Authors: Mr Setu Shah, Founder, Sujalaam, www.sujalaam.com

INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY

What is considered “sustainable” in one location may be a challenge to sustainability elsewhere. Sustainability is a concept that describes the dynamic condition of complex systems, particularly the biosphere of Earth and the human socioeconomic systems within it. It reflects both our fundamental values and our knowledge of nature and life on Earth.

Sustainable water supply is a component of integrated water resource management, the practice of bringing together multiple viewpoints to determine how water should best be managed. Sustainable water systems should provide adequate water quantity and appropriate water quality for a given need, without compromising the future ability to provide this capacity and quality.

It is clear that because water is essential to all life, water resources management, using the principles of sustainable development, will be essential for achieving sustainability

RAIN RICH INDIA

India is extremely fortunate to receive 120 cm rainfall annually against the world average of 80 cm which is the maximum rain per sq. mt. in the world. It’s even said that our country will get submerged in 3 feet of water. Yet ironically, we are the 13th Most water-stressed country in the world. India’s water crisis is often attributed to a lack of holistic planning, increased privatization, industrial and human waste, and corruption. In addition, water scarcity in India is expected to worsen as NITI Aayog predicts that by 2030 – 40% of the population will have no access to drinking water and 6% of our GDP will be lost.

HISTORY OF WATER IN INDIA

Bharat was known as Golden Sparrow

Ancient India (from 3000 BCE to around 10th century AD) is the period when India was known as the “Sone Ki Chidiya” (a Golden Sparrow). This era witnessed cultural confluence and economic boom at many junctures, yet the fabric of traditions never got destroyed. Even today people say ‘Jaha Daal Daal par sone ki chidiya karti hai basera’ (where the golden sparrow dwells on every branch of a tree).

Traditionally Indians worshipped both water and rain as “Jala” and “Varuna”. Even rivers were worshipped. Till 3000 B.C., Rainwater Harvesting & Recharge happened without human effort as the rain got collected in rivers and natural depressions. Civilizations flourished on riverbanks all over the world. Indus Valley civilization in India. From 3000 B.C. to 1800 A.D., Rainwater Harvesting & Recharge happened with human effort. Indians harvested rainwater using different methods. These methods depended on local conditions. Different parts of India used different structures for harvesting rainwater. Some examples are:

1. North: Zing in Leh Ladakh
2. East: Bamboo Irrigation and Zabo in NorthEast
3. South: Jack Wells in Andaman & Nicobar, Eri in Tamil Nadu
4. Central: Pat in Madhya Pradesh, Ramtek in Vidharbha
5. West: Tankas and Step Wells in Gujarat, Bawri & Jodhads in Rajasthan.

Figure 1: Tankas
Source: http://www.inaplanetofourown.net/assets/papers/Spruha%20P.%20Chokshi%20-%20Cumulus%20Mumbai%202015.pdf

Drawing upon centuries of experience, Indians continued to build structures to catch, hold and store monsoon rainwater for the dry seasons to come. Skilled people managed these structures over generations. These sustainable traditional techniques, though less popular today, are still in sustainable and efficient.

Talab
Talabs are either natural or man-made reservoirs that store water for household consumption and drinking purposes. They were also built to regulate the flow of water and prevent flooding. Talabs were at the core to recharge rainwater via aquifers and used as surface water. Several ponds were built across Gujarat during the 15th Century for both irrigation and drinking water.

Taanka
Taanka is a traditional rainwater harvesting technique indigenous to the Thar desert region of Rajasthan. A Taanka is a cylindrical paved underground pit into which rainwater from rooftops, courtyards, or artificially prepared catchments flows. Once filled, the water stored in a taanka can stay in the same condition for years together. An important element of water security in arid regions, taankas can save families from the everyday drudgery of fetching water from distant sources. Tanka is mainly used for storing roof rainwater to be then used for household purposes.

This history reflects the ingenuity and wisdom of our forefathers who made harvesting of water and its management an integral part of the native culture and community life. These practices were perceived by the common man as his sacred duty and by the communities as part of good local self-governance and social responsibility. This Water-Wisdom at all levels of society ensured adequate availability of water for all, which in turn, formed the basis for all-around development and prosperity. Water, Forest, and Community interdependence worked hand in hand and allowed multiple civilisations to flourish in India.

If one were to draw the essence of the past, one would say that it was the openness to investments, openness to ideas, and a scientific temper which had propelled India to that position in the global economy at that time. India was once upon a time, big economic power in the global economy.

TODAY DEPENDENT; INDEPENDENT INDIA

We all know water is essential, but too many of us think it’s unlimited. Fresh water is a finite resource that is rapidly becoming scarce. In India, a warming climate is drying up lakes and rivers, while rapid urbanisation and water pollution are putting enormous pressure on the quantity and quality of surface and groundwater. The country’s fragile agricultural system still is now depending primarily on groundwater creating havoc on the national economy.

Figure 2: The water crisis
Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/8-major-cities-running-out-of-water-1882061458.html

Our path towards this water crisis started in 1960 when we started to draw water through tube wells instead of surface water sources like ponds and rivers. This scalding journey has seen water bodies vanish, an unplanned centralised water supply come up, subsidised rates and the devaluation of water, immense wastage of water, the pain of water becoming a commodity and various levels of mismanagement of water especially as the generations have come to take water supply for granted.

