A group of engineering students have recently designed a rainwater harvesting system for their school in the water-thirsty city of Pune in Maharashtra, India. At full capacity, it will collect 87 lakh liters (around 2,298,297 US gallons) of rainwater each year. The students are collecting rainwater in tanks on several buildings, and the water is filtered before it recharges the main well on campus. Pretty neat, eh?

Youth are our future and our future depends on water. In the last Visions of Water, Visions of Life interview, students at the Kakamega School for the Deaf talked about water and life in Kenya. They were asked:

What do you believe is the solution to improve the water situation in your village?

They are hearing-impaired, so they drafted their answers on a chalkboard. Below is a glimpse into the daily life of these students. Some rainwater harvesting tanks were recently donated to their school, but after this source is depleted – during they dry season – they rely solely on river water.

We thank them much for providing this information to the world.

Sheila Agufa

Agesa Silus

Daniel Milavi

Joseph Milongo

Are you a student that would like to get involved in water issues? Do you want to contact these students in Kenya? Please visit the ECAG Website. Or – to meet other youth interested in water issues – check out the YouthNoise DROP Campaign Website.

This is the second interview for the series Visions of Water, Visions of Life. Today’s interview is with Gibson Munanga. He is the director of an organization called Environmental Community Assistance Group (ECAG) working on water and land issues in rural Kenya. And, let me tell you, Gibson is one busy director. He works as a teacher at a school for the deaf. Somehow he still manages to find time to dream-up ideas, organize work parties, and implement a variety of projects to ensure water and land sustainability in his village.

Above Photo: Gibson and students at Kakamega School for the Deaf.

Your organization originally started growing tree seedlings and working on land restoration projects. Can you please tell us why you decided to direct your focus towards water issues?

Our organization began and is still growing tree seedlings and working on land restoration projects. In the course of undertaking these, we encountered enormous challenges to finding water for irrigating the tree seedlings in preparation for planting during the rainy season. Water problems are a chronic issue here in the dry and rainy seasons. We have not shifted our focus, but we had to approach them [water and land restoration issues] at the same time because they go hand-in-hand. We left water problems to be addressed by ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE GROUP. The tree nursery and land restoration projects are handled by our co-organization called WESTERN TREE NURSERY, SEED COLLECTION, STORAGE AND VENDING GROUP.

What is the water situation in your village? What is the water situation in Kenya?

The water situation in our village is bad. People have to walk long distances in search of water. This mainly affects women and children (especially their standard of education and quality of life). The overall water situation in Kenya is worse. In Turkana, Pokot, Ukambani and other northeastern parts of Kenya near the border with Somalia, the search for water may take a whole day. It takes over a year for these places to receive rains, which may last only a week or luckily a month. This type of rainfall pattern can not support crop growth or open-water systems. It is rocky and expensive to drill for water in these areas. The water is very deep.

What do you believe is the solution to improve the water situation in your village?

The solution to improve the water situation in our village is to strategically situate boreholes in central places where water can be used easily by families. In addition, many trees were destroyed in most water catchments over twenty years ago. Water-catchment friendly trees should be planted in those areas because many small streams and rivers have dried up. The range of climate and rainfall in our village allows for rainwater harvesting. Provision of water-harvesting tanks would help to solve water problems here. Provision of water lorry tankers [see picture below] would help provide water to people during extreme water shortage events for a small fee.

Above Photo: This is the type of water tanker that ECAG would like for their community.

Do you talk about water issues with your students at the school for the deaf? What do the children believe is the solution to improve the water situation in your village?

[The students are deaf so they wrote their answers on a chalkboard. Mr. Munanga took pictures of their answers with a camera. Please see the forthcoming post called Kakamega Youth Talk About Water Problems in Kenya.]

Has ECAG completed any significant water projects?

Six years ago ECAG constructed a very successful water project [well] at Alfred Amulyoto’s home (in Kambiri in the Kakamega District) to serve neighboring communities. Community members agreed to maintain the well pump through small donations. We constructed another successful water project [well] at Emily’s home (in Sichirayi) with the help from neighboring homes. Another water project [well] was constructed at Mr. Peter Matwanga’s home (in Khayega Village) which services a big homestead and 15 nearby homes.

