Water Is Precious

Dear Friends,

                The summer is on the toes.. many areas of our state as well as neighboring  state are badly affected. Like any other summer this summer also our administration wakes up in the month of April. I don't understand why our policies are always behind the time? Let us restrict ourself to Belgaum.

                Water as we all know is very essential for our day to day living and it is becoming an increasingly resource. No living being , including plants can survive without water. Yet those of us have grown in cities tend to take water for granted. We have not given water and the need to conserve it the importance that it richly deserves. How many of us indeed are aware that the ultimate source of water we get is the rain that falls during the monsoons? We get our daily requirement of water from two sources HIDKAL and RAKASKOP.

                Till about thirty year back, the areas around our homes and industries / offices used to be unpaved and the rain falling on these areas would percolate into soil and remain there for being drawn through shallow open wells. With the proliferation of flat and complexes not only have these areas paved and prolification of rain water into the soil almost totally stopped the quantity of water drawn from soil has increased manifold. Consequently, open wells and not so deep bore wells started drying water table with rainwater during the monsoon.

                Belgaum city receives an average annually rainfall of around 800 m.m. The rainfall occurs in heavy short spells of few days to few hours, followed by about eight dry months. These characteristics of our rainfall force us not only to conserve large quantity of rainwater during these few days but also to store whatever it rains in  tanks above the ground or in urban areas as ground water. Failure to do so results in either flooding of low lying areas, damage to road and wastage by means runoff from the city.

                As individuals , groups and communities, let us all wake up before it is too late and not only understand what rain water harvesting is all about but also implement measures to harvest rain water in our houses and flats / complexes / industries and recycle it into the soil for our subsequent use …..

THINK …BEFORE IT TOO LATE

Regards, Satish Tendolkar, President