By Ereneus K Marbaniang
At present there is water crisis in every part of the country. Rivers and streams are drying up and there appear to be plans for rejuvenation. For any settlement, be it a family household, or Government Institutions water is always the topmost priority. We may survive without food for a number of days but cannot live without water for even a single day. By any means we need to quench our thirst. Water is the most basic and essential thing for human survival. Water is useful for our daily lives to meet household requirements be it for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing, personal cleanliness or an extra gallon for washing a car. An average person would require a minimum of 100-150 litres of water in a day.
In every locality especially in urban and semi-urban areas, people would rush to a public tap early in the morning to form a queue just to get a turn for a bucket of water. For drawing water from such a public tap, there are also many peculiar rules or some sort of roster system followed by residents which differs from locality to locality. So, in this situation, in many cases, they have to spend at hours in the queue just for a bucket of water. This daily scenario of fetching water from a public tap costs us dearly, as we lose precious time leading to delay in our works, office, schools etc. Sometimes quarrels happen at the water stations and lead to hatred and jealously among neighbours. To avoid all these, many families would get a private tap connection to their households to meet all their water requirements. But the taps are unable to supply water regularly sometimes due to power failure or water scarcity due to poor discharge from the springs or pump failure etc.
Springs are the most primitive source of water for humans especially in the hilly regions. It fills our daily requirements for the family and the whole community even during lean periods. Sadly, our springs have gradually dried up; there is less water discharge from the springs and hence they can no longer support our household requirements. The possible reasons may be rapid urbanisation, deforestation, reckless quarrying, lack of maintenance but above all a lack of responsibility by the people themselves who are the main beneficiaries of these springs. Perhaps the fact that people do not connect the fact that tap water is sources from springs. People only remember springs in times of difficulty. A time has come that we as the community especially those who are residing in villages have to do something to revive these dying springs.
Springs are the underground water sources created due to water pressure. It may come up from the soil, between the rocks and are of many types viz. contact, depression and fractured. Springs are unique to the hilly regions and are very rare to find in the plains. Spring water is more suitable for drinking purposes as compared to tap water. Nowadays, springs found in the hilly regions of Khasi Hills have an average water discharge rate of less than 5 litres of water in a minute which reduces during the lean dry season. A time has come to initiate meaningful measures and means to increase the water discharge of springs through various soil and water conservation treatment measures. Springs are used for multiple purposes, and besides supplying drinking water to households and other home activities, water can be used for irrigation and for creating a living ecosystem in a springshed area and is thus helpful in conserving the natural resources.
The NABARD-Springshed based watershed development project is one such project which had been initiated in the field level with the main objective of reviving the dying springs, preservation of the undying ones, increasing water discharge, afforestation, livelihood development with the overall objective of conserving soil and water resources. Such a project was first implemented in 2020 by Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) West Khasi Hills in two villages of Mairangbah and Pyndengumiong under Mairang C & RD Block with 300 households as beneficiaries. Various treatment measures such as staggered trenches, afforestation, springtap chamber, water harvesting structure, dug out pond, terracing, etc. was demonstrated to achieve the project objectives. Livelihood components such as poultry, piggery farming, horticulture coupled with capacity building programmes were also supported to the individual households. As climate change is a concern for mankind, villages could benefit from such a project to a very large extent. Even in MGNREGA more such interventions could be incorporated by the VEC to tap and preserve the water source as every village in the hilly region has potential for such springs. Gradually such springs other than river water could boost water supply to the households especially for implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) for the larger benefit of the rural community. This is very much possible through community participation and cooperation with all the stakeholders at the grassroots level.