Strange to read articles about water shortage that do not mention how Jaisalmer or other dry parts of Rajasthan manage water. Jaisalmer gets 21 cm of water each year, and yet has no water scarcity (ref http://www.ted.com/talks/anupam_mishra_the_ancient_ingenuity_of_water_harvesting.html).
Let's compare Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to Jalna in Maharashtra, hit by a drought this year:
* Jaisalmer gets 20 cm rainfall/year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaisalmer)
* Jalna gets 78 cm rainfall/year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalna,_Maharashtra)
In 2012, Jalna received 32 cm, ref http://sandrp.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/how-is-2012-13-maharashtra-drought-worse-than-the-one-in-1972/, and is "hard hit" by drought, leading to shortage of drinking water and the threat of famine (http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/04/11/hunger-maharashtra-villages-drought-idINDEE93A0DC20130411).
Some are talking of mismanaged water, creating a man-made crisis in Maharashtra this year. The Aral Sea disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea) shows how ill-conceived irrigation schemes can cumulate to create an ecological and economic disaster area.
In Bangalore we talk of water shortages in spite of getting 97 cm of rain/year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore). We destroy the heritage of water management using lakes and watersheds and then fight about the water available to be taken from the Cauvery river, impoverishing its natural flow and causing uncalculated harm to the ecosystem.
Think: these water shortages are man-made, and can be solved with basic civic sense to manage water at a municipal level. How can Bangalore or Jalna learn from Jaisalmer?
Let's compare Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to Jalna in Maharashtra, hit by a drought this year:
* Jaisalmer gets 20 cm rainfall/year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaisalmer)
* Jalna gets 78 cm rainfall/year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalna,_Maharashtra)
In 2012, Jalna received 32 cm, ref http://sandrp.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/how-is-2012-13-maharashtra-drought-worse-than-the-one-in-1972/, and is "hard hit" by drought, leading to shortage of drinking water and the threat of famine (http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/04/11/hunger-maharashtra-villages-drought-idINDEE93A0DC20130411).
Some are talking of mismanaged water, creating a man-made crisis in Maharashtra this year. The Aral Sea disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea) shows how ill-conceived irrigation schemes can cumulate to create an ecological and economic disaster area.
In Bangalore we talk of water shortages in spite of getting 97 cm of rain/year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore). We destroy the heritage of water management using lakes and watersheds and then fight about the water available to be taken from the Cauvery river, impoverishing its natural flow and causing uncalculated harm to the ecosystem.
Think: these water shortages are man-made, and can be solved with basic civic sense to manage water at a municipal level. How can Bangalore or Jalna learn from Jaisalmer?
