Rainwater Improves Groundwater Table

The story went all good till the showers received from the skies would seep down into the ground absorbing all that it can and the excess would sweep across the terrain satiating the thirst of all that came in its way, surrendering the overflow back to the sea. Life would thrive in the nature’s abundance in hope of the next spell of showers as distilled by the ocean. Things were much in control till the intervention of man in the affairs of nature did not extend its hands into every nook and corner. Soon the development paced up and the mankind started loathing the earthy grounds and most of the developed areas were paved with concrete. With vast patches of land plastered with concrete and tar, rainwater could not find its way back to the earth. Lost in the vastness of cemented lands, the universal solvent dissolved all the filth that would come in its way, rendering itself good enough to be classified as sewage.
The high paced development spree was too short of time to pay enough heed to a properly designed drainage system to direct rainwater back into the ground. The groundwater table suffered a double headed blow with wasteful runoff of rainwater and exponentially rising population loads leading to increasing demand of water for irrigation, domestic supplies, industries etc. for which the mankind started mining every drop from deep down the earth. This sequence of events seems destined to end up in water crisis; else a country like India with a dense network of water bodies and “Monsoon type of climate” would never be listed amongst the water stressed nations. Rainwater harvest is like an investment, if we built a rainwater collection system with a tank, we might be able to reap out the benefits from the immediate shower but directing the same to recharge a dug well or a bore well is a long time investment that once recharged will never run dry. Although a number of cities across the country have made rainwater harvesting mandatory for upcoming constructions to rescue the depleting groundwater table. But, now a days people are often seen flouting rain water harvesting rules. Prospected buyers in societies are never interested if developer has made rainwater harvesting arrangements. Most of the water harvesting arrangement in homes, societies and commercial buildings are shams just to satisfy legal requirements. All these practices thrive because we are blinded by financial benefits and convenience we receive at the expense of an approaching water crisis which too far for most of us to act upon.
But the knock of water crisis has waken some of us up from the slumber and we have pulled our socks to mend the broken link of water to ground. Directing each spell of rains back to the ground (dug well or a tube well) has an immense positive impact on your local ground water table. The stories of rainwater harvesting leading to water abundance for homes and inexpensive irrigation for farmers have started a wave of positive feedback across the society. Planetous aims at spreading the awareness of rainwater harvesting across the households, businesses and institutions to encourage the owners/ families to replenish groundwater. Our workshops, content and intent is to save every drop of the liquid of life and this can never be achieved unless all our readers join as for the cause.