Our Water Conservation program to create awareness, innovate, design, implement projects on ground and impact government policy for 5 R's of Water Conservation by working with communities for water security
To create awareness, innovate, design, implement projects & impact government policy for Dignified life, Easy and Sustainable access to Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for the urban poor and rural India. Also work for Solid Waste Management.
To highlight, empower, connect and reward Water Wise citizens who work and implement water conservation initiatives in communities to help make them water secure
To Educate, Innovate, Inspire and Enable a sustainable, water abundant world by a shift towards profitable, health-giving, water & resource efficient agriculture for food and water secure nation
Last week all of us went for our family vacation to our village in Himachal Pradesh – a village called Chachian in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. My father – in- law, now 76 years old, lives there alone.The village is beautiful – and our home – even more so. Our home – a small cottage on the mountain slope, is on the fringe of a forest of pines through which you can see the snow capped mountains. All sorts of animals, birds and insects stroll in at all times – scorpions, large spiders, chameleons, moths of a hundred types, beautiful birds, grasshoppers in green, blue, red and yellow, ladybirds, mongoose, snakes even wild boars and panthers! (Do check out some pics here…)
But even in this idyllic hamlet, the spectre of Water Scarcity did not leave us. Piped water supply in the village has always been poor, but, to my horror, we did not get a drop of water for 5 continuous days in my holiday week! We needed water for drinking, cooking, cleaning of vessels, home, bathing, washing clothes and toilet – I just didn’t know how we’d manage!
….But I did manage…by practicing the Water Wisdom that I talk about so much….
Unlike here in Delhi, where one type of water serves all needs, I realized I could reduce the effort required to fulfill all water needs by using different types of water for different needs.
So I started grading the water sources. Grade A was clean potable water (at least visually!) There were only two sources for that – branded bottled water from the shops and water from a‘bawadi’ (a miniature step well where groundwater percolates up to the surface and then flows as a stream) about 1 km from home.Grade B was clean water, but its potability was doubtful. This was rainwater from the rooftop or water from a ‘khudd’ -mountain stream flowing nearby or from another bawadi closer to home where the water was slightly muddy (the bawadi was drying up). Grade C was water from a ‘Kul’(Click here to watch a ‘kul’ in action!) flowing in our backyard (a smaller rainwater channel that carries rainwater quietly down the mountain slope and finally empties into the ‘khudd’. (The ‘kul’ water is usually used for irrigation. Till last year this Kul’s water would have been grade B but its quality has deteriorated now). Also water that had been used once – like for washing clothes, washing vegetables – was Grade C water
For each of these 5 days, we got bottled water for drinking ( Am ashamed – we behaved like NRIs! The rest of the village drank water from the bawadi). We drank straight from the bottles to avoid leaving ‘undrunk’ water in tumblers. And to save water needed for washing tumblers. For all cooking, washing of vegetables etc, my husband huffed and puffed and brought back 1 bucket of water a day from the Bawadiabout a km away. For washing of vessels, bathing etc he brought 2-4 buckets a day from the mountain stream or the bawadi that was nearer home.
(There used to be a handpump giving saline water near the house but it had dried up because the village upstream had installed a motor in their handpump. For the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to hate motors !) I learnt how to bathe in 1 quarter of a bucket and my husband in half. My daughter junked the idea of bathing all together and I learnt to live with oily, unwashed hair for four days! (My vanity didn’t suffer too much because my hair was always covered with my dupatta anyway!) I also learnt the virtues of being prompt – if you washed vessels immediately after having food, you needed very little water and absolutely no detergent to clean them. Washing of clothes was postponed – if water supply was not restored, we decided that like professional dhobis, we’d tie clothes in a bundle and take them to the stream for washing. Grade C water from the kul – that was most conveniently located – was used for flushing the toilet. So, thankfully, going to the loo was a luxury we did not have to surrender! The same water was also used for mopping the floor.
It was serious deprivation but it also gave us great moments of fun and…. beauty tips. One day while washing a milk vessel, I remembered reading that milk was a skin cleanser. The next few minutes were a riot – with me chasing my terrified daughter and husband with that milky water trying to get them to do a Cleopatra bathing act! Also, after 5 days of soap free bathing (if any!), our skins were all shining bright like the morning star!
The best was when it rained on the 5th day. By that time we had learnt our Water Wisdom lessons and had felt the pain of the ‘Walk for Water’ of the rural women. Counting every drop of water is an exhausting task!
