It was a moment, both of pride and joy, for Gulab Borkar, associate professor of Economics at GVM’s GGPR College of Commerce and Economics at Farmagudi when her team won a regional inter-university competition on water resource management, organised by TERI (The Energy and Research Institute). The team of students proposed a plan for revival of perennial springs in Ponda under her guidance and though their concept did not make it to the national level, it declared them change agents for socio-economic development.
The team comprising of Omkar Bhave (Mangeshi), Sidhesh Girodkar (Savoi-Verem), Sachin Vandagekar (Curti) and Johnson Nadwalmani (Ponda) had been short listed from amongst seventy five teams at the all India level. “From two lakh student participation through 40,000 teams, 75 proposals were selected for presentations and 10 teams were shortlisted on the national level from five regions, one was ours from Goa. We did not bag the prize but the idea got circulated. Out of the total 32 perennial streams in and around Ponda, our team chose nine and planned pilot projects for their cleaning and revival through ‘shramadaan’ (offering free labour by community participation),” briefs their mentor and professor, Gulab Borkar who believes that educational institutions can step forward to address water related issues.
Water, if used wisely, can fight most socio-economic problems and enhance the living standard of the society feels Borkar who successfully inspired her students to take up cleaning and reviving of perennial springs in their respective localities and thus contribute to the environment in their own little way.“This project was undertaken last year as part of our subject, Economics. I am happy that it did not remain a project on the paper. Going a step further our students have actually cleaned the springs involving the authorities and locals.” says Borkar, adding, “The nine natural streams that got a new lease of life are at Hanuman Tirth, Mestawada, near Mamlatdar office, Ponda bazar, Nagzari, Sunni Masjid, Kurtarkar Nagari, Haveli and Shantingar.”
This is not her first encounter with water. Borkar has been preaching on various ecological issues through her brain child “ Eco Vision Nature Club. She initiated this club in 2000 which today is a vibrant platform for various ecology and environment related programmes, panel discussions, seminars and knowledge exchange.
Borkar recalls how she faced water scarcity when the family bought a farmland at Madkai. “We dug two wells but the efforts went in vain. The farm needed water so we tried to adopt rainwater harvesting by building bunds on the hill slopes and let water sip in the ground. It was a need based solution that increased the water table and later our well got enough water. Later when we constructed our house we carefully planned to collect rainwater for domestic use,” says Borkar who then wanted to educate others who faced similar problems.
What was the technique that Borkar personally adopted? “We used roof tops for rainwater harvesting. Every drop falling on our 10x5 sq mtr roof area is diverted into a tank constructed beneath our house, which sits on two such tanks (one below the main hall and another below our gallery) together with a storing capacity of 50,000 cubic litres of water at any given point of time. The roof top has the capacity to harvest around 1 million litres of rain water and the tanks give a cooling effect to our structure.”
The tanks are based on ferro-cement technology (where a wire mesh is attached to the stones and later plastered) which is believed to be strong and economical. Like others in the area, their house was sure to face water scarcity so taking a wise decision while constructing the house helped. Instead of filling the slope with mud they built tanks, at no extra cost.
The Borkars began participating in seminars and linking water with economics. Water helps the farms sector and thus strengthens economy. “We began inviting students groups so show how we managed our water requirement through rainwater harvesting. In those days we had no LCD projector, so we put posters to educate our purpose, making our home a rainwater harvesting centre,” recalls Borkar who has devoted herself for educating people, especially youth and rural women in water management. The movement has taken shape and the earlier batches of students who were trained in rainwater harvesting, water management and revival of traditional water bodies, are now teaching others. “Those who learnt in 2000 have formed their own social self-help groups and working in their respective areas. Technology has brought us closer and we keep in touch with each other to exchange knowledge,” she states.
If all should step in and revive the perennial springs and water bodies the water table remains balanced and water is made available throughout the year. These springs need to be neatly constructed. Pollution control department has taken samples of their water and we are awaiting their report. Once it comes, we shall start implementation,” concludes Borkar. Not limiting to water, Borkar has embraced many social issues “ waste management, organic farming, kitchen gardening, sarai cookers, dairy farming etc.
Photo Caption: Gulab Borkar, assistant professor of Economics at GVM’s GGPR College of Commerce and Economics (Farmagudi) with her team of college boys studying Nagzari, an endangered perennial stream on the new bypass at Ponda
