EES 360 Blog: Water Issues in India

            India experiences a wide range of water issues, each of which are unique to the region and communities being studied.  Estuaries and wetlands in India are highly impacted by human activity.  In an estuary constant mixing of fresh and marine water occurs; therefore plants and animals that live in these waters have adapted to a euryhaline environment, where salt is present in up to 35 parts per million concentrations.  Wetlands include any inland water body where water is spread over a large area.  In India, estuaries and wetlands exist as a valuable resource to communities, and are used as such, but such water sources are also abused and polluted by the people living around them.  

            Estuaries and wetlands can be a good source of food and potable water.  The main use of this land is for agriculture resulting in the common placement of paddy fields close to these water bodies if the species of rice has adapted to that environment.  However, for all their usefulness, these water bodies also can become dumping grounds for local people.  When solid waste is dumped into estuaries or wetlands, the waste accumulates and depth of the water decreases and the area of the wetlands shrinks until the region becomes like solid land.  Eventually buildings are constructed on these former water bodies, which attracts migrant workers who continue to contribute to the trash dumped in the water, further reducing the area covered by the water body.  The proximity to water becomes an attraction to settlers, but is detrimental to the water body because there are more people present to dump waste into the water. 

            Biologically, the pollution of water bodies has an adverse effect on the plant and animal life in the ecosystem. The banks of estuaries, wetlands, and other water bodies tend to attract various industrial companies because many industrial processes require copious amounts of water.  The proximity of a water body also provides a convenient place to dispose of industrial waste.  Thermal effluents from a power station can reach a temperature of 48 to 50°C.  Such temperatures can kill even the plankton in the water, preventing primary productivity.  A reduction in primary productivity can affect the entire ecosystem because other species depend on the plankton.  Finally industrial pollution of water bodies can result in health-related issues such as skin and gynecological problems for people who consume contaminated water.

            The effluents released by these industries contain toxic materials and heavy metals which can accumulate within aquatic plants and animals.  Biomagnification of these toxins can occur as smaller organisms that consume the toxins are eaten by larger organisms, which accumulate higher levels of the toxic material.  The loss of plants and animals due to pollution can be mitigated through the introduction of metallophilic plants, which accumulate and store heavy metals through a process called bioremediation

            The presence of elemental contaminants also reduces the quality of drinking water for humans.  In India, arsenic and fluoride are the major elements that pollute potable water.  These usually come from a geogenic source and are not the result of human actions.  Arsenic is a major issue in northeast India and results in skin, cardiovascular, circulatory, and respiratory illnesses, in addition to kidney and liver disease.  The presence of fluoride in water results in human health issues like dental and skeletal fluorosis.   Arsenic and fluoride can both be removed using proper filters, but the removal of these elements can be difficult owing to issues involved with disposal of the used filters and unwillingness of the people to use the filters.

            Other contaminants include iron, which has both natural and anthropogenic sources, and nitrate, which comes from fertilizer use. With the increased use of agrochemicals and fertilizers, nitrate contamination of shallow aquifers has increased.  The Cauvery river basin of South India is known as the “rice bowl” of India and this area suffers from a lot of nitrate contamination.  Increased presence of nitrates in the drinking water can result in serious health problems.

            Although India protects water bodies through the Pollution Control Board (PCB), there is no management or political will to enforce such regulations.  Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also contribute to efforts to regulate pollution of water bodies.  However, without help from the government and support from the community, these organizations are only most effective at spreading awareness, and less effective at truly ending pollution.  In order to effect real change in Indian communities’ treatment of water bodies, the government will need to ensure that implementation of policy is carried out to the fullest extent.  This will require that the government involve the people in the formulation and execution of policy.

EES 360 Blog: Sustainability at Auroville

           Auroville is an experimental city founded in February of 1968 by Mirra Alfassa, known in Auroville as the “Mother.”  Alfassa was the spiritual partner of Sri Aurobindo who was heavily involved in the Indian nationalist movement and struggle for freedom.   Based on Aurobindo’s and her own spiritual beliefs, the Mother desired to establish Auroville in order to create a community dedicated to human unity.   She envisioned Auroville as a self-sufficient community where work was seen as a service and not as a means of livelihood.  Today Auroville is an alternative community run by Aurovillians, but the city has been overseen by the Indian government since it took over the project in 1980.  One of Auroville’s achievements is its emphasis on sustainability and being environmentally conscience.  These areas of focus are observed through the projects going on at the Earth Institute and Upasana.

The Auroville Earth Institute was founded in 1989 and emphasizes the research and development of earth-based technology as well as the promotion of the use of raw earth as a building material.  The research at the Earth Institute focuses on the use of local raw earth found at the building site as the building material, with minimal use of steel and cement in order to provide a technology that is sustainable and environmentally friendly.   Additionally research at the Earth Institute has resulted in the development of hollow interlocking compressed stabilized earth blocks that can be used to build disaster resistant housing. 

