We generally receive rainfall in heavy showers followed by dry spells. When it rains heavily the soil is not able to absorb water at the rate of...

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We generally receive rainfall in heavy showers followed by dry spells. When it rains heavily the soil is not able to absorb water at the rate of rainfall. As a result most of the rain drains away, leaving very little for storage & the recharge of groundwater. This makes most parts of India experience lack of water even for domestic usage. Thus it does not matter how much rain we get, if we don’t harvest it. I have made a documentary titled “Jol Dharo – Jol Bharo (Preserve Water, Reserve Water)” [Bengali, English, Hindi & Santali. 11 mints. Produced by Government of West Bengal in cooperation with Department of Water Resources Investigation and Development] on the Government of West Bengal pioneering project to preserve rain water with a focus on the activities of State Water Investigation Directorate in this regard. To preserve rain water and other natural water available on the earth’s surface by carefully controlling the respective resources, Govt. of West Bengal has initiated the project. And initiatives are being taken to establish appropriate storage tanks and check-dams of various capacities in different areas at the state, in implementing its goal. The documentary dealt with this issue of water resource management in water-scarce region in West Bengal, an eastern region state of India where the majority of rural population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Thus lack of adequate water resource has inducted high level of uncertainty and insecurity in the mind of the local inhabitant. The Jol Dharo – Jol Bharo (Preserve Water, Reserve Water) initiative of Government of West Bengal tries to provide a replicable framework as a solution to this ecological inequality in the face of looming impacts of climate change. http://youtu.be/VLg2_J8cI44

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  1. Dear Susanta, Your discussion is interesting and needs additional contribution. the initiative of Government of West Bengal should be followed by most of countries in Asia and Africa where poor people suffers instantaneously when drought happens, because it affects their food. Last week i discovered that in some regions of the UK and USA they start also to be affected by drought seriously. In the UK farmers begin to build concrete reservoirs to harvest and store the rain water to use it during drought. This is the way to cope with climate change. This initiative of creating reservoirs, dams is a good initiative but it is not sufficient because the water storage of these hydraulic managements is lower then the potential available water during the rain especially the heavy rains. A study I have done in Tunisia shows that during a rainy year the managements (reservoirs, dams) could be filled 10 till 15 times during rainy years. This means that a lot of water is not harvested (minimum 8 times the storage capacity of the dams or reservoirs). This huge of water is lost, through rivers, in the sea or ocean. To minimize this lost water during the rainy year or the rainy season, I conceived 2 innovative technologies (inventions): The draining floater and the buried diffuser. The 2 technologies have been tested and validated in farmer field conditions in Tunisia and in Algeria. Since April 2012 Chahtech SA is manufacturing and selling worldwide the draining floater and the buried diffuser. The draining floater allows the “pumping” and the distribution of the water from dams, reservoirs springs and rivers, using the gravity (siphon principle). This is without the use any conventional pump and without any conventional energies. The buried diffuser a real "revolution» in irrigation and water conservation for the sustainability of the agriculture: First: “The buried diffuser” saves a huge of water: to produce the same weight of wood it uses 2 times less water then drip irrigation. This means that with the same water volume the diffuser produces 3 times more then drip irrigation. This is not a dream it has been verified in famers’ field in arid conditions (Tunisia). Second : "The buried diffuser" allows anticipating the irrigation of the crop (trees or cereals: corn, wheat etc). That means that instead of irrigation in spring and summer, the anticipated irrigation is done during autumn and winter when the water is more available especially from dams, rivers and springs. This good way to alleviate the negative effects of drought (like the one this year in USA) and to escape the crops and make it sure and regular although the climate change. Third: With the buried diffuser, especially for trees plantations, it is possible to inject the water in the deep soil layers of the plantations to be conserved and used (by the trees roots systems) during 3 dry years. In the moment Chahtech SA is negotiating with an Indian company the introduction of the 2 technologies in India. When the negotiation is accepted I will send to you the contact address of this company. For more information’s, send me you email address on bchahbani@chahtech.com and I will send to you a complete report on the draining floater and the buried diffuser. You can also surf on the Chahtech SA website: www.chahtech.com.