What are a few other non-water projects that ECAG has completed?

We are producing tree-seedlings for planting in water-catchment areas. We are propagating medicinal trees for blood purification, stomach problems, malaria treatment, and other ailments. We are propagating fruit trees to alleviate hunger and provide vitamins, and we are propagating trees for firewood. In a nut-shell, trees are very much related to water, environmental issues and rainfall-storage quantity.

What is your advice for future generations on water?

My advice for future generations on water issues would be to conserve water and use it wisely, protect all water sources, and plant trees. Every drop of water counts!

For more information about ECAG or if you would like to make a donation, please visit their website here.

Already today, I have been able to visit people and places in Yemen, India, Mexico, Niger, and Kenya to learn more about local and global water issues. How, you may ask? Easy, I reply – The Water Channel.

The Water Channel is a partnership between MetaMeta Communications, UNESCO-IHE, Cap-Net and Nymphaea. It has videos from around the world on water topics ranging from Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) to watershed education and outreach.

My favorite videos so far include -

Water is a Gift: An artful animation about water produced by the Natural Water Resources Authority in Yemen (complete with English subtitles). This film juxtaposes drawings and digital video to talk about the significance of groundwater and drip irrigation in Yemen.

Tears (Lagrimas): A “fictional” film about a young girl wistful for the days when she was able to access water at a local source. This video has no words, only images, and was shown at fourth World Water Forum in Mexico.

Kenya: What Water Means to Me: One teacher at Karen ‘C’ Primary School in Kenya documents her students’ views on water. These students discuss the role of H20 in their daily lives: water shortages at school, water shortages at home, water-borne illnesses, and possible solutions to these water problems.

If you want to see others, visit the 164 videos (and counting) at The Water Channel website.

This is the first interview for a new series hosted on Water for the Ages called Visions of Water, Visions of Life. This interview series will feature people from around the world interacting with water on multiple scales: technological, cultural, social, political, spiritual, and aesthetic.

For this interview, I am pleased to introduce Jessica Varin. Jessica is a senior at Oregon State University majoring in Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering. We first met during our International Water Resources Management class taught by Dr. Aaron Wolf (best known for his work on global water conflict management). Near the beginning of the quarter, she asked me to contribute to a journal she was putting together to document the different ways that people in our community view water. She asked each contributor to draw, write, paint, or otherwise express their interactions with water. Recently, she presented these journal contributions of over forty-nine adults and children to our class. The results showed that each person – no matter their race, ethnicity, creed, or age – interacted with water in a unique way but there were unifying themes. To me, this project reiterated the beauty and sanctity of water. I would like to share her story with you.

Can you please tell us a little bit about your project?

I asked people in my community a simple, complex question: What does water mean to you? Participants in the project drew, painted, wrote, and explored their answers in a collaborative art journal.

What made you want to start compiling this journal? And what first led to your interest in the field of water?

I’ve been working on personal art journals or sketchbooks for about a year. Through 1001journals.com, I started sending collaborative art journals to strangers around the world. I knew that I wanted to do a water-themed journal eventually … the opportunity to get academic credit kick-started this particular project.

I grew up in and around water. Canoing and swimming were a big part of my childhood. In high school, I started doing research work on water quality in a nearby watershed. I had really outstanding mentors and the experience made me passionate about issues surrounding water.

Where did you find your participants? How did people react to being asked to complete a journal page on water?

I passed it around my poetry class, coerced co-workers, and talked to strangers on the street. One of my goals was to get a diversity of perspectives on water.

Reactions to the project were overwhelmingly positive. Some people were overwhelmed by the scope of the topic, others dove right in and started drawing or writing. I had a harder time getting adults to participate. Many adults insisted that they weren’t artists; not one child refused a crayon.

What were some of the overarching themes that you found among the journal contributions?

My goal was to see if there was a cohesive ethic of stewardship with regard to water in my community. Many people associated water with intangibles. Beauty, life, and spiritual connection were among the things that participants found meaning in.

Do you feel that this type of project could influence the future of watershed management?

The creation of policy is often values-driven as much as it is economically-driven. We continue to be bound by right and wrong as well as the bottom line. Several of the participants expressed values in their artwork that water cannot be quantified. These values are often overlooked in traditional cost-benefit analysis. It’s easier to ignore what does not fit into a matrix. To reach the next level, watershed management efforts will need to incorporate these values.

