Water conservationist Rajendra Singh has called for a Water Literacy campaign in Kalyana Karnataka region to conserve natural resource for addressing water crisis permanently.
Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi on Thursday, Dr Singh, who is a Magsaysay award winner, said that such a campaign is required in the region to educate people about water conservation and teach them how to use water in a prudent manner.
“We must understand how to conserve water from being stolen by the Sun (through evaporation). We have to identify ways to collect rainwater and make it reach the belly of the earth, so that it does not evaporate. This will help recharge groundwater aquifers,” Dr Singh added.
Suggesting that traditional water harvesting techniques be adopted, Dr Singh said that borewells are adversely impacting the water cycle. As people start depending more on borewells to irrigate their agricultural lands, instead of the traditional percolation ponds (johads), it leads to a fall in the groundwater level.
Percolation ponds are built in such a way that it minimizes evaporation, Dr Singh said and added that to revive any water body that is lost, it is important to know the local rainfall pattern and inlets that bring water to it.
Strongly opposing the construction of large dams across rivers, Dr Singh said that building dams will have an impact on local ecology. Dams interrupt the continuity of water flow and this leads to accumulation of silt in dams and causes more flooding.
Urging the government to link crop pattern with rainfall pattern for better crop production, Dr Singh explained that changes in cropping pattern as per rainfall pattern will be the most advisable as it also ensures adequate drinking water by decreasing the discharge level and recharging groundwater.
