Dear Mr. Menezes, No offence intended. I was just sharing my knowledge (which I have primarily gained through all India workshops on the subject and interacting with my colleagues in the agriculture department as well as from illiterate,though not really 'uneducated',farmers)and field experience on the subject.
You are absolutely right about the tanker water disappearing in the dry well. Technically ,we call it 're-charging' of aquifers(zoreh in Konkani).This is exactly what happens with the first rains(mirg) and the end rains (todvo paus).The period in between(month of July) is where the water is wasted... and it accounts for a major part of thase 250cm downpour in Goa. RWH system that you described would work well in early June and August onwards.The watershed system is more efficient and cost effective. We do not need to breed frogs.They are quite capable of doing the job. All we need to do is to stop killing/eating them. One night's work by the Forest Dept. to catch the frog catchers under the Wildlife Protection Act and imposition of the Rs.2000/- fine on each one would make frog catching uneconomical.Our fellow-goenkar and Chief Wildlife Warden,Richard de Souza,IFS,would not do as much. And we blame'outsiders' for our miseries. Regards, Miguel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gabe Menezes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ! > Okay I accept Minguel's superior knowledge in RWH. What comments I make are > what I have read elsewhere. I would think though that if we are to build > increased ponds check-dams etc. then there will be a lot of water around > which in turn will encourage mosquitoes. This is already becoming a serious > problem as the catching of frogs has removed the main predator of the mosquitoes and their larvae. Or do we start breeding frogs and then release them to the ponds ? I guess all these things will have to > be taken into consideration. > > We use our well to supplement the PWD water but one year it ran dry and the > neighbour, a mining engineer brought two tankers full of water and this was > emptied into the well. The well rose to the top, I thought wow! The next day > the water disappeared down the underground stream. ! So I guess that it > would still make a little sense to drain the water down the well during the > last days of the rain when the well water goes down, every little bit will > help. > > Perhaps too the Govt. could make it compulsory for new hotels to build large > underground water caverns to hold water harvested from the roof top during > the rainy season. > > Cheers > > Gabe Menezes > > > > > > > However, the point made about percolation over a period of time is > > absolutely correct.In Goa ,we should concerntrate on encouraging the > > percolation of water into the soil using watershed technology i.e. > > construction of Check-dams,gully plugs, bench terraces,mer bunds,sunken > > ponds,tillage at the end of monsoons,as well as planting of trees,shrubs > and > > grasses,The World Bank recommends the Govt. of India scheme of NWDPRA( > > National Watershed Development Programme for Rainfed Areas).It is being > > implemented in Goa by the Directorate of Agriculture in association with > the > > Water Resources Department(erstwhile Irrigation Dept.) and support of the > > Forest Dept.,Dept.of Science,Technology and environment and NGOs like Tata > > Energy Research Institute (TERI),Nirmal Vishwa,Goa Krishak Sangh and Goa > > Watershed Development Society.We need to support this watershed > initiative. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.491 / Virus Database: 290 - Release Date: 6/18/2003 ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
