Lack of water literacy among the people has increased the severity of drought and floods in recent years, water conservationist Rajendra Singh said here on Sunday.
Ever since India got independence, the area affected by drought has gone up 10 times and the flood-affected area eight times. “In the recent decades, rain pattern has changed, but not our crop pattern. Our ancestors had better knowledge of water conservation compared to us,” he said.
Mr. Singh was in Hassan on an invitation by Hasiru Bhoomi Trust, which has been involved in water conservation activities in the district. In his talk at Malnad College of Engineering, Mr. Singh said centuries ago people had a mechanism to preserve water and had techniques to use water judiciously. “We have natural resources sufficient to fulfil our needs. But we fail in managing them. But our ancestors were global teachers in water management. Our centuries-old waterbodies were designed to suit the requirement. In Rajasthan, there were waterbodies depending on the number of families in a village,” he said. At present, those who work for water conservation consume less water, while those who pollute environment demand more water, he said, stating that was not the scenario in the past.
Mr. Singh said with the work of his team in Rajasthan, 1,200 villages had been benefited and seven rivers had been rejuvenated. “Lakhs of people got involved in our activities and most importantly, we took ideas from them only. Now we have stopped all companies selling bottled water from our area. We did all this without taking a penny from the government,” he said.
In the area, the temperature did not cross 46C in the last 13 years. Earlier, the temperature would reach as high as 49C, Mr. Singh said, adding that people could bring such changes by actively participating in water conservation activities. He appealed to the people to launch a water literacy campaign so that people are aware of water use and recycle.
Minister for Sericulture and Animal Husbandry A. Manju, H.K. Kumaraswamy, MLA, Hasiru Bhoomi Trust president R.P.Venkateshamurthy, senior KAS officers Varaprasad Reddy and H.L.Nagaraj, and others were present on the occasion.