“Necessity is the mother of Invention”
A statement rightly proven by the village of Hiware Bazar and its people in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
It all started with the drought-prone area always being drained of water. Rains occurred, but all the water seemed to tickle down the hills because of their tilted tray-like geography, taking soil along with it and leaving no water behind for the village.
But the villagers didn't lose courage even in the dire lack of water.
Using their intelligence, calm and bravery to act in these desperate times, they came up with a unique technique called “Ridge to Valley” for watershed management.
It refers to a scientific method to retain every drop of water by building certain structures like contour trenches, check dams and percolation tanks.
The first step was to slow down the water runoff. To counter this, the villagers began right at the hilltops or ridges. They dug thousands of horizontal ditches called Contour Trenches that acted like speed bumps for the gushing rains to slow over, allowing water to collect in them.
This gave time for the water to seep into the soil there, thus filling the underground water aquifers that constitute the natural rock storage.
Now, as the water moved down, it was further challenged by check dams made of cement on the streams, which forced the rainwater to move underground.
The ‘Ridge to Valley’ method was enhanced by other important practices at various levels.
Reforestation on the hilltops allowed the contour trenches to be dug and also helped prevent soil erosion with the rainwater flowing down.
On the slopes of the stream, the small cement dams helped increase the chances of infiltration of the rainwater into the ground.
Apart from that, constructed percolation tanks and ponds waited in the valleys for the rainwater that reached them after running down the hills.
The entire system, thus, was and remains a classic example of need-engineered minds.
Apart from the technical planning, the village also strategised.
These measures were a collective decision of the village community, under the leadership of figures like Popat Rao Pawar. They used government schemes and voluntary labour (Shramdaan) of the villagers who selflessly wanted their community to grow and be able to have water, a basic right that once felt like gold to them.
Along with the technical solutions, they also listed social reforms like liquor ban and family planning, and improved agricultural practices to make them more sustainable.
These collective efforts led to an increase in the water table of the village region and thus secured water for their present and sustainable future.
It was the villagers’ courage, sharp-mindedness and stability of thought, even in times of despair, that the village moved on from tanks to taps.
Earlier, when in a drought-like situation, the village depended on unreliable and expensive water tanks. And then, because of their unified ‘Ridge to Valley’ method, they progressed with consistent and piped tap water.
It is fascinating how human needs lead to the greatest of inventions.
Several such case studies have shown that when a community, a group of people, or an individual person is pushed into a do-or-die situation similar to such water scarcity, they rise solely because of their resilience.
This resilience stems from an undying hope, faith in goodness and God, and often also from the sweet greed of what awaits them if they pass this test.
Which is why it is often said that an invention is almost always a team effort.
Because even if one person might have gotten the technical idea, there was teamwork that made it happen, faith of the villagers that kept them high on hope and gave them the courage to take the big leap of faith.
In our personal lives, too, we often face a similar internal battle of do or die. We feel the scarcity of hope and think that we are stuck in an endless abyss of darkness.
Just like the helplessness the people of Hiware Bazar must have felt when they didn't have enough water. When even a drop of water felt like buying gold because of the expensive tanks.
But this endless despair is eventually the one that pushes us to the rock bottom, where we attain the true understanding of our problem and find a solution to it, because we are left with only that to do.
Just like that, the inhabitants of Hiware Bazar village had only two options: a strained effort to retain their village OR a helpless goodbye to their dwindling hopes. Since they had hit rock bottom, all they had was their will to find a way and not leave their homes.
And out of that sheer will rose a brilliant technical solution that took them from Tanks to Taps.
References:
- Article named “From drought to resilience” by Medium
- A study paper named “Ridge to Valley Approach” by the Development Support Centre.
- Article “Hiware Bazar: A Model village for water conservation and sustainable development in Maharashtra” by Champions of Change
- Research discussions on Scribd.com