Agencies
CHENNAI, NOVEMBER 6
[dropcap]N[/dropcap]ature might have gifted Meghalaya with the wettest place on Earth but its quest to conserve water has brought it to Chennai, a region which receives a modicum of rain.
Seeking to replicate Tamil Nadu’s 2002 high-octane campaign to harvest rainwater, a 10-member team from the Meghalaya government landed in the city to study conservation techniques. On Wednesday, officials from the water resources department in Meghalaya jotted down notes and asked a volley of questions as Chennai’s ‘rain man’, Sekhar Raghavan, explained to them how the 2002 law enacted by the Tamil Nadu government, mandating rainwater harvesting structures in all the buildings, buttressed the city.
Although Meghalaya, on an average, records an annual rainfall of 2,400mm annually, officials say the state is water starved as a major portion of the water flows into Bangladesh or floods Assam downhill. The state also has the wettest places on Earth - Mawsynram and Cherrapunji.“Our grandmothers spoke to the clouds,” said Junecy Lyngdoh, a sub-divisional officer associated with the water resources department of Meghalaya. “The clouds and the rain are an intricate part of our culture. They define us. Not at one point did we, in our childhood days, think that the drops we so joyfully cupped in our hands would be such a scant resource,” she said.
Representatives, who are on a three-day visit to the city, said only 2% of the rain they received is being harvested as of now. “Some parts of the state depend on traditional methods of harvesting like fixing a channel beneath sloping roofs, collecting water in tanks and using bamboo pipes to channelize water. But this is insufficient to meet the needs of the people,” said M L Lawai, another official. Excessive deforestation and mining have drained locals of a resource the state is known for-- water.
For example, the mineral-rich Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya faces an acute drinking water crisis as major rivers there have been declared “unfit” for human use due to high level of acidity caused by unscientific mining. The rivers close to coal mining areas and cement plants have acquired a blue colour over the last five years— a phenomenon that baffles environmental scientists of the state.
With surface water reducing to a slimy trickle, Meghalaya is exploring the option of tapping rain water and its ground water sources. The civic body in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong supplies 68 litres per capita per day (lpcd). Experts say if rainwater is harvested, the public distribution can cross 2,000 lpcd.
“So long, Meghalaya has depended on natural springs and surface water, but now they have to look at groundwater extraction and harvesting rain as source of sustenance,” said Raghavan of Rain Centre which is collaborating with the Meghalaya government. Representatives will be taught how to conserve water for domestic purposes and to set up recharge wells. “Although they have various projects to conserve rainwater, they don’t have expertise in terms of policy and practice. The Tamil Nadu experience could be a lesson for them,” said J Saravanan, a hydrogeologist associated with Rain Centre.
