By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 21: The Operation Clean-Up (OCU) team, comprising several groups and concerned individuals who have been cleaning the Umkaliar River since 2019, has now decided to spread its wings to rural Meghalaya and work with villages to conserve the springs and aquifers there. On Saturday, Team OCU went to Mawrah village, East Khasi Hills, after conducting a recce and speaking to the village elders and the Dorbar Shnong.
For this initiative, the Meghalaya Institute of Governance (MIG) has also teamed up with OCU to help set up a solar water pump to transport water to a safe distance from the newly created reservoir. Aiban Swer, Director, Meghalaya Institute of Governance, who has been with the OCU since its inception, said, “The solar pump will provide water away from the reservoir so that the wastewater from washing clothes drains into the earth instead of flowing into the lake.” He added that since the reservoir has now become a tourist destination where people come for boating, visitors would not like to see people washing clothes there.
Creating awareness of an issue in the villages also means organising activities that bring the entire village—including men, women, and children—to one place so that the message sinks in and action ensues after such meetings. OCU has long wanted to adopt villages away from Shillong where it is still possible to bring about behavioural change among the rural folk.
Mawrah is about 37 km from Shillong and roughly a 1.5-hour drive away.
In January 2024, the Mawrah Multipurpose Reservoir Project was inaugurated by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma. This is an excellent example of a wasteland being transformed into a water conservation site that serves about 252 households. Today, the RCC-arch dam attracts many tourists and serves the dual purpose of aquaculture and irrigation for people living downstream.
The area once had several coal mines and was severely degraded, but it has now received a new lease of life. Mawrah is a good example of active community involvement and collaboration with the Soil and Water Conservation Department.
The OCU team conducted a game of musical chairs in which children as young as 4–5 years old, the youth, men, and women all took an active part.
The winners took home blankets sponsored by the Col Shishupal Security Company (CSSC), which is part of the OCU team.
The OCU members also donated a warm “tapmohkhlieh” to each of the mothers, while Jiwat Vawani of Jiva Cares, an integral part of OCU, sponsored food packets. The area around Mawrah is sparsely forested; it is this area that OCU wishes to adopt for planting and nurturing trees so that water sources are protected.
“It is encouraging to see nearly the entire village present at the awareness camp. We hope to work closely with Mawrah Village to spread the message that tree plantation is integral to regenerating the environment, and this, in turn, helps conserve water sources,” says Patricia Mukhim, the OCU team leader.
The Sordar of Mawrah, Phrang Nongrum; Secretary Dibasstar Khongrymmai; and two officials of the Soil and Water Conservation Department—Pynshai Khongsit, Assistant Soil and Water Conservation Officer, and O. Khongshei, Senior Demonstrator—took an active part in the programme and lent their support to the event.
