CHENNAI, May 7: India for centuries had answers for its problems. For even a similar problem like drinking water, the country had diverse solutions suitable to different regions. From the deserts of Rajasthan to the dry lands of Tamil Nadu, communitites had their own systems of rain water harvesting and sharing. But with the British rule and even after that, traditional systems were given little consideration and drinking and irrigation water problem is heading to a crisis all over the country. ``This water problems cannot be solved by politician friendly major dams, nationalisation of water resources or through bureaucratic control over distribution of drinking and irrigation water'', according to environmentalist Anil Agarwal.

Speaking to reporters after releasing the fourth citizens report on the environment published by the centre titled: `Dying Wisdom', dealing with the rise, fall and potential of India's traditional water harvesting systems , he said although he was not against building major dams, that by itself was not the answer to providing drinking and irrigation water.

The answer, the book argues, ``is in the revival of local water harvesting systems inpractice for centuries. It looks into the 15 ecological zones, each with its local system, of the country.

The book was released by former Vice-chancellor of Anna University VC Kulaidaisamy and Chairman of the Tamil Nadu high power committee on wasteland development and Water Sources, at the M S Swamination Research Foundation.

This 400-page report says that the only way to tackle the country's deepening water crisis is to give communities the right to manage the water resources using their traditional systems of harvesting.

``The Indian communities have down the ages developed a wide array of techniques to harvest rain water. They require small amounts of money and can be built within months instead of years like the large dams'', the report says.

In terms of storage capacity, their potential is enormous. If five per cent of India's land area, about 15 million hectares, was used to store water at an average depth of five metres, the country would be able to get 37.5 million to 75 million hectare metres of water depending on the rain water collection efficiency ranging from 50 to 100 per cent, says the report.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.