By Yumnam Vedajit
As per the grapevine and newspaper reports, Manipur is facing scarcity of water and shortage of food. In order to meet such shortfall, there is a necessity of water harvesting as water is needed for agricultural and human use though there might be many reasons behind such problems cropping up and how they can be dealt with. Whatever may be, water needs to be made available and sufficiently at that as it goes without saying that water supply is indispensable to food production.
Nothwithstanding, the fact the state has ample rainfall, Manipur continues to face water scarcity even in the rainy season. During heavy rainfall, flash floods occur but just after the rainfall, the state faces the problem of scarcity of drinking water. Water is necessary for other purposes such as washing, bathing and so on. What is needed is water harvesting as it can overcome water scarcity and increase crop yields. Rain harvesting is centuries old despite the development of many new techniques of rain harvesting with the passage of time, the monsoon type of climate of Manipur is favorable for rain water harvesting which can reduce or resolve severe water scarcity during winter.
Water harvesting is a cost-effective and sensible step to provide extra water with its uncomplicated system installation for assorted household uses such as washing clothes, toilet flushing, watering the garden and washing cars, ecological pools etc. Rain water harvesting includes collection of rainwater and storing it up for use.
All secondary sources of water like groundwater, lakes, etc are fed by the rain which is a main source. Water runoffs from the roof tops, courtyard, open grounds from local catchments area etc can be collected for rain harvesting. Seasonal floodwaters from local streams and water through watershed management can be used for water harvesting. Water collected through water harvesting can be used for drinking water, irrigation water and other household purposes. Recharged groundwater can be increased by water harvesting.
An initiative has already been taken up in New Delhi with the Ministry of Urban Development making rain water harvesting compulsory in all new buildings. Building rules have been amended so as to include rain water harvesting in new constructions in other states like Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh etc.
The rain water harvesting facility in every house may solve the problem of over flow of water on the streets and drains in most of the localities which occurs during a little shower.
Rain water harvesting facilities in municipal councils, and local self-government bodies can help the public supply so as to enhance the ground water condition. Observations made on the floor of House during 5th session of Manipur Legislative Assembly is that the state mainly relies on agriculture products and there is 3.69 lakh acres of arable land with a rice produce of 389 tons annually.
Manipur has a shortfall of 30% of fruit supply.
The Manipur economy primarily depends on agriculture despite several small scale industries.
Most of the fields in the valley remain unused when the rice growing season comes to an end. In other words, crops are not grown/planted in most of the field in the valley after the kharif crop season. Kharif crops or the summer or monsoon crops in Manipur are grown for autumn harvest. Though the kharif season varies as per the crop and state In India, it is commonly considered to begin in June and to end in October. Khariff crops include Paddy.
Rabi crops also known as the “winter crop are planted in the winter season from November to April. Some of the main rabi crops are wheat, peas, mustard etc.
The growing of these crops starts in the wake of monsoon rains. Agricultural crops which are produced in Manipur as in India are seasonal in nature and subject to these two monsoons to a great extent. Water harvesting will help increase crop production and yields on lands for agricultural use. Rain harvesting may improve several agri-horticultural crops which are possible export products and boost the agro-based industry which includes herbal plants, fruit preparations etc.
Water can be made available thorough water harvesting and Rabi and Kharif crops can be grown in the available areas. One of the ways and means to reduce or resolve dependence on monsoon is water harvesting. Rain harvesting has the potential to bring about a Green Revolution, to change human lives and social existence.