And time flies....

Landed on this page accidently and thought why not jot a few lines. Am sure just like me those who followed me too have abandoned this blog :).

Daughter is back with us and has now joined as a trainee. She comes home tired and the other day heard her asking her father how I manage my cooking after work. Am sure she never realized it until now. Even I was just like her at her age and was much reluctant to spend time in the kitchen. But now am a seasoned cook and a homemaker. Somewhere along the way I even started enjoy cooking! Maybe it is the urge to eat tasty food and to serve it to others. Daughter cooks too and very tastefully. But now she is very busy.

Out here Summer is at it's peak and I read cities in India are running out of water. It seems more cities will join by the year 2020. It is a dismal scene and will be disastrous if immediate action is not taken. Think it is time for India to declare water emergency.

An impending water crisis on a scale hitherto unrecorded in recent history is predicted by 2020. Unless some miracle happens, it would mean groundwater touching zero by next year in 21 cities nationwide. That such a catastrophe was waiting to happen was known. In fact, this very alarming prognosis was underlined in the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) report released by NITI Aayog in 2018. But it failed to attract the attention it deserved, given the national preoccupation with the recently concluded general elections.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/from-the-viewsroom/the-water-emergency/article28117923.ece

The best way to develop an efficient water cycle is to reuse it whenever and wherever possible. For instance, you can collect water from washing veggies and fruits and reuse it for watering the garden.

Using recycled water for flushing can help bring down your water bills by 30-40 per cent. Collect water from your RO filters in a container and reuse it to wash utensils or mop the floor.

Trap rainwater by installing Rain Water Harvesting systems and reuse it during summers when taps in many Indian cities run dry. It’s not as expensive as you think and can even be retrofitted on an existing house.

https://www.thebetterindia.com/175497/save-water-conservation-home-world-water-day-india/

Monsoon in Kerala this year is weak and last year's flood has disrupted the ground water table too. It is time to count every drop and save.....

Is Kerala thirsting for water?

Yesterday  I heard in the news that Bharathapuzha has broken into two pieces.. the river has refused to run it's course! It is normal for this river to run a little dry during the dry season but this is the first time that it has been entirely broken up. There were newspaper reports about rampant sand mining on this river.

Sand-mining had led to depletion of the groundwater level and had affected the water flow. Saline water entered the river easily, especially during summer. The three-month ban on sand-mining during monsoon was also not being enforced, he said.

But let me forget this river for a moment and talk about the one that runs in front of our place. It has it's origin from both the Pampa river and Manimala river. Both these rivers originates from the western ghats and from the district of Idukki. It has to be fed by rain and for the last two years monsoon has not been good. The Pamba is considered as the Dakshina Ganga (Southern Ganges) due to its association with Kerala's Largest Pilgrim Centre - Sabarimala. Manimala river passes through the districts of Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and finally joins the Pamba River at Muttar near Tiruvalla in Alappuzha district; very close to our place. From here it runs it's course through Kuttanad and joins the great Vembanad lake. 

The following photos were taken in year 2007. During each monsoon, this river spills onto the road but since the last few years it has not done so.

More photos can be viewed on my other blog : 

I also remember the time more than a decade back when this water came around the house too. This happens very rarely. 

 The following photos were taken during June of year 2009.

You can see the level of water. I doubt if water level will ever rise like before. 

Kerala is indeed going to face tough times. 

The State Disaster Management Authority has declared four districts drought-affected, with the monsoon months of June, July, and August bringing very little rain.

The districts declared drought affected are Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, and Kollam, an official press release said on Thursday. The State as a whole has received only 77 per cent of the normal monsoon rainfall so far. Rainfall was especially less in the above four districts.

Recently during a discussion I realized that most Keralites are not aware of the relation between low lying  fallow lands (Wet Lands) and ground water table. Earlier Kerala had much wet lands either as paddy fields, temple ponds or small ponds dug in each plot to catch the rain water and let it seep back into the ground. This person whom I spoke to wanted to know why we should retain paddy fields if we are not cultivating. Yes it is unfortunate that we are not cultivating and I am sure it looks like a waste of land but these low lying lands are important since only they can replenish the ground water. 

