All For WATER For All

March 22 marked the closing of WaterFest’23, a multi-pronged and multi-partner initiative under the banner of ‘All For WATER For All’. Auroville units and resident experts joined with experts, activists, and community action groups from the larger bioregion including Pondicherry, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Marakkanam, Vanur, and Bahour in a collective effort to focus on stewardship for water and biodiversity. The seven week long festival - which was launched on World Wetlands Day and ended on World Water Day - aimed to celebrate “our deep connection with water” and to support the collaborative partnerships needed for integrated management of water resources. There were walks and talks, workshops and roundtables, performances and ceremonies, celebrations and fun, drawing in, along the way, an array of government officials and departments, and community members of all ages and all walks of life.

A ‘Neer Kudam Yatra’ (water pot procession) was flagged off by filling ceremonial pots with water from Ousteri and Kaliveli, the larger bioregion’s historically important but massively deteriorated wetlands. Over the course of the water festival, these pots passed in ceremonial relay from one village and school to the next, to symbolise the interconnectedness of water and life. As part of the yatra, WaterFest partners conducted school awareness campaigns where students learned about and pledged their commitment to protect water resources. In the immediate Auroville bioregion alone, Mohanam Village Heritage Centre and Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) brought the initiative to 23 schools. 300 women from nearby villages also participated in the same initiative at AVAG’s premises in Irumbai.

The final week of events was hosted in Auroville under the banner of the now annual ‘Water Matters’ mela. Volunteers turned up to prepare the large ground opposite Auroville Visitor’s Center next to the water recharge ponds. Colourful displays spoke to the wisdom of water retention and recharge through vegetation and forest cover, rainwater harvesting, hydroponics, waterless toilets, green detergent, and more. The ponds were turned into a swimming hole to allow people to escape the rising summer heat, and the skies obliged one day with a sudden cloudburst of 42 millimetres rainfall which raised the pond levels by a hefty ten centimetres. No planned event could have better demonstrated the value of water catchments.

Thematic talks and interactions took place at the Botanical Garden with Paul, at Revelation Forest with Island and Arun, at Solitude Farm with Krishna, at Humanscapes with Suhasini, and at Alok’s water testing lab in Alankuppam. Giulio (CSR Geomatics) spoke about the rapidly changing water situation and the weather systems impacting the region. Jonah (Eternal Divers) shared the importance of knowing and relating to our oceans through a talk and a film about what he sees while scuba diving off the local coast. Aurofilio (PondyCAN!, Pondy Beach Restoration Project, Pondy Sailing Association), Arul (Nansey Restoration), Dr. Lucas (EcoPro, Auro Annam Farm), the WasteLess team, and Rajesh (Blue Planet Run, Peer Water Exchange) conveyed their perspectives, insights, and experience at presentations in Bharat Nivas.

In a talk on the last day, Deepika from Pebble Garden offered an historical perspective on water and land stewardship in the region. She noted how the region had enjoyed great agricultural variety and abundance, as well as societal wealth, over various past eras, even without perennial water sources. Temple inscriptions and written documents predating the colonial and industrial overexploitation of natural resources indicate a deep appreciation and understanding of the need to care for the water systems supporting life in the area.

This message resonates strongly with those who are aware of the incredibly precarious state of our water at present. The importance given to the ritualised Neer Kudam Yatra over the course of this year’s WaterFest acknowledges that scientific or technological approaches and government intervention are required but inadequate to safeguard water resources. Deeply rooted community connection and action is crucial. And so in the final week, the Neer Kudams arrived at the staging ground in Auroville. Village elders and elected panchayat representatives emptied their kudams into a single large panai (vessel), and the mingled waters were later poured back into the smaller neer kudams to be later poured into the ponds of surrounding villages. The elders were joined by children, symbolically entrusting communal water resources and their well-being to the next generation. Old and young, all for water for all.