Environment: Regional Wisdom and Ways

Water Conservation

It only rains 10-50 centimeters a year in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan in northwestern India. Here, the people use of an ancient structure that allows them up store more than 100,000 liters each season. These clever reservoir systems are called kunds. They are saucer-shaped areas built near houses and courtyards that tilt toward an underwater catchment. When it rains, all the water washes down the sides of the saucer toward the center as if it were a drain. The 15-meter deep underground chamber at the center keeps the water safe from evaporation and contaminants.

For centuries, Rajasthanis have used traditions materials to keep water from seeping into the soil beds that make up kunds. After clearing the surface of vegetation, they spread silt and charcoal to seal the surface. And during the rainy season, rules are instituted that prohibit cattle from grazing or anyone from wearing shoes at the kund. These rules have been instituted to keep the water clean. Rajasthanis have long understood that water is precious, and each drop matters.

Natural Cooling

Many people in developing countries are starting to buy air-conditioner units. In 1990 China, for example, used less that 345,000 units. That number has risen to 30 million. The problem with AC is that it’s very inefficient and uses a lot of energy. In the United States, it soaks up 16 percent of the average household’s utility bill. Iran’s medieval desert cities have found natural methods of cooling their homes and public buildings that use no energy at all. They’re called windcatchers, or in Farsi, a malqaf.

Here’s how they work: vented towers at the side of a building face the wind and channel air down into the living area. A second vented tower downwind passes the flow of air out of the building creating a breeze. A second type of malqaf combines a tower with qanat, an underground tunnel that channels water into the building. The air flows into the tunnel where the water cools it before it flows into the living area and out the building. These are just two of many systems that use what’s called passive air conditioning. In the future we’ll need methods like these to keep cool without expending energy.

Irrigation

Along India’s border with Bangladesh the people of Meghalaya use a 200-year-old irrigation system that directs water to their pepper plantations. The system is a low-tech answer to the wasteful industrial farms that use inefficient sprinklers and furrows.

Using a set of bamboo pipes of multiple sizes the farmers direct water from natural streams downhill directly to the plants. The pipes are connected in a zigzag shape so that as the water runs through them it delivers a small but constant amount of water to each plant. It’s an old-world technology that Western farmers have rediscovered in the last 30 years called drip irrigation. Instead of bamboo pipes, modern farmers run hoses pierced with tiny holes on the ground between their crops. The hoses continually drip water right where plants need it most—at their roots. The method keeps plants healthy and conserves water.

Terraced Farming

Seen all over the world, from the Himalayas to South America, this agricultural practice has allowed cultures to harvest crops in places where farming might ordinarily seem impossible—on the sides of steep hills and mountains. It’s called terracing, and it’s a technique that has been used since Roman times. Farmers build a series of steps on the side of slopes using stonewalls or sod, and plant on the flat of each step. Aside from allowing crops to grow in difficult terrain, terracing is extremely water efficient. Each terrace step acts like its own reservoir. Without it, rainwater would run down the side of the hill carrying precious nutrient rich soil with it.

All across south-east Asia rice farmers use to terraces for their paddies. In China, the Longji or Dragon’s Backbone has terraces dating back 500 years to the Ming Dynasty. But some of the most impressive terraces can be found in the Andes. The ancient Incas built enormous stone terraces to plant corn and potato at Choquequirao, near Cusco. The site has 180 steps that reach 3,085 meters into the sky!

Three Sisters

Fertilizer and pesticides are the greatest pollutants from large-scale farms. The nitrogen and phosphates that are used to provide nutrients for plants and the poisons that are used to kill weeds and insects are often washed into nearby streams, rivers, and groundwater. They not only destroy ecosystems but they can contaminate the water we drink. There are healthier alternatives to grow crops while at the same time combating pests.

The Native Americans use an age-old method. They grow three different crops beside each other to benefit the whole group—beans, corn and squash. They call the crops the ‘three sisters’. The corn stalk provides a pole for which the bean vine to climb. The squash plant, whose wide leaves hug close to the ground, prevents weeds from growing, and acts as a mulch to retain moisture. The beans, which create nitrogen, provide nutrients to both plants. The plants even act in unison nutritionally–corn and beans provide the complete proteins we usually get from meat.

In contrast to the ‘three sisters,’ modern farms grow vast fields of identical crops—called monocultures. Monocultures of corn for example erode topsoil and require large amounts of water—they’re also more susceptible to disease. Polycultures, like the three sisters, behave more like the natural environment.

Water Management and Conservation in Jordan

Development Alternatives International (DAI), a consulting firm based in Washington D.C., together with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have created the project: Instituting Water Demand Management in Jordan (IDARA). This project focuses on helping public and private institutions in implementing practices for water saving and management in Jordan. One notable pilot project run through the IDARA project involved installing water saving devices, in selected Jordanian households, on shower heads and bathroom and kitchen faucets to help encourage best practices to conserve water.

Another project run through the IDARA project focuses on standardizing plumbing codes, regulations and trainings. The new rules and regulations are being implement to assist in using the least amount of water possible for new buildings and construction projects. It is hoped that these new codes and rules will help Jordan utilize water more efficiently and conserve its water supply.