Dinesh Kamath's news 'Activists request city authorities to take full advantage of good rain the city received' that was published in Newsband

Activists request city authorities to take full advantage of good rain the city received

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The local activists have appealed to the NMMC authorities and other concerned persons to take full advantage of the good rain that the city received by saving water to use during summer season and even after in case the city faces less rainfall in the future.

Dams and reservoirs are filled with water to an extent where there is overflowing noticed. The activists feel bitter about the fact that there are many careless city residents who don’t take any step to repair leaking taps and toilets in public places. “How can we ensure supply of water for the whole year, if our people are so careless?” asked an activist.

A group of activists have suggested using of method called rainwater harvesting. This is the right way to preserve water for future use, according to them. They have also criticized the habit of washing vehicles with mainline water which some residents possess. This leads to great wastage of water.

There are many residents who after getting the information that the dams are overfull have started using water carelessly. “They should think of the future and use water very responsibly,” said the activist.

The activist says, “Our people realize the value of water when there is no monsoons and rainfall. They become awake only when they start facing acute water crisis. They forget that period in the past when the city authorities could not supply enough water.”

The city activists are campaigning for water conservation. They have suggested that festival like Holi or Rang Panchami be celebrated without using water. The activist said, “A lot of water gets used during the festival revelries. The municipality has to make special provisions for meeting the extra water demand. But, last year NMMC did a great thing by carrying out a campaign and urging the citizens to observe a dry Holi - a Holi without the famous pichkari, the water pistol that everybody loves to use, but only with the lovely colours of dry gulal.”

As part of `Pani Bachao Andolan` (Save Water Movement), the activists too did their job. Both the government and environmentalists rubbed shoulders with each other to ensure that the city residents celebrated dry Holi. To create awareness about importance of playing dry Holi to save water there were painting competitions based on the themes of water arranged before the festival.

The activist questioned, “If people in Rajasthan, with 200-250 mm annual rainfall, can survive with the help of rainwater harvesting, then, why Navi Mumbai with much more rainfall not adopt the method of rainwater harvesting?”

The activists have been urging people to take up water conservation. They give the residents the example of those states which suffer from acute drought or the villages with sinking water tables. Such a campaign for water conservation receives encouragement even from government levels. The activists do their best to create `water literacy` among the people. Even the newspapers and electronic channels have been campaigning for water conservation and water harvesting. In such campaigns residents are made to know the whys and hows of water harvesting.

NGOs and activists have been coming up with simple pamphlet on water harvesting for distribution. They show how to create models of water harvesting in houses and farms and recommends various measures to meet scarcity challenges if they occur in future.

The activist said, “The state government should help the local rulers to construct water harvesting structures, inter-link rivers and construct new storage structures as some important measures to meet the challenges of water scarcity scenario if they occur in the future. We should ask the experts to suggest various long and short-term measures to mitigate water scarcity situation. The ground water levels fall mainly due to over exploitations and inadequate recharging mechanism for ground water.”

 "Water budgeting and planning the cropping patterns for the oncoming agricultural seasons, the strategy for avoiding water-intensive crops to the extent in consultation with the relevant expert departments are also crucial for checking such situation. Micro irrigation (sprinkler and drip) should be adopted to achieve more crops per drop," the activist added.