WATER HARVESTING

1. WHAT DO YO CALL THE ABOVE  TRADITIONAL  RAINWATER HARVESTING STRUCTURES IN THE URBAN AREAS OF NORTHERN INDIA ?

2. THE ABOVE TWO IMAGES ARE RAINWATER HARVESTING STRUCTURES IN PATAN , GUJARAT WHICH IS A WORLD HERITAGE SITE . CAN YOU NAME THIS STRUCTURE?

3. THE BELOW IS A PROFILE PICTURE OF A TRADITIONAL RAINWATER HARVESTING STRUCTURE IN THE SEMI ARID REGIONS CALLED KAREZ. CAN YOU TELL ME IN WHICH COUNTRIES YOU WILL FIND THIS WATER HARVESTING STRUCTURE . THIS IS A SERIES OF HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL WELLS. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF APPLICATION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL .

4. THIS METHOD OF IRRIGATION IS TRADITIONALLY USED IN TAMILNADU AND ANDHRA PRADESH . DURING ANCIENT TIMES THE CHOLA AND PALLAVA KINGDOMS FARMERS SPEND BETWEEN 6 TO 8% OF THEIR INCOME IN MAINATAINING THIS IRRIGATION SYSTEM . THE KINGS BELIEVED THAT FOOD  SECURITY LEADS TO NATIONAL SECURITY 

5. THIS IS A TRADITIONAL METHOD OF RAINWATER HARVESTING SEEN IN KASARGOD DIST OF KERALA AND DAKSHINA KANNADA DIST OF KARNATAKA IN THE WESTERN GHATS . WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS ?

6. WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS TRADITIONAL METHOD OF RAINWATER HARVESTING .WHY DO THEY USE MATERIAL OF PLANT ORIGIN TO MAKE IRRIGATION PIPES . WHAT QUALITY OF LOCAL PEOPLE DO YOU SEE HERE ?

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    PLEASE LISTEN TO A VERY INTERESTING TALK BY ANUPAM MISHRA ON THE TRADITIONAL METHODS OF RAINWATER HARVESTING   BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK
https://www.ted.com/talks/anupam_mishra_the_ancient_ingenuit...

 

7. According to the above flowchart how rainwater harvesting prevents migration of people

villages to cities and in fact brings back people to the villages?

8.  Other than agriculture how more recharging of underground water helps the 

village ?