So when it rained, we went berserk! First we pulled out every spare bucket and vessel and placed them strategically at the points where water from the rooftop was falling – Rainwater Harvesting for direct usage
Then, in a flash of brilliance, I realized I could wash Daddy’s clothes in the rain! So my daughter became the umbrella holder, my husband the cheer leader and I the chief washer woman. Every once in a while my father in law would peep out, look worriedly at all of us like we were a bunch of deranged monkeys and rush back in when he could not bear the sight any more! I wet the clothes in a pool of rainwater, my daughter soaped them, I scrubbed them and then we just hung them on the clothesline and let the rain rinse them automatically! In the process I also washed my hair and got a natural pedicure / manicure!
…But the flip side of the story ….a beautiful village with an ugly water shortage ; the inhabitants of the Himalayas that give India its rain – living without water….
The scarcity I lived with, taught me Water Wisdom.
But power blinded cities like Delhi, that suck in water from the mighty mountains and villages with tubewells, that suck out water from the depths of the earth – how will they learn? Do we need to impose Water Scarcity on them or should we just wait for the eventuality when our foolishness brings it on ourselves?
Jyoti Sharma, President FORCE posted this in Environment Protection, Jal Rakshak on December 2nd, 2010
Dear Jal Rakshaks
‘Environmental Protection’ is the new buzz word – in policy, text books, corporate manuals, CSR agendas, political manifestos, NGO Objectives……. Anywhere and everywhere….the slogan is – ‘ PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT’.
And yet…the ‘Environment’ continues to get a raw deal everywhere– villages spring up in forests, animals disappear; mining holes appear in ancient mountain ranges, mountains become bare; streams dry up, rivers turn into nullahs; wells give water of all colours & smog envelops us all….
Why this dichotomy ??
Today, as I was interacting with a bright young set of media & communication management students, I found the answer to this apparent contradiction.
It’s all a matter of semantics – our choice of words.
The words ‘Protect the Environment’ – cue off in our brain, the thought “The Environment is under threat of destruction. We must do all we can to protect it – Because We are strong and the environment is weak. We are fair minded strongmen, with a heart of gold – that’s why – even though, WE HAVE CONQUERED IT, We must take good care of the environment.”
…And therein lies our BIG BIG mistake. The environment (read: nature) is NOT weak. It does NOT need to be protected by us. On the contrary WE NEED TO BE PROTECTED from the dangerously quiet wrath of nature.
As a Mother, Nature is infinitely caring, patient, giving….
As an opponent, it is a master strategist, delusion creating, many headed medussa; a ‘meethi chhuri’ and a cold butcher. It will let you poison it, and then feed you back the same poison through its air & water- multiplied manifold. It will let you cage it – only to hit back from a tunnel you never knew existed….
Beware ! We have made ourselves opponents of Nature !
We think of ourselves, not as Nature’s children, but as its Conquerors…. with a clear mandate – whip it to extract most out of it and feed it just enough to keep it productive. Torture it, if you wish, just make sure you keep it alive – as a symbol of your ultimate victory.
Wake up – snap out of this delusion ! Look around, see the patterns and recognise how we are, slowly but surely, losing our battle for survival.
Nature does not need your condescending protection.
Jal Rakshaks, let’s try & give mankind a chance to survive. As a start, let’s change the buzz word – from ‘Protect the Environment’ to
‘PROTECT MANKIND FROM MANKIND’.
In our own interest, let’s learn, and teach all, to respect & care for Nature – our Mother. She loves us, perhaps more than we love ourselves. Let’s try not to snatch away, from the rivers, forests, animals, mountains, air and water; their right to live with freedom, health and dignity.
Let’s Protect ourselves – re-learn to live in harmony with Nature – the Mother – She will protect us.
Jyoti Sharma, President FORCE posted this in Environment Protection, Jal Rakshak, Uncategorized, Water Wisdom on September 22nd, 2010
Oh God! I’m feeling miserable!
It’s 12.30 in the night, as the rain pours incessantly, suddenly the sight of those black polythene sheet covered hutments that I had seen just last week, flashes across my eyes. In my mind I saw the old man telling me about daily wages in UP, the young kids playing around and begging to be photographed , the goat chewing placidly and the young men teaching us how to steal the pavement hand-rails…..and suddenly it hit me…….this was a tragedy I was watching unfold.
I remembered that long unending row of polythene sheet rooftops flapping in the wind – on the bank of the floodplain near Mayur Vihar. I remembered those thousands of the city’s poor trying to somehow hang on till the Yamuna let go of their homes on its river bed…….and it scared me. I wonder how they are coping right now – with the river lapping at their feet and the rain drumming on their heads.
I love the rain…….I respond to it like a flower does to dewdrops. It energises me, excites me, makes me feel satiated…..And yet, today, when I remember those faces, I find myself torn between my love for the rain and fear of the havoc it has created.
Today, I feel the fear of someone who has nowhere to go. I am now sitting in my bed cuddled up with my family, praying with all my heart that all those I love so much, should never have to face such trauma.
