From Niranjan Singh, Shekhawati Jal Biradari, Jhunjhunu (Rajasthan)
Posted 18 March 2011
I work with the Samajik Vikas Sansthan, an organization promoting the revival of traditional rainwater harvesting (RWH) methods in this arid part of Rajasthan. We work in several villages in the Shekhawati area to promote the restoration of existing ponds and underground water storage structures as well as the construction of new ones. These are vital to the life of people since groundwater is scarce and whatever is available is extremely saline.
The people depend on rainwater for drinking needs. The traditional structures collected and stored this underground in quantities large enough for meeting the need of families for the entire inter-monsoonal season. These structures, called tankas, slowly fell into disuse because of the introduction of piped water schemes and handpumps. However, these newer measures have proven to be unreliable and there is a renewed interest in tankas.
We feel RWH is the most suitable way to help communities in this dry part of the community adapt to climate change, since this phenomenon has made rainfall even more erratic. However, we need to systematically document our approach and that of others, synthesise guidelines and then propose this approach for large-scale use.
To this end, I request community members to provide the following information
- What are the local RWH techniques from their parts of the country and for what do people use the collected water?
- How can these made more efficient, e.g., using GIS for locating RWH structures better, newer materials to increase collection efficiency?
- What are the considerations to keep in mind when using the water for drinking, watering animals and agriculture?
Your inputs will help us initiate work on guidelines that we will share back with the community for further refinement.
See the below attachment for response