All photos were taken by Assistant Professor Wang Zhijian from the School of Law at Hohai University in Nanjing, China. He runs a blog on international water law called International Rivers & International Relations. So if you know Chinese, you might check out his blog here. And if you would like to contact Jessica to learn more about this neat project, please e-mail her here.

Here is another Public Service Announcement (PSA) for the series. This PSA was created by the organization Charity Water to raise money for water supply projects in Africa. Now my professor Aaron Wolf at Oregon State University might be a little dismayed by the references to war and water in this PSA (actually, he has found that only one war has ever occurred because of water). Nevertheless, it shows how multimedia can be used to support water projects in other countries.

The other four PSAs in the series cover rainwater harvesting in India, the LA Tap Project, a water conservation campaign in Denver, and the Tap Project 2009.

Recently, I drafted a post on a mass-suicide event (because of drought, dropping water levels, related crop failure, and mounting farm debt) in the state of Chhattisgarh based on news reports in the Belfast Telegraph, the Daily Times, and Alternet. Update: this event was not a mass-suicide as defined in these news reports. Rather – and no better – 1,500 farmers committed suicide in 2007 in the state of Chhattisgarh.

Here is a portion of Mallika Chopra’s update:

“According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, 182,936 Indian farmers have committed suicide between 1997 -2007. It estimates 46 Indian farmers kill themselves every day – that is, roughly one suicide every 30 minutes. An estimated 16,625 farmers across India killed themselves in 2007, the last year that was reported. The numbers are horrifying, and they indicate the sense of despair that the poorest people in the world are facing today.”

And here is a post by Vandana Shiva called From Seeds of Suicide to Seeds of Hope: Why Are India Farmers Committing Suicide and How Can We Stop This Tragedy?

Dropping water levels in Umiam (Barapani) Lake in the state of Meghalaya in northeast India are causing tension among competing water users. This lake was constructed as a reservoir for a hydroelectric project in the 1960s. It (and associated tributaries) provides water for power generation, agriculture, drinking water, and recreation.

Not only does this lake face dropping water levels – 39 feet over the last three years, to be exact – water pollution is also becoming a serious problem. Untreated sewage flows into the lake from streams and rivers that pass through the capital city of Shillong. Increased sediment enters the lake resulting from urban sprawl in Shillong. Construction of roads and buildings in the city cause soil erosion. And, because of the urban sprawl, poor farmers must change cultivation patterns which is also leading to rapid soil erosion. Lake problems are compounded by the fact that numerous stakeholders are responsible for different areas of management.

So, what is the solution?

One organization called People’s Learning Centre believes that bringing stakeholders together to plan integrated approaches for lake-water management might be the answer. On March 9 and 10, 2009, they hosted a conference (with the support of Arghyam) in Shillong to allow various stakeholders to discuss conservation strategies. Videos and presentations are now available on the India Water Portal.

Wow, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all of the great water books and films coming out these days. Today – for Earth Day 2009 – I have tried to compile a few recent or upcoming releases around the globe.

BOOKS

Recipe for Water by Gillian Clarke
(release date – May 1, 2009)

Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What To Do About It by Robert Glennon
(release date – May 10, 2009)

Poisoned Spring: The EU and Water Privatization by Kartika Liotard and Steven P. McGiggen
(release date – May 12, 2009)

FILMS

Life is Water by Jen Warren

Poisoned Waters by PBS Frontline

Tapped by Stephanie Soechtig

Working with Water by Ecover and Water Aid

That’s right. Water IS cool.

It’s essential for life. Our bodies are 50 percent to 75 percent water. The earth is around 72 percent water. There’s even water in outer space. Water is able change from a liquid (for example, a puddle, a river, or a lake) to a solid (ice) to a gas (water vapor). Okay, have I convinced you of the awesomeness of water yet? If not, watch this animation (via the Akvo Blog). You might change your mind.

Shhh, don’t tell anyone. This is also an advertisement for a bottled water company. Errggghh – no comment. Okay, two comments. Tap water is better for the planet than bottled water. And maybe I’ll put this neat animation on the EnviroMedia Greenwashing Index, too.