A LONE CRUSADER
At Besant Nagar, Chennai, each Sunday morning sees a middle-aged man on a door-to-door campaign distributing pamphlets and talking spiritedly. Meet Sekhar Raghavan, a lone warrior fighting for a cause. Even at 50 and a PhD in physics, he painstakingly explains the merits of rainwater harvesting (RWH) to anyone witling to lend him an ear.
Still, people come up with excuses for not using rain water. They do not have either time or money or the expertise perhaps... "They prefer to buy water," laments Raghavan. He idofises Anna Hazare the Gandhian leader of Maharashtra, who advocates watershed management. For the last 25 years, Raghavan has seen Besant Nagar change. A few years back, he even noticed a change in the water's taste - it has become a bit hard. "This is due to over-exploitation of the water table. The water will soon become brackish if serious Efforts are not taken recharge the water table," he warns. He has the solution as well. "Simple. The answer lies in rain water harvesting." RWH nothing new. "Our ancestors used traditional methods to inserve rain water," he says. "But now, people think that anything traditional is not good." Raghavan points out that in urban areas, the oof-top water harvesting methods can help reduce a city's water nwblems. A pipeline has to be laid to collect rain water accumulated the roof. It can then be led into pits covered with stone, bricks and sand on the ground.
Despite his attempts, Raghavan has faced criticism. Some residents have gone to the extent of issuing strict instructions to the watchmen not to let Raghavan in. "In this kind of situation, I try to convince watchman about the importance of water harvesting," he says. Raghavan is at his campaigning best from July to October, when the when water scarcity hits the city. Rest of the year, he visits spools and seminars, convincing the city-dwellers of the importance of rain water harvesting.