India: Not only depletion, sparse data on Himalayan springs is also a big concern
By Athar Parvaiz
Residents of the Himalayan Region have traditionally depended on springs and small mountain streams for their water needs as the big rivers, which flow way deep down the slopes, are not of much use to the people living on mountains. But over the past several decades, many of these springs are rapidly drying up, while many have already suffered degradation.
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“Today our lack of knowledge about springs is akin to our lack of knowledge on glaciers a decade ago. We know a lot about Himalayan glaciers which was not the case in 2007-08, but we know almost nothing about springs,” [said Aditi Mukherji, who has contributed to the 6th Assessment report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change].
This, she said, is an area which needs much research as it is crucial for water security in future. Mukherji further said that springs in Himalayan forests are depleting because of a variety of reasons.
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This had compelled the government to think of a scheme (about a decade ago) to revive the drying springs and lakes by artificially recharging them. The brain behind devising this innovative scheme was Sandeep Thambe, an Indian Forest Service officer with a mechanical engineering background, who has also carried out extensive research on water and environmental issues in Sikkim.
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According to Thambe, the core thrust of Dhara Vikas [the spring development programme] is to catch the surface runoff water and use it to recharge groundwater sources, after identifying the specific recharge areas of springs through scientific methods like digging staggered contour trenches and percolation pits.
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