I  Ingredients for Success – Rainwater Harvesting in Rajasthan

• Author: Gerry Marten

1. Shared community awareness and commitment. Strong democratic institutions and genuine community participation are prominent in EcoTipping Point stories. Of particular importance is a shared understanding of the problem and what to do about it, and shared ownership of the action that follows. Communities move forward with their own decisions, manpower, and financial resources. Working only for food, a number of Golpapura villagers joined the team to restore the first johad. The following year, a larger dam was restored by the residents with an estimated 10,000 person-days of labor. Traditional participatory village councils (Gram Sabha), which featured representation from every family and reached decisions by consensus, were revived to manage dam construction. The Gram Sabha also initiated community reforestation projects. These cooperative efforts strengthened village solidarity, which was later crucial for the nonviolent civil disobedience that resisted government efforts to shut down the johads.
2. Outside stimulation and facilitation. Outsiders can be a source of fresh ideas. While action at the local level is essential, a success story typically begins when people or information from outside a community stimulate a shared awareness about a problem and introduce game-changing ideas for how to deal with it. Five young men from the group Tarun Bharat Sangh ("Young India Organization") came to the village of Gopalpura intending to set up a health clinic. But they found the greatest need was water and, on the advice of a village elder, began to work on restoring traditional earthen dams (johad) for rainwater catchment and underground water replenishment. They were helped by outside professional engineers.
3. Enduring commitment of local leadership. Trusted and persistent leaders inspire the deep-rooted and continuing community commitment and participation necessary for success. Rajendra Singh, one of the five young men from Tarun Bharat Sangh, maintained his role as leader, and Tarun Bharat Sangh has actively facilitated the construction of johads in more villages by hosting thousands of visitors to see what was achieved in Golpapura and insisting on contracts that rigorously specify labor and cash commitments by villages that want Tarun Bharat Sangh to help them build their own johads.
4. Co-adaption between social system and ecosystem. Social system and ecosystem fit together, functioning as a sustainable whole. Communities create a "social commons" to fit their "environmental commons." Effects from the rebirth of rainwater harvesting ping-ponged from ecosystem to social system and back, and the momentum got stronger as both ecosystem and social system began to heal. The communally-oriented traditional Gram Sabha councils were able to manage communal enterprises such as johad and village forests with an effectiveness not found in conventional village councils (pancharat). Young men came back home from the cities, providing additional labor for johad restoration. Villagers also organized tree planting and protection of the village forest. This mobilization of manpower led to the restoration of the environmental support system, so that once again the ecosystem provided for people's needs.
5. "Letting nature do the work." EcoTipping Points give nature the opportunity to marshal its self-organizing powers to set restoration in motion. Once the dams were constructed, one had only to wait for the monsoon rains. The ponds behind the dams filled with rainwater, which percolated into the underground water, and wells began to flow again. Underground transport of the water from dams to wells was achieved at no expense for infrastructure such as pipes or ditches, and no water was lost to evaporation. Rivers and streams were restored to year-round flows, providing further "free" water distribution. The higher water table meant that crops could grow with less irrigation, and trees could grow close enough to villages to reduce the effort for firewood collection. The recovery of forests reduced soil erosion, protecting the johads from siltation. 
6. Rapid results :Quick "payback" helps to mobilize community commitment. Results from the very first johad pond were seen in just a few months. During the monsoon it filled with water and a nearby well began flowing again. This quick payback inspired more dam building. Ten years later there were 10 such ponds in Gopalpura, holding 162 million gallons of water. The practice eventually spread to 750 other villages.
7.  A powerful symbol. It is common for prominent features of EcoTipping Point stories to serve as inspirations for success, representing the restoration process in a way that consolidates community commitment and mobilizes community action. The leader of TBS, the non-profit organization stimulating these changes, became a symbol of the movement throughout the region.  To underscore their commitment to the trees, villagers tied colorful rachis (kinship bracelets), around their trunks, a symbol of family protection.
8.   Overcoming  social obstacles. The larger socio-economic system can present numerous obstacles to success on a local scale. The restored resources – underground water, village forest and river fisheries - attracted the interest of the government, which sought to claim the resources as state property. But the "water warriors of Rajasthan" had become well organized and were able to defend their resources.
9. Social and ecological diversity. Diversity provides more choices, and therefore more opportunities for good choices. With water and firewood just a short walk away, women had time to start cooperatives, selling milk products, handicrafts, and soadiversifying sources of income. Children had time to go to school, including girls who had not previously had the opportunity, bringing new skills and confidence to the village. The area of wheat fields jumped from 33 to 108 hectares, and with the land and sense of possibility restored, some farmers diversified into sugarcane, potatoes and onions, which increases the chance that if one crop is having a bad year another crop is there to help the community thrive.
10. Social and ecological memory. Learning from the past adds to the diversity of choices, including choices that proved sustainable by withstanding the "test of time." Reviving the tradition of building johads was possible because elders remembered how to construct and maintain them. The traditions of the Gram Sabha village councils, voluntary labor, and foot marches ensured success and the spread of success to other villages. Nature contains an evolutionary "memory" of its ecological design for sustainability.Because of ecological memory, the restored rivers and forests provided habitat for wildlife that had not been seen in the area for many years.
11. Building resilience. "Resilience" is the ability to continue functioning in the face of sometimes severe external disturbances. The key is adaptability. The forest helped to maintain and protect the watershed. Underground water storage reduced evaporation, and ensured water supply for household use and dry season irrigation even in times of low rainfall. The social organization and community solidarity were also strong protections. The circle of positive effects—more water, more agriculture, more vegetation, less erosion, more water—and the related social benefits (e.g., men returning to the village) ensured the sustainability of the gains. It was no longer necessary for women and children to haul water from distant sources. As a consequence, women had more time for housework, child care, and supplemental economic activities, while children had time to return to school and the education that could provide them a more secure future.

9. Discuss how rainwater harvesting helps in improving public health . 

10. How rainwater harvesting improves literacy rate among females and helps in

developing entreprenueral skill among the women?

11. How rainwater harvesting helped in strengthening democracy at grassroot level?

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      SOME WORDS TO PONDER ON 

      TIPPING POINT :WHAT IT MEANS IN DIFFERENT CONTEXT

     The point at which an issue, idea, product, etc., crosses a certain threshhold and gains significant momentum, triggered by some minor factor or change.

      

        The point in a situation at which a minor development precipitates a crisis:

     Every infected person brings us closer to the tipping point, when the outbreak becomes an epidemic.

      
Physics. the point at which an object is no longer balanced, and adding a small amount of weight can cause it to topple