So my delightful rain, and my beautiful river, it breaks my heart to say this – but please, please will you go away? You’re angry, I know…..but must you make the poor innocents suffer? They are as much victims of greed & apathy , as you are. Take care of them, my dear …for they share your fate.
Jal Rakshaks – let’s pray for an end to this suffering. And, when many honest hearts cry out for God’s help – with their prayers – He cannot help but answer.
Wherever we are, at 2 pm everyday, let us all take 2 minutes out to pray – and ask God to placate Nature’s fury.
Jyoti Sharma, President FORCE posted this in Civic Planning, Environment Protection, Uncategorized, Water Management, Water Wisdom on September 14th, 2010
My dearest Chulbuli Pandey,
Aah! Yamuna meri jaan – kya dabangg cheez ho tum ! Ekdum se aisa jhatka de diya, ki sab ko hilaa kar rakh diya! Kyun chhamiya – itna gussa kis baat ka ??
Like Shahrukh ‘Don’ Khan’s ‘Junglee Billi’ – in one fit of anger you’ve demolished all delusions we had about being your masters!
We thought we’d tamed you – we Zero sized you, by damming you up; weighed down your frail body by dumping all our kachra in you – and sat happily in our ivory towers thinking – bhookhi billi kya panja maregi??
Your long time, and some part time, lovers shouted themselves hoarse trying to warn us. They said, “ She might look emaciated and incapable of even looking after herself, but don’t forget – she’s basically a big boned woman! The day she gets a proper city woman’s diet of double the dose she actually needs – she’ll plump out nicely. She’ll spread out of the little black dresses, you’ve been force-fitting her into, to embarrass the living lights out of you !”
They told the honble judges and the honble leaders and the honble babus, that you’re not so honble… and so you need a big bed to sleep on. They pleaded and fought and drove all the know-alls, bats, with their antics to stop anyone from sitting on your bed ! But the honble types looked on pityingly, and said – “ pyaar mein paglaa gaye hain bechare. Bolne do – inke dil ko sukoon milega. Phir bhool jao – apna apna kaam karo” So they sat on your bed in droves – the unwanted poor of the city; the much hunted, but never found, Gods; and an entire city that came up for sportsmen who – now – would give away their gold medals to be anywhere but in this spanking new city!
Ok…ab samajh mein aaya – tujhe gussa kyun aaya – Tere aashikon kaa mazaak jo udaya ! Tabhi tune socha,, “chal bachchoo ek baar zara izzatdar logon ko, thodi beizzati ki jhalak dikha doon.” So first you put on all the weight you could – became this well-fed, poorly exercised, rich city woman- and then….you sat on your bed! You sat your big fat backside on all those who thought your bed was available for all.
Arre meri kadakti bijli – ab toh sab ko set kar diya hai na tune! Tere dar se aaj kal Chief Minster ko neend nahi aati – tu zara phailti hai, toh woh bahut sikudtin hain! Aur to aur aaj kal sare honble babu, Walkie Talkie, le kar ghoomte hain – tu aur chaudhi hokar, saari duniya ke saamne unki izzat ka aur falooda na kare, is dar se, teri diet par minute minute ki khabar rakhte hain !
Chal yaar, ab gussa thook de. Bahut dukhi hain bechaare. Hum bhi tere aashik hain puraane – zara hamari bhi sun le!
So, hello there…. all you honble types – how’bout striking a barter – Chulbuli Pandey has agreed to save you from international disgrace….. will you now, give her back, what is RIGHTFULLY hers?? .
Jyoti Sharma, President FORCE posted this in Environment Protection, Jal Rakshak, Water Management, Water Wisdom on August 20th, 2010
Dear Jal Rakshaks
Indians down the ages have celebrated the first showers of the Monsoon rain. It brought with it the promise of a bountiful yield, joy and prosperity all around. It has been a major source of inspiration for Indian folklore and creative arts. Even today, it has the power to make or break governments and economic indices in India.
From time immemorial, the monsoon has been coming every year – and yet it always seems to catch us unprepared. Infact, it seems that planning for the monsoon excess was better in the ancient times than it is now!
Today, monsoon reports are all about water logging, traffic jams, floods and droughts – the pleasure and poetry of this life giving rain is all gone!
It’s time for some honest introspection. Who is to blame – the government, the people, God or all us ??
Ultimately, it is us …the citizens…who suffer.
What do you think, we can do, to save ourselves from this misery ??
Click on the URL below to join in the Facebook group discussion on ‘ The Annual Monsoon Mess – Can citizens do something to prevent this?’
Water Security Program
week! We needed water for drinking, cooking, cleaning of vessels, home, bathing, washing clothes and toilet – I just didn’t know how we’d manage!
