Precedent of traditional water conservation: A case study of Ara and Keram villages, Ranchi, Jharkhand

Abstract

Life on Earth is due to water. 71% of the earth is covered by water but 97% of water is stored in oceans as salt water, only 3% of water is fresh of which 2.4% is stored in the form of glaciers. 0.6% of fresh water is available for drinking and other purposes. Rainwater is the major source of freshwater, hence its conservation is extremely important. Today machines, concrete, artificial structure and technologies are being used for rainwater conservation. In the era of artificial intelligence, a few villages in the Ranchi district are conserving millions of litres of rainwater every year by traditional methods and using it for agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, etc. People of two villages Ara and Keram have done extraordinary work by making thousands of Trench cum Bund (T.C.B.), Loose Bolder Structure (L.B.S.) and Dobha to conserve rainwater. Taking cognizance of this excellent performance of these villages, the Prime Minister of India has appreciated his program ‘Mann Ki Baat’. This paper is an attempt to present the traditional methods of rainwater conservation in these villages. In this research paper, mainly methods and benefits of water conservation including community participation and the motivation to do this work have been highlighted.