Posted on 04/25/2015 10:17:04 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A $150,000 prize has been awarded to the “Water Gandhi of India” for his wildly successful work that turns abandoned, impoverished “dust bowls” into lush villages bustling with life again using an ancient method of rainwater harvesting.
For teaching thousands of villagers in India’s most arid region how to build earthen dams to catch the monsoon rains and revitalize their land, Rajendra Singh was honored Friday with the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize.
30 years ago, Singh went to the poverty-stricken state of Rajasthan with the aim of setting up health clinics. He was told by villagers, however, that their greatest need was not health care, but water. Their wells had dried up. Soon after, crops wilted, rivers and forests disappeared, and many able-bodied villagers left in search for work in the cities. Women, children and the elderly were left behind without hope, as their villages became barren dust bowls.
So, instead of clinics, Singh showed them how to build johads, traditional earthen dams.
In the two decades since he arrived in Rajasthan, 8,600 johads have been built to collect water for 1,000 villages across the state. Nature then took over, replenishing the ground water. Rivers began flowing again and the forest cover increased, bringing back animals, like the antelope and, even, the majestic peacock, once on the verge of extinction in these parts. Women, once burdened with carrying water from miles away, now had time for other things.
“If he hadn’t come into our lives, we wouldn’t be able to do anything,” one resident told CNN in the video below. “He’s like a God here.”
The traditional Indian methods of collecting and storing rainwater date back thousands of years, but fell out of use during British colonial rule.
Thanks to the “Water man of India” and colleagues at his NGO, Tarun Bharat Sangh, some of the poorest communities of India are now prosperous— empowered once again by agricultural livelihoods.
Climate change is changing weather patterns around the world, leading to more frequent and intense droughts and floods. Learning how to harvest rainwater, cutting the peaks of water to fill the troughs, will be a key skill in most parts of the world.
“Due to the harvesting of rain and recharging our groundwater, there is no scope for drought or floods in our area,” says Rajendra Singh, who called his recent Water Prize award encouraging, energizing and inspiring. “This work of ours is a way to solve both floods and droughts globally. Therefore we believe the impact of this work is on the local level, national level, the international level and above all at the village level.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The Labor Unions would never allow that easy and cheap method to take hold over here, if they had any say in it.
Jerry is in their back pocket, as illustrated via Super Deluxe Trains to Nowhere and back again.
Can you just IMAGINE the paperwork and fees required to build such a thing in the New Amerika, where the EPA is going around DEMANDING that already existing small earthen dams be removed?
{liberal econut}”Think of all the desert species a lush green environment would drive to extinction. Horrors!” {/liberal econut}
Liberals hate Dams.
“Liberals hate Dams.”
Yes! And then some!
Here along the Gila River in New Mexico liberal’s heads are exploding because a project has been approved to pump water out of the river during FLOOD STAGE to store it for release back into the river during droughts. They hate dams so much that many now have bumper stickers on their cars saying “no dam diversion” even though there is no plan for any sort of dam. Yes, these environmentalists would rather have the river dry up during the summer than to store any water during a flood.
So, instead of clinics, Singh showed them how to build johads, traditional earthen dams.
Climate change is changing weather patterns around the world, leading to more frequent and intense (need for traditional earthen dams. )droughts and floods. Learning how to harvest rainwater (with traditional earthen dams. ), cutting the peaks of water to fill the troughs, (with traditional earthen dams. ) will be a key skill in most parts of the world.( using traditional earthen dams.)
something about that traditional or conservative that might be a requirement.
Assumes facts not in evidence.
Of course Climate change changes weather patterns around the world - otherwise it wouldn't be called 'Climate Change'.
But 'Climate Change' is an overloaded term that also refers to what has become the pseudo-science of anthropogenic global warming. It's up to the article writer to disambiguate his terms.
What an ecological disaster - now the streams aren’t running free.
Oh it gets worse...LOL
Environmental group sues to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir
Spurned at the ballot box three years ago and facing an even more uphill battle now because of California’s historic drought, an environmental group has filed a lawsuit attempting to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, a linchpin of the water supply for 2.6 million Bay Area residents from San Francisco to San Jose to southern Alameda County.
The reservoir in Yosemite National Park, built in 1923, violates California’s constitution, according to the suit from the nonprofit Restore Hetch Hetchy, based in Oakland.
Water that flows from the Sierra Nevada, through the Tuolumne River and into the reservoir can be stored in other reservoirs in the Sierra and downstream, the group argues. As a result, it contends, San Francisco, which owns the system, is not following a key provision of the state constitution requiring that water in California “be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent possible” and be used in “reasonable” ways.
“Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park was once one of our nation’s most treasured landscapes. Its destruction, allowed a hundred years ago, is widely regarded as a mistake,” said Spreck Rosekrans, executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy. “The time has come to have a conversation about the merits of restoration in a court of law.”
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Tuolumne County Superior Court, was blasted by business and city leaders in San Francisco.
“Who needs a historic drought when there’s a group that wants to tear down one of California’s critical water storage and clean energy systems?” said Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, which represents 275 of the Bay Area’s largest companies.
“The court should quickly dismiss this.”
Hetch Hetchy Valley is a spectacular landscape that rivaled nearby Yosemite Valley before Congress approved construction of O’Shaughnessy Dam in 1913, submerging the valley under 300 feet of water.
The fight to save the valley was the final battle of Sierra Club founder John Muir’s life. And the valley’s submersion has haunted many environmentalists ever since.
For years, supporters of restoring the valley have said the water could be stored in Don Pedro Reservoir, Cherry Reservoir and other lakes. But Wunderman and other opponents say the issue is far more complex, involving technical problems and controversies with other water agencies that also have rights to the reservoirs.
In 2012, Restore Hetch Hetchy placed a measure on the San Francisco ballot which would have required the city to conduct an $8 million study of draining the reservoir. It was endorsed by three former Yosemite superintendents. But it was opposed by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Silicon Valley business leaders. It failed in a landslide, 77-23 percent.
“This new lawsuit, like the 2012 initiative, is an unfortunate distraction from our core mission of delivering reliable drinking water to 2.6 million people in the Bay Area,” said Tyrone Jue, a spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
good thing they don’t have snail darters in India.
I was thinking the same...Of course, Jerry Brown would have the taxpayers pay for his services.
“...fell out of use during British colonial rule”.
Nice evasion. Beside the many good things the Brits did in India there were also quite a number of bad things. Actively destroying the village tank system (together with enclosing the “commons”) was perhaps the worst thing they did.
Everything old is new again.
The EPA is always alert to the danger of dams to wildlife and they have the full support of the econuts.
No way this guy could get a program of dams going in California.
Note: this topic is from 04/25/2015. Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
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