We were on busy schedule with meetings in Kochi, after the meetings it was lunch time and we were near to Kalamassery, Kochi. We had our lunch there in a restaurant and decided to move to MG road were we have some other discussion before our return train at 5pm.
We walked to the nearest auto stand and sit on a diesel auto rickshaw which was driven by a elder man who looks like in his 60's.
We were talking each other on different things and become silent after sometime. Then one of our team member asked the driver pointing to the multi-storey building, 'What happens to the rain water flowing out of those high raised buildings'
Driver just looked back and said "it will flow down through the storm water pipes "
I asked back "then what happens to it"
He answered without thinking "water will flow through the canals nearby and some parts of it may flood around there "
My colleague again "then what happens to the canal water "
"It will go to stream nearby then to the more bigger stream" he answered straight.
I asked to the driver "at last where it will reach "
"At last it will go to rivers or the backwater and from there to the sea "he stopped like in half way
We smiled each other to start our discussion about rainwater harvesting.
But suddenly he came back in a teacher's voice "do you know one thing, if you collect one full day rain water from your home's roof, you can use it for one week."
We were excited to hear those words from a common man like him.Yes, his rough calculation is almost correct to our standards and measurements.
He said he was a technician in a tyre company in Kochi and now retired. He can't simply sit at home, that's why he is driving rickshaw and also an income.We discussed about rainwater harvesting and he heard everything and blessed us for the initiatives for saving water.
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| ACT WISY Modern Rain Water Harvesting Systems - Project at Kerala University, Karyavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala |
