School textbooks in India have been telling children for generations that Rajasthan is an inhospitable state in the northwest of the country, constrained by the hot, hostile sands of the Thar Desert.
But the driest state in India has a softer, humane face as well - that of Rajendra Singh, known as the 'Water Man of India', whose untiring efforts in water conservation in arid Rajasthan have led to him being awarded the Stockholm Water Prize, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize for Water.
Singh did not attempt to design a new technology to address Rajasthan's water problems. He began simply by de-silting several traditional surface level rainwater storage facilities - called 'johads' in the local Hindi language - that fell out of use during British colonial rule.
And, in doing so, he has quenched the thirst of villages that were dying.
Thousands of villages followed his example, and so much water was captured and soaked into aquifers that dry rivers have begun to flow again. Full story...
Related posts:
But the driest state in India has a softer, humane face as well - that of Rajendra Singh, known as the 'Water Man of India', whose untiring efforts in water conservation in arid Rajasthan have led to him being awarded the Stockholm Water Prize, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize for Water.
Singh did not attempt to design a new technology to address Rajasthan's water problems. He began simply by de-silting several traditional surface level rainwater storage facilities - called 'johads' in the local Hindi language - that fell out of use during British colonial rule.
And, in doing so, he has quenched the thirst of villages that were dying.
Thousands of villages followed his example, and so much water was captured and soaked into aquifers that dry rivers have begun to flow again. Full story...
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