Nearly 40% of water demand in India is met by groundwater. As a result, groundwater tables are falling at an alarming rate of 2-3 meters per year. Water scarcity has many negative impacts on the environment, including lakes, rivers, wetlands, and other freshwater resources.

India is the second largest urban system in the world with almost 11% of the total global urban population living in Indian cities. The country has reached a turning point in the journey of its economic transformation wherein half of the country would be ‘urban’ in a few decades. (MoHFW, 2019). Indian cities produce nearly 40,000 million litres of sewage every day and barely 20% of it is treated. 80% of sewage in India is untreated and flows directly into the nation’s ponds, lakes, and rivers, polluting the main sources of drinking water and further seeping into groundwater, thereby creating a ticking health bomb in India. Weak or non-existent enforcement of environmental laws, rapid urban development, and a Lack of awareness about the dangers of sewage are all blamed for water pollution. Untreated sewage is killing Indian rivers. A 2011 survey by the Central Pollution Control Board revealed only 160 out of nearly 8,000 towns had both sewerage systems and a sewage treatment plant.

Regardless of improvements to drinking water, many other water sources are contaminated with both bio and chemical pollutants, and over 21% of the country’s diseases are water related. The concern is that India may lack overall long-term availability of replenishable water resources. While India’s aquifers are currently associated with replenishing sources, the country is also a major grain producer with a great need for water to support the commodity. As with all countries with large agricultural output, excess water consumption for food production depletes the overall water table. Many rural communities in India that are situated on the outskirts of urban sprawl also have little choice but to drill wells to access groundwater sources.

THE WAY FORWARD TOWARDS AATMANEERBHARTA

Sustainable development was explicitly popularized and contextualized by the Brundtland Commission in the document “Our Common Future” where it was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (UN, 1987). Sustainable water means a nation that can be water self-sufficient: ensuring there is enough water to meet multiple needs, from agriculture to municipal and industrial. It also means water supply will remain consistent, despite climate change impacts, such as a lack of rainfall and drought, or too much rain and being flood resilient. Sustainable water also means that the economics stack up in matching supply and demand and the water delivery process is as efficient as possible. Water sustainability can also mean energy neutrality by coupling traditional water treatment technologies with renewable energies.

“जीवेषु करुणा चापि
”विधीयताम्। तेषु मैत्री 

Compassionate and Friendly to all Living Beings

Figure 3: Achieving Water Sustainability
Source:https://www.wateronline.com/doc/sustainability-report-creating-a-water-secure-world-0001

The very concept of ‘aatmaNEERbharta’ is based on the philosophy of being self-reliant in water for our daily needs. Reviving existing water bodies, smart farming, responsible industrialization, re-using wastewater, harvesting, and recharging rainwater are the most suited saving grace of survival. Water is a finite and irreplaceable resource that is fundamental to human well-being, but it is only renewable if well-managed.

aatmaNEERbharta THROUGH CHANGE IN OUR ATTITUDE

The fundamental issue facing everyone is how to reconcile our desires for all of us on this globe to have a good life with the constraints imposed by the availability of a renewable, but limited, water resource. It can be done. Let our optimism be a torch to light the way forward!!!

Figure 4: Attitude Change Process
Source: DK Series – Managing Change

Water distinguishes our planet compared to all the others we know about. Our notion that water is an infinite source available at our beck and call is almost illusionary for now we are realising just how very finite this elixir of life is.

There is an immense need to heighten the awareness to bring about a change in our attitude towards water management, the significance of comprehensive water management, its socio-economic benefits and its ability to mobilise finances for the development of our nation.

A FEW ECO AND POCKET-FRIENDLY SOLUTIONS

A few solutions which can be adopted by communities for water conservation include:

• Roof Rainwater Harvesting Systems, for residential, office, government, school, and college buildings
• Surface Runoff Water recharge for farms, gardens, large campuses
• Excess water recharge for water bodies including lakes, ponds, rivers
• Wastewater management using efficient techniques, e.g. Root zone treatment

SUJALAAM

Sujalaam is an organizational setup which aims at nurturing communities and the nation towards achieving sustainability in water. With increasing awareness of saving water, we realized the need for having water harvesting solutions on our premises which can also educate our future generation on the need and options to conserve water. Our approach to aatmaNEERbharta is a geographic approach that helps in systematic understanding and optimizing the quest for Water Sustenance.

CONCLUSION

There is no escape from the fact that the need and demand for finite and vulnerable water will continue to expand and so will competition for it.

More uncertainty in water availability, higher frequency of extreme weather events, and more rapid return flow of water to the atmosphere are expected in the future.

We Indians are fortunate to receive maximum rain per sq. mt. in World. Let us change our attitude towards water management by adopting Decentralised Nature-Based Water Management Systems and make India the Golden Sparrow again.

To become aatmaNEERbhar in your water needs reach out to us on namaste@sujalaam.com

If you are keen to implement water conservation techniques in your area or village and want to know more about our work, feel free to reach out to us at info@winfoundations.org