Water Conservation

 

Water conservation is the practice of using water efficiently to reduce unnecessary water usage. According to Fresh Water Watch, water conservation is important because fresh clean water is a limited resource, as well as a costly one. As a homeowner, you’re probably already well aware of the financial costs of inefficient water use. Conservation of this natural resource is critical for the environment — and our wallets.

Modern day water conservation methods:

1.

All of us who directly consume water are the most important stakeholders in managing water. While many of us urbanites use or waste a lot of water, we rarely make an effort to conserve it. Fortunately, the rainwater harvesting method has provided a solution that can be practiced easily in every household. It is a simple model where the roof acts as a catchment for rainfall, which after flowing through a series of filters and pipes is stored in ground-level containers for direct use or recharged into ground water. Given below is a simple formula to calculate the water that can be collected from your rooftop.

2.

It was during the flood that Masagi realised that this excess water can be saved for times of drought. After consulting several water experts, he developed a pit-based water storage technique along with non-irrigational agricultural techniques such as – irrigating without any water canals. Ayyappa Masagi’s system employs pit like structures to collect rainwater, which is then filtered by pumping the water into a borewell pit filled partially with sand and gravel. During the monsoon, water gets collected in these pits and then is stored underground borewells as the water slowly trickles through the gravel and sand, and then stored underground thereby recharging the groundwater. This method prevents loss of water due to evaporation and as a result, the soil retains moisture, helping crops to grow even during summer. 40 such pits can dug in an acre of land, which would cost around INR20,000 for every acre. Once constructed, these pits require almost no maintenance.

Traditional ways:

1.

'Kattas' — temporary check dams built across streams and rivulets — used to be a common sight in the districts of Kerala and Karnataka till two decades ago. These traditional structures were constructed every year to conserve water for summer irrigation.

Thousands of these structures were prominently found in the Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka and Kasaragod district of Kerala.

However, the advent of bore wells and modern water conservation systems and unequal distribution of work among those involved in the construction pushed them into decline.

2.

Madaka' is another highly useful traditional water harvesting system. It is a unique structure constructed on the upper reaches of undulating topography. Laterite is the soil type in this area.

It is different from 'kere' (earthen tank), which is dug to catch water from the sub-soil. Madaka is not fully man-made.

In an area that has natural slopes, our ancestors would identify a bottleneck and construct an earthen wall there. This would impound crores of litres of rainwater that would otherwise go into the sea.

In fact, madakas were constructed to irrigate paddy fields in case of a delayed monsoon. Though there is no inventory of madakas, the aforementioned three coastal districts would have more than 3,000 madakas till a few decades ago.