The aim of the Earth Institute is to promote raw earth as a building material that can be used in conjunction with other renewable energies and sustainable technologies to encourage environmentally friendly development.   The production of compressed earth bricks consumes about four times less energy and is four times less polluting than fired bricks; therefore the earth based technology promoted by the Earth Institute is energy and cost effective. 

Another objective of the Earth Institute is to educate people on how to build with material from the earth.  The training courses offered here have spread the use of earth as a building material to numerous people from all over the world.  Since these courses began in 1990, 6,908 people from 69 countries have undergone training.  The institute offers theoretical and practical courses in making the bricks and using them in construction projects. 

These blocks are made from local soil containing either 5% cement or lime to provide stabilization and are not fired.  Cement is used to stabilize sandy soil, while lime is used to stabilize clayey soils, although the use of lime lengthens the amount of time necessary to allow the block to harden.  The stabilized earth is slightly moistened and then compressed using a steel press.  Various shapes and sizes of bricks can be produced.  The brick press used to create these blocks was designed and produced in Auroville and is now sold all over the world.  The press uses 15 tons of pressure to make the blocks, which are given a three day initial covered curing and then spend one month drying uncovered in the sun.  The blocks are water resistant and various types of blocks can be made including interlocking earthquake resistant bricks and ferrocement - bricks reinforced with steel mesh and rebar. 

The use of compressed earth bricks is environmentally friendly in several ways.  The use of local material and production of such bricks on site will reduce production and transportation costs because there is no need to import materials over long distances, which leads to a higher cost of building.  Additionally the material is biodegradable.  Cement is the only additive to the soil and this is broken down by the biochemicals of the topsoil within ten to twenty years.  The production of these bricks also avoids the use of firewood, thus slowing the rate of deforestation.  Finally the sustainable nature of these bricks is contingent upon the good management of resources at the building site and effective monitoring of the brick-making process.

            Upasana is a design studio and social business located in Auroville that represents another aspect of Auroville’s commitment to sustainability.  Upasana began in the 1990s because the founders felt the need to give back to the community in South India.  Upasana conducts several projects designed to promote social responsibility or to provide livelihood to the underprivileged, while also preserving an aspect of Indian culture.  A few of Upasana’s projects also address the need to promote sustainable practices.  The Tsunamika project provides trauma counseling to victims of the 2004 tsunami by having women make tsunamika dolls.  These dolls are made using materials from industrial waste and provide livelihood to the women who make them.  In the Small Steps project, village women construct fabric bags with the goal of making people more conscious of their usage of plastic bags.  This project coincides with the Tamil Nadu government’s initiative to reduce plastic bag usage by charging extra money for them.  

Diwali, Trichy, and Tanjore

Last Wednesday was Diwali, the festival of lights, which is kind of like New Years, Christmas, and Thanksgiving combined.  The fireworks started early in the morning - I heard them at around 5 AM - and continued throughout the day.  Everyone in the group dressed up in traditional Indian dress and we went to Suresh's house for the day.  We set off a lot of fireworks, played with baby kittens, and ate a lot of food off of banana leaves.  We had dinner at MCC with the students from Davidson University who are also in Chennai studying.  They weren't nearly as cool as we are.  But I guess it was interesting to talk to them.

On Thursday we left for another long weekend trip to Trichy and Tanjore.  We saw the Rock Fort Temple before heading to the hotel and swimming.  On Friday we saw the Sri Rangam temple, Grand Anicut dam, and Brihadisvara temple on the way to Tanjore.  At Brihadisvara, Drew and I got swarmed by a bunch of Indian men who wanted to take photos with us.  I thought we would never be done with pictures.  So basically our group, not the temple, was the biggest attraction there.  :)  Saturday we went to a limestone mine and collected fossils, but not before we got lost about 5 times on the way.  We also stopped to see a petrified tree.  On Sunday we saw the Tanjore Palace, which has a museum and several halls with bronze sculptures.  Then we headed back to MCC on Monday.

After Tuesday's lecture a group of us took the train into Chennai to go to another mall that's different than the one we visited previously.  It reminded me of a place I've been to in Hong Kong...  Once Caitlin, Tori, and I found the FabIndia we were set for a while.  We also found a store selling funny t-shirts.

Today (Wednesday) the group visited the Family Life Institute that is part of MCC.  Among the various things that it does, the center has a school and also runs self-help groups for women to help them earn a living.  We helped out around the building.  My group organized a huge number of children's books.  Some of the children showed up even though they had a day off for rain and they sang and danced for us.  We also bought some pretty jewelry from gypsy women whose children go to the school.