So how are these young men getting involved to help the city become self-reliant in its water needs? The result is that the city is increasingly depending on external sources like Narmada’s waters or borewells for its water supply. Unfortunately with time, as centralised systems became more popular, indigenous knowledge was gradually lost.
Yet, for more than 500 years, Bhuj grew as an urban centre owing to its traditional water resource management system based on geo-hydrological knowledge.
It is associated with water scarcity and frequent droughts. Now the same term has been given to the para-workers. In Gujarati, the word parab means a water hut or a place on a public road that serves free water to thirsty wayfarers or travellers, especially during summer. ACT’s programme, however, is aimed at creating local para geo-hydrologists or parabs. Geology is typically offered as a Bachelor’s or Master’s course by various universities across the country, with some even offering a specialisation in hydro-geology.
Nawab is one of the five youths that Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT), a Bhuj-based NGO, has trained on water resources management based on geo-hydrological understanding. His hypothesis is that since the irrigation dam nearby has been lined with bentonite the water flow in the river has reduced, and the salinity-causing minerals, which normally would have been washed away, are now getting concentrated in the area, leading to the contamination of groundwater. Nawab Lakha is only 19, but he is confident as he offers me a detailed explanation of how the groundwater in the surrounding areas is gradually becoming saline. It’s a warm December afternoon and we are in the dry bed of the Khari River that lies at the north-west of Bhuj town in Kutch.
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