"Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink"
The stanza is from S.T.Coleridge’s poem The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner which indicates the voyager’s narration of a
situation when they were stuck amid the sea due to curse caused by shooting an
albatross .
In a nutshell, we can’t drink sea water straightly
but after treating well, we can.
To relate, we get stuck with empty water
vessels and dried up wells during dry season as drinking water crisis matters us
the most since condition of drinking water supply throughout the country is
bad, being worse in the Kathmandu Valley.
We, Kathmanduites, get water supply
alternatively or once in a blue moon. Many a time, we have to keep vainglorious
night vigils for the glimpse of water drops even in normal season. On top of
that the recent massive earthquake has fanned the fire by drying up water
sources.
Though the authority concerned is always
reported to have been exercising to provide more water supplies, it won't meet
even a half of consumers' need. Therefore, time has come that we opted for
alternatives ourselves.
You might probably suggest seeking
relief in underground water. But for how
long, ten years, twenty years? Are we the last of our species? Certainly not. Our
offspring will have to follow suit as we did to our ancestors.
It’s a well
known fact that the ponds that fed stone spouts have become legends because of
mushrooming buildings, more and more wells getting dug up aiding to drain up
naturally reserved underground water faster.Streams and rivulets, the perennial sources of water flowing from the outskirts to the valley are
getting muddy and unusable due to umpteenth of illegally-licensed stone mines.
All of these factors are adding fuel to the flame.
Time has ripe for us to choose an Eco-friendly
alternative to beat this crisis. For this, the process of harvesting rainwater
can undoubtedly prove to be one for us to take refuge in. The process of which is
not onerous. It doesn't need hi-tech engineering and it not that dear either. In
rainy season, we witness plenty of rainfall, water and water and water
everywhere, which eventually goes to rivers and canals and help the unnecessary
flood to enhance; even causing fields and household to be swept away. If we
managed the free rainwater well, it can become a great boon to keep our water
problem at bay.
To start with, all we have to do is to
build a couple of tanks--one for filtration and another for storage. When it
rains, we have to supply the rainwater to the first tank directly from the
roof, no matter it is flat or corrugated through a pipeline. The tank contains
layers of sand, aggregates and pebbles for filtering process. It gets filtered
there and can be reserved it in the second one to consume as per our need.
A well can be dug by the tank to
store extra amount of water which can be used for washing and gardening
purpose. Time has come to invest a meager amount of money once to own our own still Melamchi in our compound and bid adieu to all those
past headaches regarding drinking water.
A recent study shows if every household
started harvesting rainwater, the
nature's gift, almost eighty percent of Kathmandu's water problem can be kept
at bay forever. By this the burden of the authority concerned will be
automatically toned down a great deal inspiring it to act wholeheartedly. On
top of that there will be no risk of water-borne epidemics and any negative
impact in the ecosystem. Let’s give this boon a try to prove that a stitch in
time really saves nine.
