 April 22, 2003 HARVEST RAIN, HARVEST HOPE Harvesting rain helps rebuild relationships between people and their water, but it needs water literacy so that in the name of water harvesting shoddy work does not lead to money harvesting for some.
New Delhi, April 22, 2003: On Earth Day 2003 -- dedicated to the growing crisis of freshwater in the world – Delhi-based NGO, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) previewed its powerful and evocative public service advertisement reminding people of the enormous potential of harvesting the raindrop. In an attempt to inform people about how to harvest rain and provide a toolkit of the practice, it also launched a new and comprehensive website on water: www.rainwaterharvesting.org. Creating water literacy is the key to change, believes CSE.
"Today, everybody accepts that rainwater harvesting is part of the solution to the growing water crisis. But implementation remains poor. This is because there is little information on how we can all make water our business". Noted film actress Nandita Das has joined hands in creating this water literacy movement. She and Soumya Sen, creative director of O&M, have directed the 90-second public service advertisement to promote rainwater harvesting as the lesson from the past, which provides us the solution for the future. Made in English and Hindi (it will soon be available in other Indian languages too), the advertisement has been shot by Ravi K Chandran with the same finesse he displayed in Dil Chahta Hai. The spot revolves around the concept of catching rain in a neighbourhood, creating a cascading effect. People begin to collect water in a variety of objects and in fact, in anything they can lay their hands on. Using a medley of emotions – wonder, comic and even the absurd – the idea that rainwater harvesting is a community effort and it is about building a sharing and caring society is subtly woven in.
"Rainwater harvesting must capture people’s imagination for it to work," said Nandita Das introducing her directorial debut. Narain underlined that despite legislation making rainwater harvesting mandatory in many cities, there is lack of initiative by the authorities to enforce it. Also in many cases, CSE has found the implementation of rainwater harvesting projects to be shoddy. Rainwater harvesting has become an excuse for money harvesting. This is why it is necessary to take the message to people directly, so that they can understand both its potential and practice.
CSE has worked for many years to highlight the importance of rainwater harvesting, both for rural and urban areas. Its research in this area has consistently pointed to rainwater harvesting being a simple yet extraordinarily powerful, people-friendly technology that has the potential to combat water crisis and drought in the country. In the new website, the inverted umbrella, used repeatedly to collect water, symbolises a change in social thinking. The message is: now people are ready to ‘catch water where it falls’. Rainwaterharvesting.org comprehensively covers the complex dimensions of water and its use in society. It highlights traditional and
contemporary rainwater harvesting systems -- technologies specific to India’s 15 eco-regions -- and identifies rainwater harvesters in different regions. It also describes water conflicts erupting across the country to clarify the underlying politics of water. In addition, it touches upon controversial debates on water in a bid to build up an informed public opinion base. Most relevantly, there is a section on ‘frequently asked questions’ that tackles persisting doubts and queries on techniques, implementation, costs, space requirements and efficacy. Value the raindrop. Harvest hope. That is the message on this Earth Day 2003. Go to http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org
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