Each rainy season brings enough water to Kerala and can be used wisely. Rain water harvesting has started in Kerala but the decision is late.

The Government of India has directed the State Government to provide certain provisions in building rules, pertaining to incorporation of rooftop rainwater harvesting arrangements in building.

I fervently hope that monsoon will not fail the coming year too or should it? Just so that people will wake up finally? Else like Kuwait, one should build desalination plants for water supplies. But water is not the only issue. Can one imagine Kerala without all the greenery? I would rather quit my state than see it is such a sad situation. Then there is the issue of power too since 35% of power comes from hydroelectric power stations which depend on rain water. 

From March until the monsoon the well in our place becomes muddy since the level of water in the river falls very low. Right now we are pumping the river water and letting it seep into the ground. The water in the well is then just enough for a small household. We are also planning a solar energy system if we get a good company to do the same. A rain water harvesting system is also thought of. The day the river in front of us dry up then one can be sure that Kerala has become a desert!

For sure, if adequate measures are not taken the following scenes will be seen all over Kerala.

http://www.commonfloor.com/news/flat-dwellers-facing-water-shortage-in-kerala-27262
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article2963866.ece
http://www.cedindia.org/2008/10/development-of-drought-indices-for-kerala/

A very Happy New Year

Let me wish everyone a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010.

...and for those who have taken 2012 seriously, please remember that you have 2 more years to fulfill your ambitions, be happy and give other's happiness..

and for the rest of you who believe that this world is never going to end (during your lifetime), better work towards making it good so that it remains good while you :) last.. or at least good enough for your children so that they can take it up from where you left.

Let me leave a few links of blogs/newspapers that are reporting happy news from around the world…Yes we sure need them...

The one below is from a report on the co-author of "Three Cups of Tea”.. his work is mainly in Afganisthan..

that in 2000, there were 800,000 kids in school in Afghanistan, and this was during the height of the Taliban. The kids were nearly all boys. Today, there are 8.4 million children in school in Afghanistan, including 2.5 million females. So it’s the greatest increase in school enrollment in any country in modern history and the goal is 13 million.

I think that’s why I feel that educating girls is so important. If you educate a boy, you educate an individual but if you educate a girl, you educate a whole community.

The next is from goodnewsindia website which stopped spreading good news in the Year 2006 and for which the author has given a lengthy explanation. Please take time to read it through. He is now engaged in another fruitful venture.

“Given India’s history of throwing up influential people, waiting for a Gandhi is not an unrealistic act. But we can do something while we wait and do a bit of what he counseled: You cannot change others; but you can change yourself. If bad news depresses you, you can do something that radiates good news; so, become the good news and you begin to change the world. Indeed Gandhi deemed the greatest change we can ever seek is the change in ourselves. Feel the power of his insight: “As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.” [How I love this man! He knew the modern age was a myth; it believes all the water we need can be delivered in bottles.]

Reflecting further, I understood consuming less and consuming with sensitivity is also to contribute to conservation and/or production; without any measurable productive act, a sensitive consumer can contribute to production and begin to bridge the divide inside her.

Let me also post the reason why the author chose the name "point to return"..

“…the point is to return” says the tagline. And that can be read in many ways.
Return to your roots
Return to nature and to learning from it
Return something to the earth for gifts received and resources enjoyed.

The author has inspired many.. and if one reads the comments one gets to know how many were inspired enough to start their own ventures; yes.. how Solar Energy, Green Houses, Rainwater Harvesting etc. can make a positive change to our environment...

Volunteers at work...



Point to return has its presence in twitter too.

Let me sign off with a quote from him...

Just as one must believe in God despite the priest, one must hope farming can be made attractive despite the intruding professional agricultural scientists.

