Rainwater Harvesting

We use to visit my grandparents on every vacation back in 1980s: Onam, Christmas and summer holidays. They stay in one of the most beautiful places in Kerala, Kuttanad (backwaters of Kerala). It rains in Kerala almost every month. Only that it is scarce in summer, but we do get rain in summer too. On the front yard, there at my grandparents place, was a tent like structure. It had a white cotton cloth – inverted cone shaped – cover, instead of a canvas, and a big open jar in the middle. The cone shape is maintained with a stone tied to the center of the cloth. There was no cover on the sides. I never knew it was called “Rainwater Harvesting” then, and I don’t think even my grandmother knew that. She did all that to have some clean drinking water. I always wondered why she had to do that as she was leaving on an island, Kuttanad. She told me that it was the only way to get clean water there. The pond water taste bad and had pigments, and remain contaminated even after multiple filtering and boiling. There was no UV filter or tap water available in those days. She was doing that for fifty years or more. She might have got this from her mother-in-law; she was from the eastern part of Kerala where ground water was clean enough for drinking.

 In summer when the water level in the rivers was low, the sea water comes in. This was good as it would cleanup the lakes and rivers by killing germs and other pests in algae and weeds. It wasn’t good for farmers, though. They couldn’t do farming for a second time. In those days big wooden boats would come with fresh water for the village. They shout “vellam” (water) and we ran with buckets to get fresh water for drinking and cooking. My grandmother’s rainwater jars would go empty in those summer days. This was replaced with tap water, provided by the Kerala Water Authority, fifteen years back.

 The way they do rainwater harvesting now, deserves appreciation. Every house in the village does rainwater harvesting. It was done with the help of some external entities, World Bank aided projects, at panchayat level. My grandmother’s rainwater jar is now replaced with a big tank. The rainwater falling on the roof is now diverted to this tank. They get water not only for drinking but also for other purposes like bathing, washing, etc. Earlier they used tap water for all these. So less water consumed from the water reserves of Kerala Water Authority and hence more water saved in the reserves for the hard times.