Stories like this give me so much hope that they’re starting to change my life. The ‘Water Man of India’ reminds me of the Miracle Water Village that we posted about last year and some other related ideas about Restoring Degraded Land. In every case, the ideas are very simple and yet surprisingly effective. Rajendra Singh rediscovered the ancient practice of building check dams to restore the aquifer. This simple method is turning wastelands into productive farmland and enabling rivers that were dry for decades to flow once again. The Guardian named him among its list of “50 people who could save the planet”.
From BBC News
“An award known as “the Nobel Prize for water” has been given to an Indian campaigner who has brought water to 1,000 villages.
The judges of the Stockholm Water Prize say his methods have also prevented floods, restored soil and rivers, and brought back wildlife.
The prize-winner, Rajendra Singh, is dubbed “the Water Man of India”.
The judges say his technique is cheap, simple, and that his ideas should be followed worldwide.
Mr Singh uses a modern version of the ancient Indian technique of rainwater harvesting.
It involves building low-level banks of earth to hold back the flow of water in the wet season and allow water to seep into the ground for future use.”
Bring back the water and bring back the arable land seems so basic, and so needed. Three cheers to all who help restore vitality to our planet! Thanks for this post, Owen. To state the obvious, food, clothes and … well, everything comes from the earth. Keeping pure water flowing and farms and gardens fertile ranks right up there at the top!
If you really want to make a difference, here’s one way to do it. A huge part of the world is suffering from drought and has degraded land. The articles linked above show how easy it is to turn all this misery around and create a world of abundance. There is hope!