TC Web Desk
The Art of Living is celebrating World Water Day today, by highlighting the Art of Living JalTara – one of its Water Conservation Initiatives.
A statement said that JalTara is a water conservation project in India that aims to replenish the groundwater level in villages nationwide. It relies on creating recharge structures on farming land and filling them with rocks and pebbles to facilitate rainwater seepage underground.
“Farmers today need help with irrigation and rely heavily on rainwater. This project solves their problem by recharging the groundwater so that the wells are revived, and the lack of water doesn’t come in the way of farming. Also, the recharge structures ensure that water logging is reduced and crop spoilage is decreased during heavy rain,” the statement said.
So far, JalTara has been implemented in over 50 villages and impacted around 75,000 acres of land, with 40,000 trees planted and over 20,000 recharge structures built. Apart from the project’s sustainability, one can also see its positive impact in the numbers, which show that the initiative has effectively approached its goals.
The statement further said that to diminish the severity of the situation, The Art of Living community, has come up with a solution to revive the lost rivers and other water bodies such as ponds, wells, canals and temple tanks in various regions of India.
Started in 2013, the Water Conservation Initiatives aim to provide a long-term and lasting solution and are reviving 70 rivers and streams across five states in India. More than 6,56,000 trees have been planted along the river basins, with more than 19,400 villages benefiting. The project has influenced an area of over 59,000 sq. km. It has been working positively for the villages that it has covered thus far.
The statement said, JalTara has succeeded in the areas it has been implemented thus far and The Art of Living aims to expand this project to 100,000 villages in five years. The project works under the scope of building 50 million recharge structures and recharging 15 trillion litres of water per year across India, ensuring it helps counter the water crisis in India.
The Art of Living has put forward a three-pronged approach for its river projects: Community-driven: Empower local communities through capacity-building frameworks. Comprehensive: Provide local solutions scientifically that mimic natural systems for restoring water. Sustainable: Solve the immediate need to give people access to safe water and also create systems that ensure reliable supplies in the future
All the steps that have taken the project forward have met the three-pronged criteria and adopted a structured planning process, leading to its success, the statement said.
The Art of Living, a non-profit, educational and humanitarian organization founded in 1981 by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, through its social projects, aims at reaching every corner of the nation and providing a solution to India’s acute water scarcity.
