ABSTRACT
Heaven Lake, 1983, p. 15. Every human being on earth is a stakeholder in water resources management. And
so, for that matter, is every plant and animal, domesticated and wild – only they do not have a constituency. We need to protect other living things, not for any altruistic reasons, but in our own self-interest. We should realize that our well-being is inseparable from the well-being of the ecosystem. If frogs are dying, wewould surely be next in line. All major civilizations of the world arose on the banks of rivers (Nile Valley,
Euphrates – Tigris, Indus Valley). Egypt has been rightly called the “Gift of Nile’’. The Nile waters are so crucial
to the life of Egypt that virtually all the institutions – governments, religion, gods and goddesses, priesthood, rituals, etc. – arose from the need to measure the flood waters of the Nile. Egypt is thus a most extraordinary example of intertwining between governments and irrigation, for millennia. The earliest village of Marimda in the Nile Delta is said to be 7,000 years old. The earliest irrigation ditches were dug about 5,000 years ago (presently, there are 16,000 km of irrigation canals in the Nile Delta). Observations on the water level in the Nile started as long ago as 2000 B.C. (ancient
nilometers are preserved in Aswan). On the basis of the measurement of flood waters in the Nile, priests would figure out the size of the flood water and hence the kind of harvest that could be expected. Higher flood waters meant bigger harvests, and lower flood waters meant poor harvests. The need to measure the dimensions of land under cultivation led to the development of geometry. The physical wellbeing of man (drinking water, food, sanitation, industry, etc.) is
critically dependent upon the water availability. There is also a spiritual dimension to water in some cultures. Water had and continues to have, a central role in the rituals, worship and prayers of the Hindus (abhishekam). Ganga means water in Sanskrit. Hindus believe that all water in India – surface and underground – is ultimately connected to Ganga. So much so, even when a man is taking bath with water from the well in his backyard, he ritually invokes the connection of that water with Ganga. Hindus generally cremate the dead and ceremonially immerse the ashes in the perennial rivers. Life originated in water, and is returned to water. Sir Arthur Cotton (1803-1899) was an engineer in the employ of the East India
Company. He was stationed at Rajahmundry in the banks of the mighty Godavari river. It deeply saddened him to see people migrating to Rangoon in Burma (now called Mynmar) to do menial jobs, despite the water wealth of the region. Braving the admonitions of the East India Company, he built during 1851-55 the Dhowleswaram anicut (barrage) and canal system on Godavari. The irrigation availability profoundly improved the economy of the region. One daywhen hewas inspecting a canal on horseback, Sir Arthur found a brahmin offering obeisance to sungod (arghyam) standing in the waters of the canal. Sir Arthur was intrigued to find that the brahmin was mentioning the name of Cotton in his prayers. He went to the brahmin and asked him why he was mentioning the name of Cotton. The brahmin explained to him that he is invoking the blessings of gods on Cotton for bringing the sacred waters of the Godavari to his village, and thereby enabling him to acquire merit and spiritual happiness. Till then, Cotton was happy that what he did improved the material well-being of people. But what the brahmin told him about the spiritual happiness, deeply touched Cotton, and he had tears in his eyes.
