Urgent Need For Awareness on Rainwater Harvesting

Division of Soil Conservation
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mokokchung

All over the world, water usage is increasing day by day, but awareness of water management for the people in the world is insufficient. There is no alternative use for water. Though we are blessed with good rainfall we suffer from serious shortage of water during dry season. The rain water is not well-preserved but allowed to drain away. Thus, it does not matter how much level of rain we get, if we don’t capture or harvest it. According to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President of India, the future war may be for Water. Children and youngsters need to be aware of water conservation techniques to avoid grave water crisis in future. There is the rapid growth in the number of ground water structures leading to huge withdrawal of groundwater for several uses of agricultural, industrial and other domestic requirements resulting in over-exploitation. But with the help of artificially designed systems, rain water can be collected in natural or man-made catchment areas e.g. rooftop, compounds, rocky surface, hill slopes or artificially repaired impervious/semi-pervious land surface. The collected water may be filtered, stored and utilised in different ways or directly used for recharge purposes.

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is a simple method by which rainfall is collected and stored for future use as opposed to letting it run/flow off.

“Conscious collection and storage of rainwater to cater to demands of water, for drinking, domestic purpose & irrigation is termed as Rainwater Harvesting. -S.K Kamra (1983).

India possesses 4% of the world’s water resources and rainfall serves as the main supply of freshwater. It receives the second-highest quantity of rainfall for a nation its size. The world’s average rainfall is around 850 mm. India‘s average rainfall is about 960 mm and Nagaland receives an average rain fall of around 1800 mm.

The NITI Aayog Report 2018 has said that India’s water demand will exceed water supply by a factor of two by 2030. Hence, under the rapidly depleting groundwater table, rain water harvesting is an ideal solution to conserve water for future usage.

Rain water can be harvested either from surface runoff into ponds, tanks and reservoirs or collected from rooftops of residential or commercial structures, diverted, and stored in tanks or transferred to an artificial recharge system. Rooftop rain water harvesting can be used for direct storage, ground water aquifer recharge, filling up bore wells, recharge pits, recharge or soakaway shafts, filling up dug wells, trenches for recharge, tank percolation, etc.

Under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the rain campaign 2023 launched by the Hon’ble President of India Smt.Droupadi Murmu, efforts are to be made to have rooftop rain water harvesting system so that maximum quantity of rain water falling in any compound should be impounded within the compound itself. The basic aim being ‘no or only limited water will flow out of the compound’ to improve soil moisture and raise the ground water table. In urban areas, it will reduce water gushing onto roads, damaging them and thus prevent urban flooding. Also to replenish depleting water supplies, it is urgent to encourage rainwater harvesting by utilising a combination of ancient rainfall-saving techniques with modern rainwater-saving methods and as such efforts should be made to lessen reliance on groundwater with a focus on improving water security by means of

• Rejuvenation and replenishment of built-up and natural water bodies.
• Increased repurposing of cleaned wastewater by neighbourhood sewage treatment facilities.
• Across both residential and business locations, install properly constructed rainwater collection systems.
• Governments at the federal and state levels must work together to enable these initiatives.
• For long-term and sustainable solutions, strict policy actions are required.
• Local government entities must propose and carry out an integrated water management strategy.

The Government of India has undertaken some major steps for rainwater harvesting viz,. Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Atal Bhuj Yojana, Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY), Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI) and Repair, Renovation & Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies , Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT),  Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Mission Amrit Sarovar.

As such with the depleting groundwater levels and fluctuating climate conditions, rain water harvesting can go a long way to help mitigate the adverse effects of rising water scarcity. Reserving rainwater can help recharge local aquifers, reduce urban flooding and most notably, ensure water availability in water-scarce zones. Rainwater harvesting is something that thousands of families across the world should participate in rather than pinning hopes on the administration to fight water crisis. We cannot produce water but we can save it and protect our future. As responsible citizens of the world, each of us can contribute by practicing and adopting this simple yet effective process of harvesting rain water wherever feasible. Rain Water Harvesting is today‘s need of the whole world, and hence the urgency to develop more awareness amongst the farmers, students in schools and colleges, and the general public.