Fight for water..

CHENNAI: Following escalating protests in Tamil Nadu over Karnataka’s opposition to the Hogenakkal drinking water supply project, bus services were suspended on the Udhagamandalam-Mysore route on Wednesday.
KSRTC buses were blocked in Sathyamangalam, Erode, and a restaurant was ransacked in Chennai. Panic gripped the busy commercial hub near the Madras High Court in the city after a group of persons, condemning outfits in Karnataka opposed to the water supply project, ransacked a restaurant on Armenian Street.


Although water is the commonest stuff on earth, only 2.53 per cent of it is fresh, while the rest is salt. And of the freshwater, two thirds is locked up in glaciers and permanent snow cover. What is available, in lakes, rivers, aquifers (ground water) and rainfall run-off, is now increasingly coming under pressure from several directions at once.



So when shall we start waging wars for this precious commodity? I hear that there are MNC’s buying lakes so that they can use it for bottling water. I don’t know if lakes and rivers can be owned. But all I know is that we are not giving water its due respect.

Less than 3% of water is freshwater (much of it groundwater that has accumulated over time and is virtually nonrenewable. Rainwater is thus critical; the "global water cycle accounts for the only naturally renewable source of fresh water, that is, precipitation that occurs over land."12 Aquifer pumping is reducing our water resources. People living in arid regions, and even some not so arid regions, have been relying heavily on groundwater resources that accumulated over thousands of years. Removing this water at such rapid rates spends this resource many times faster than it can be replaced, leads to the deterioration of what water is left, and also can cause collapse of aquifers.

And in many states of India we have enough and more rain but yet we do nothing. We have filled up all the streams and paddies so that the water gets no chance to seep into the ground. Instead all those precious water is wasted in the vast oceans.
Rain water harvesting is the only remedy and it has to done urgently since we cannot reclaim all those lost ponds, streams and fields. Every house and commercial buildings need to have a rain water harvesting system built. The state needs to look into low cost options for the same.


WHO gives the following 10 facts on water:

Fact 1
World Water Day is celebrated every year on 22 March. The theme for 2007 is ‘water scarcity’. Even in areas with plenty of rainfall or freshwater, water scarcity occurs. Because of the ways in which water is used and distributed, there is not always enough water to fully meet the demands of households, farms, industry, and the environment.
Fact 2
Water scarcity already affects every continent and four of every ten people in the world. The situation is getting worse due to population growth, urbanization and the increase in domestic and industrial water use.
Fact 3
By 2025, nearly 2 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water shortage, where water resources per person fall below the recommended level of 500 cubic metres per year. This is the amount of water a person needs for a healthy and hygienic living.
Fact 4
Water scarcity forces people to rely on unsafe sources of drinking water. It also means they cannot bathe or clean their clothes or homes properly.
Fact 5
Poor water quality can increase the risk of diarrhoeal diseases including cholera, typhoid fever, salmonellosis, other gastrointestinal viruses, and dysentery. Water scarcity may also lead to diseases such as trachoma, plague and typhus. Trachoma, for example, is strongly related to a lack of water for regular face washing.
Fact 6
Water scarcity encourages people to store water in their homes. This can increase the risk of household water contamination and provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes - which are vectors for dengue, dengue haemorrhagic fever, and malaria and other diseases.
Fact 7
Water scarcity underscores the need for better water management. Good water management reduces breeding sites for disease vectors, which leads to reduced transmission of malaria, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis and Japanese encephalitis.
Fact 8
Millennium Development Goal number 7, target 10 aims "to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation". The world is still on track to reach the drinking water target, but increasing water scarcity may seriously undermine progress towards achieving this goal
Fact 9
Everyone needs water and everyone needs to take responsibility. Actively support governments, non-governmental organizations and private foundations which are making it a priority to deliver affordable good quality water to people.
Fact 10
Do your part by conserving, recycling and protecting water more efficiently.