It may be seem that the world over there is plenty of water everywhere but there is a catch. While seas and oceans account for 97.5 per cent, 2.5 per cent is frozen in the ice caps, leaving only 0.5 per cent that is freshwater. It is this very limited quantity which is consumed by humans and animals. Moreover, the ongoing pandemic Covid-19 in which hand hygiene is the best prevention brings to the fore the importance of water more than ever in human history!
Highlighting this vital aspect globally is the United Nations declared World Water Day today.
World Water Day 2021
It was in 1992 at the Rio de Janeiro United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, that it was decided to dedicate March 22 as the World Water Day. First celebrated in 1993, it has continued since then.
This year’s World Water Day 2021 theme is valuing water. It goes without saying that the value of water is much more than its price. The value for this resource is multi-dimensional and can’t be measure in any facet our life be it household, culture, food, economics and environment. Thus each of us need to comprehend what risk we run if this finite and irreplaceable resource is wasted.
India too is caught in this worldwide crisis of fresh water. More than 50 per cent of its population has no access to safe drinking water and nearly two lakh die every year due to lack of access to safe water. Taking bold initiatives in this direction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be lauching the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign to harvest rainwater. Also the agreement for the first river-linking project, the Ken-Betwa Link, aiming to supply water from surplus areas to scarce regions, will be inked.
Apart from the Government initiatives, numerous efforts have been made by individuals and groups to conserve water in India. These have yielded good results and have been replicated by others.
Rajendra Singh the Waterman of India
Known better as the Waterman of India, Dr. Rajendra Singh hailing from Rajasthan, is a well-respected environmentalist and water conservationist. His Tarun Bharat Sangh, using modern and traditional measures — johad, rainwater storage tanks and check dams – has provided fresh, clean water to people. Over a thousand villages now have clean water access while five rivers namely Arvari, Ruparel, Sarsa, Bhagani and Jahaj Wali in Rajasthan have been revived.
Rajendra Singh (Pic Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Singh was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize in 2009 for his life’s work of “building social capacity to solve local water problems through participatory action, empowerment of women, linking indigenous know-how with modern scientific and technical approaches.”
The Ayurvedic medicine graduate and postgraduate in Hindi literature is today associated with several national and international initiatives for water conservation.
Water Warrior Ayyappa Masagi
Fondly known as Water Warrior, Dr. Ayyappa Masagi is the Managing Director at the Water Literacy Foundation and responsible for transforming water management systems in 13 states across India. Taking a leaf out of Mahatma Gandhi’s book, he firmly believes that India and the world has enough water for everybody, provided this precious resource is used judiciously.
It was his experience as a child in Gadag, Karnataka that made him take up water conservation prior to working as a Mechanical Engineer in Larsen and Tourbo. “In my childhood we faced plenty of water problems. I used to wake up with my mother at 3 am to go and fetch water. This used to happen so often that I took an oath to try and conserve water every day.”
Ayyappa Masagi (Pic Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Besides rejuvenating more than 1000 dry boreholes, Ayyappa has led construction of hundreds of lakes and water saving projects. He is mentioned in the Limca Book of World records for having built over 700 artificial lakes.
Prior to his work in water conservation, Ayyappa was a Mechanical Engineer for Larsen and Toubro. When reflecting on what inspired his shift to water advocacy, Ayyappa described his experience as a child in a family of impoverished farmers in Gadag, Karnataka:
Believing in practising percept he has specifically modified his home to be as water wise as possible by installing a rooftop rainwater harvesting system, and collecting grey water in an outside pit to replenish groundwater.
Water Mother Amla Ruia
.Mumbai-based Amla Ruia is widely recognised as Water Mother and has reintroduced traditional water harvesting techniques and built check dams in over 100 villages in Rajasthan.
Ruia’s Aakar Charitable Trust relies on community-based approaches to natural sources such as water, vegetation and soil as well as the promotion of dynamic education
Amla Ruia (Pic Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Working in tandem with local people the trust locates landscapes suitable naturally to capture water, such as a reservoir. They make check dams keeping in view the region’s natural contours and build slopes and shoring spaces to catch and store water. So far the Trust has built over 200 check dams in 100 villages across Rajasthan. To ensure local participation and involvement, 40 per cent of the resources is provided by the community while the trust gives the remaining 60 per cent.
Aabid Surti, fixing taps to save water
In 2007 on reading a newspaper article that explained that a tap that dripped once every second would lead to the waste of over 1000 litres of water a month, Aabid Surti was shaken to the core. Becoming aware of global water crisis severity he started Drop Dead Foundation. Using the tagline, “save every drop, or drop dead”, he hires a plumber, and together, they fix leaking taps in residential houses in Mumbai, free of charge!
Aabid Surti (Pic Courtesy Minaguli.com)
A prolific National award-winning author of over 80 books, as well as a screenwriter, cartoonist and artist, he was nominated for the CNN-IBN CJ ‘Be The Change’ Award in 2010.
Aptly referring to water as the most precious resource on the World Water Day, Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General says, “Water is our most precious resource, a ‘blue gold’ to which more than 2 billion people do not have direct access. It not only is essential to survival, but also plays a sanitary, social and cultural role at the heart of human societies.”
