EMN
Dimapur, March 2
Water harvesting is the collection of runoff for productive purposes. Instead of runoff being left to cause erosion, it is harvested and utilized. In the semi-arid drought-prone areas where it is already practised, water harvesting is a directly productive form of soil and water conservation.
With an aim to prevent water scarcity in the village, the Forest division of Phek district constructed a “water harvesting structure” for the village community of Phesachodu village.An inauguration programme was conducted during the last week of February to mark the new facility. Speaking during the inauguration, the District Forest Officer of Phek, Rongsenlemla Imchen, highlighted the importance of forest and wild life conservation in relation to efficient use of water and water use management. She appreciated the village’s community for cooperating with the department with regard to forest conservation and its related matters. Members of the village council, GBs, local government functionaries and staffers of the forest department attended the event.
Water harvesting means capturing rain where it falls or capturing the run off in your own village or town. And taking measures to keep that water clean by not allowing polluting activities to take place in the catchment.
Water harvesting can be undertaken through a variety of ways
• Capturing runoff from rooftops
• Capturing runoff from local catchments
• Capturing seasonal floodwaters from local streams
• Conserving water through watershed management
These techniques can serve the following the following purposes:
• Provide drinking water
• Provide irrigation water
• Increase groundwater recharge
• Reduce storm water discharges, urban floods and overloading of sewage treatment plants
• Reduce seawater ingress in coastal areas.
In general, water harvesting is the activity of direct collection of rainwater. The rainwater collected can be stored for direct use or can be recharged into the groundwater.
Rain is the first form of water that is known in the hydrological cycle, hence is a primary source of water for humans. Rivers, lakes and groundwater are all secondary sources of water. In present times, one depends entirely on such secondary sources of water. In the process, it is forgotten that rain is the ultimate source that feeds all these secondary sources and people remain ignorant of its value. Water harvesting means to understand the value of rain, and to make optimum use of the rainwater at the place where it falls.
