Water management

On 6th January, 2012, Michael Bonke, along with Toine van Megen and Harald Kraft, made a presentation to the Auroville community about Auroville’s future energy and drinking water needs [published in AVToday # 271, February 2012].

Try to imagine a life without water. Just think of your morning routine: you drink water from your filter or tap, you flush your toilet, take a shower and brush your teeth.

April 2024. Trucks are driving up and down, day and night, to transport earth dug up from the second section temporary hillock opposite the Town Hall.

Recently, as there was widespread concern about what was happening with the Matrimandir lake excavation, a task force was created at a General Meeting to prepare a design brief that would frame the aesthetic, environmental, functional and technical parameters to undertake the preparation of an alternative concept design.

Issued by two members of the International Advisory Council and supported by eight International personalities

“Enhance Auroville food production to meet the needs of Auroville...” – View point of the Governing Board as recorded in the minutes of the 57th meeting.

Aurosugan was born in Auroville. After completing an MBA in hospital administration, he worked at the Aravind Eye Hospital for many years. Recently he returned to Auroville and set up a primary eye centre here with ambitious plans to eliminate blindness in Auroville and the bioregion.

Induja, a young Auroville architect, talks about how she came to Auroville, the work which inspires her and her hopes for the future.

In our July issue, we reported on recent developments on the site of the Matrimandir lake. These included the excavation of section two of the lake, which will be 250 metres long, more than twice the length of the existing test lake.

The FO L’avenir d’Auroville / ATDC announced that the preparation of the development of Auroville-City, planning and development of roads, sectors and facilities has implications for the borewells also.

The FO-ATDC announced that it will no longer approve new and replacement borewells in the Auroville City area. Exceptions will be made only if no other water supply possibilities are available.

Arun Kumar (age 24) and V. Vignesh (age 22) are both Kottakarai village youth who grew up in and around Auroville. Here they share some of their experiences and perceptions of Auroville the community, the project and the Dream.

While preparatory work for the expansion of the Matrimandir Lake has started, two new experiments involving the Lake are underway. One is pumped hydro; the other, underwater water storage.

Between 2nd February – 22nd March a festival focussed on stewardship for water and biodiversity is taking place as a call to action in the bioregion.

On April 28th, 2022, the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chennai, comprising judicial member Justice K. Ramakrishnan and expert member K.

Water has always been at the centre of Auroville’s story. The land sits on the ridge of the only plateau in the 740 sq. km. Kaliveli watershed area.

The Citizens’ Assembly pilot project (see Auroville Today no. 365, Dec 2019) has concluded. Over the past three months, around thirty randomly selected participants have listened to presentations on various aspects of water, then agreed on a water vision for Auroville and ways in which it could be implemented.

Bliss forest is a city park that is densely planted to be a forest. Aurovilians from South Korea may be familiar with a similar concept in the city of Seoul.

As Auroville battles encroachment, nearby deforestation, water depletion and chemical farming, the green skills developed by the pioneers who brought the barren plateau back to life become ever more important.

Sunday, 8th March, was the first day of the Citizens’ Assembly pilot project. 24 randomly selected participants of very different ages (the youngest is 18, the oldest 83) and from very different backgrounds and cultures met to get to know each other and listen to various presentations on water.

Is Auroville prepared for an uncertain future? In 1968, Auroville was a desertified plateau. Since then, the landscape has been greened by millions of trees and fauna and flora have exploded.

Human activity, especially over the last 300 years, has caused a measurable increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, disrupting the climatic conditions of the Holocene epoch that has shaped every aspect of human civilisation.

Auroville’s history is very much interwoven with the story of water accessibility. When the Mother launched Auroville on this desertified plateau, it was out of necessity that tree planting, contour bunding and check dams were started, so that life could prosper and sustain the growing needs of the population.

The A4A team reports on the results of supporters’ solidarity.

From the pioneer days of Auroville's children traveling to school on horseback, Aurovilians have had a long affinity with ponies and horses.

“Dear Community, this is to inform you of the water scarcity that Auroville is facing. And though there is still water flowing from our taps, it is important to know that many of our supply wells are showing depleted levels, some are already dry.

Some of the organizers and participants reflect upon the recent workshop. Friederike, a member of AVI Germany, was instrumental in bringing the visiting experts while Auroville International helped fund the event.

For six days in early January there was a collaborative planning workshop or charrette involving over 60 Aurovilians and visiting experts. The stated aim of Auroville - A Way Forward was to “bring the purpose of Auroville into our life, built environment and organization’.

An important meeting in terms of planning for the larger bioregion took place on 11th September in Pondicherry. Hosted by Citizen’s Action Network, PondyCAN and the Puducherry Planning Authority, with participation of civil society from all the sub-regions, the consultation meeting was also addressed by Lt.

The Meditation and Water Ceremony

The Humanscapes project is designed to accommodate Aurovilians and interns between the ages of 20 - 40 years. The first phase, which is approaching completion, will provide 36 beds in apartments varying from studio size to shared groupings and larger family apartments.

In the months of July and August, Auroville benefitted from unexpected rains. In July 153 mm fell, against an average of 73.1= for the last 39 years.

Tamil Nadu and many other parts of India are currently facing an unprecedented drought. This message was formally delivered by the Chief Minister on January 10th, 2017, declaring Tamil Nadu a drought-hit state.

Even though Auroville farms largely use sprinklers and drip irrigation to reduce wastage of water, it goes without saying that our agricultural sector consumes the maximum amount of water.

The All for Water for All (AFWFA) festival concluded recently on 22 March at Bharat Nivas, after seven weeks of knowledge sharing and learning.

The Joy of Learning is an experiment in collective learning which addresses a wide range of themes associated with life in Auroville. It tries to (re)familiarise the residents with important issues in a stimulating and respectful learning environment, and is supported with funding from Stichting de Zaaier.

Tom worked for many years in Auroville Water Service and later set up Harvest, an Auroville data collection and water management organization that did much work in the bioregion.

Toby, former director of a public water company supplying water to a province of the Netherlands, is executive ofthe Auroville Water Service.

The bioregion was defined as Pondicherry, Auroville, and the surrounding districts of Villupuram and Cuddalore (PAVC), an area of 2500 sq. kilometres that constitutes a distinct ecological bioregion along the Coromandel Coast.

Alan Rusbridger, the retiring editor of The Guardian newspaper, recently wrote an article on climate change. One of the things he noted was that newspapers don’t always cover the most important topics because “they may be occurring too slowly or invisibly for the impatient tick-tock of the newsroom”.

Michael Bonke is a long-time friend of Auroville who has been instrumental in initiating and funding major projects in the community. One of the aims of Varuna, a company he set up and runs with a team of Aurovilians, is “to build and operate a small desalination plant which can supply water to Auroville, for the future Matrimandir Lake and the nearby villages”.

Auroville Today met with four local farmers who irrigate their land in the area of Kuilapalayam. Arivasu’s main crop is cashew, but he irrigates coconut trees.