deep historical roots and strong cultural traditions that are reflected in our social fabric and institutions of community life. Some of our traditions, which were developed by our forefathers thousands of years ago, have played important roles in different spheres of life. Most important among these is the tradition of collecting, storing and preserving water for various uses. Our ancient religious texts and epics give a good insight into the water storage and conservation systems prevailing in those days. Social scientists, historians and scholars have found that by all accounts, there was no water problem in those days unlike today, and every household was able to meet its minimum water requirements through these rudimentary local measures of water collection and management. It was this basic infrastructure that served as the foundation for building large and powerful empires.

In India, the first major human settlement was in the Indus Valley (3000-1500 BC) in northern and western India. There are archaeological evidences of irrigation and drinking water supply systems from a large number of wells with brick lining and reservoirs meant to collect rainwater.

The Arthashastra by Kautilya gives an extensive account of dams and bunds built for irrigation during the period of the Mauryan Empire. The water-supply systems were well managed within the framework of strict rules and regulations. Different types of taxes were collected from the cultivators, depending upon the nature of irrigation.

Though the large number of reservoirs and tanks built in different times by the kings, village communities and individuals were mainly for irrigation, these also provided water for cattle and domestic use, either directly or indirectly, through charging of wells.
The city of Delhi, founded in the early eleventh century, used to get its water supply from Suraj Kund in Haryana. This water body was built to impound rainwater from the Aravalli hills. During the Sultanate period that followed, several cities were built in the vicinity of the Aravallis with elaborate rainwater harvesting systems to meet the domestic water requirements. Prominent among these is the Hauz-e-Sultani built by Sultan Iltutmish.

In our so-called modern times, many water-harvesting structures and water-conveyance systems specific to the eco regions and culture have been developed. A few traditional water harvesting systems are as follows:

Zings: Zings were water-harvesting structures found in Ladakh. They are small tanks in which the melted glacier water is collected. Essential to the system is the network of guiding channels that brings the water from the glacier to the tank. As glaciers melt during the day, the channels fill up with a trickle that in the afternoon turns into flowing water. The water collects towards the evening, and is used the next day.

Ahar Pynes: Ahar Pynes are traditional systems of artificial channels constructed to harvest floodwater for agriculture, indigenous to south Bihar. Rivers in this region swell only during the monsoon, but the water is swiftly carried away or percolates down into the sand, making floodwater harvesting through Pynes the best option.

Bamboo Drip Irrigation: This is a 200-year-old system used by tribal farmers. Bamboo pipes are used to tap and divert perennial springs and stream water on the hilltops to the lower reaches through gravity. About 18-20 litres of water entering the bamboo pipe system per minute is transported and then reduced to 20-80 drops per minute at the site of the plant. It is used extensively in north-eastern India.

Inundation Canals: Such canals were once an extraordinary system existing in Bengal. The floodwater used to enter the fields through inundation canals, carrying not only rich silt but also fish, which swam through these canals into the lakes and tanks to feed on the larva of mosquitoes, which helped to check malaria in the region. The canals were long and continuous, fairly parallel to each other and at the right distance from each other for purposes of irrigation. The irrigation was through cuts in the banks of the canals, which were closed when the flood had receded.

Bhanadaras: These are check dams or diversion weirs built across rivers. It is a traditional system found in Maharashtra and their presence raises the water level of the rivers so that it begins to flow into channels. They are also used to impound water and form a large reservoir. Bandharas facilitate in harvesting rainwater that ensures the supply of water for a few months after the rains.

Eris Tanks: Watering approximately one-third of the irrigated area of Tamil Nadu, Eris tanks have played several important roles in maintaining ecological harmony in the form of flood-control systems, preventing soil erosion and wastage of runoff during periods of heavy rainfall, and recharging the groundwater in the surrounding areas. The presence of Eris provides an appropriate micro-climate for the local areas.

Kund: A kund or kundi resembles the structure of an upturned cup nestling in a saucer. These structures harvest rainwater for drinking, and dot the sandier tracts of the Thar Desert in western Rajasthan. Essentially a circular, underground well, kunds have a saucer-shaped catchment area that gently slopes towards the centre where the well is situated. A wire mesh across water-inlets prevents the debris from falling into the well-pit. The sides of the well-pit are covered with (disinfectant) lime and ash. The dome-shaped cover, which most pits have, is to protect the stored water.

It is encouraging to see the restoration of traditional water-harvesting systems in various ecological zones of India. Communities in the face of adversity have revived or created new water-harvesting systems. They have made checkdams, johads, and other structures to harvest every drop of rain. Some of them have even harvested rooftop runoffs. In many places, these efforts have withstood the effects of recurring drought and facilitated the easy availability of drinking water.

The various traditional and modern methods of rainwater harvesting can, thus, provide a significant solution towards bettering the lives of rural women and children who are otherwise occupied in the collection and utilisation of water from far-away sources for the survival of their households. q
 

Reference: www.rainwaterharvesting.org
http://megphed.gov.in/knowledge/RainwaterHarvest/Chap2.pdf
 

Malini Trivedi
mtrivedi@devalt.org

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