Mothers of Kuttanad whose lives are drowning in water
Mothers in Kuttanad are burdened with the added burden of finding clean water while living with rising water levels
“Many years ago, I was just entering the field of research. While I was traveling through Kainakari in Kuttanad, I saw a mother bathing her baby on a rail in the yard of a small house. After a while, I noticed that the mother was pouring the water from the rail that she was bathing the baby into a pitcher again. I asked them. The answer they gave me was that they kept the water away from the streams, and the helplessness of not even having water for a baby was reflected in those words It was only when I saw the mothers of Kuttanad who were saving for use that I became aware of the depth and breadth of the water-related problems of the people of Kuttanad. “It is a complex, multi-layered problem beyond the single line of no drinking water in Kuttanad,” said Gibin Thomas, Coordinator, Kuttanad Centre, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation.
While traveling through different areas of Kuttanad with Gibin Thomas, he saw some sad scenes. Mothers waiting for the mineral water bottles brought for sale in local boats, those who collect water from far away in jugs, and many women who live in the midst of water, struggle for drinking water. Like other typical villages in Kerala, in Kuttanad most of the households are men who go outside to work. Therefore, women are responsible for cooking, cleaning the house and raising children. Naturally fetching water for household purposes becomes the sole responsibility of women. They bring 20-30 liters of water in jugs and cans. Accidents often occur while traveling with water along the narrow and unsecured ridges. There are people who suffer from serious health problems due to having to carry this weight every day.
Meena, a native of Ramankari, says that we do not even have enough clean water to quench our thirst whether it is monsoon or summer. Women who make a living by doing housework, sewing and other cottage industry jobs have to spend a lot of time every day to collect water. It also causes huge losses to the families financially. As women have to shoulder the additional burden of bringing drinking water to their homes, it also affects their quality of life. By the time the men return home after work in the evening, it is the women’s responsibility to ensure that the water for that day has somehow reached their homes. It works like an unwritten rule in families. Even others in the house do not know how much sacrifices and hardships the mothers of the houses go through to bring clean water to the entire family of five or six people.
Kuttanad, where drinking water is scarce
Kuttanad turned into a severe drinking water shortage when all the important canals that the people of Kuttanad depended on for drinking water and other purposes were polluted. Today, the water bodies of Kuttanad are in a very poor condition due to the water coming from the wells and the sewage. Pesticides used in farms, waste from Alappuzha and Kottayam Medical Colleges, waste from Kottayam, Cherthala, Changanassery, Tiruvalla, Alappuzha Municipalities and thousands of houseboat wastes have literally turned Vembanad backwater into a garbage dump.
Apart from drinking and cooking, most of the people depend on lake water for their day-to-day activities. It causes various diseases. According to a study conducted by the Center for Water Resources Development and Management, 80 percent of people in Kuttanad use contaminated water for their daily needs.
Kuttanad has always been a victim of unscientific development activities. The problems of climate change and human interference have all led to the destruction of the dams. It is time for the government to take everyone into confidence and implement special schemes for the survival of Kuttanad’, says KG Padmakumar, Director, International Research and Training Center for Below Sea Level Farming.
Climate refugees in Kuttanad
Floods, heavy rains, salinity and severe drinking water problems are a regular experience for Kuttanats living in 62 village panchayats of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts. Many families are leaving Kuttanad and fleeing to other places, unable to cope with the recurring floods. Still the poor families have to remain there suffering due to their helplessness.
At Kuttamangalam in Kainkari, several houses can be seen submerged and damaged. Many houses are abandoned. Many families in Kuttamangalam and nearby areas, one of the worst flood-hit areas in Kuttanad, have abandoned their homes and fled to safer places in the last two years. Mostly people from Kainkari, Ramankari and Pulingun areas sell everything they have and flee to places like Cherthala, Muhamma, Alappuzha and Changanassery.
‘No one knows exactly how many people have been forced to move from Kuttanad every year since 2018, but more than 15% of Kuttanads have already fled elsewhere,’ said KG Padmakumar, director of the International Research and Training Center for Below Sea Level Farming. The amicable relationship between nature and humans has been completely lost in Kuttanad. It is not surprising that people are leaving as a normal life is impossible in most areas. If you go to the inner parts of Kuttanad, you will find many vacant houses,’ he says.
The locals say that after 2018, land in Kuttanad became worthless. “During the 2018 floods, all our land was submerged and the land here became worthless. We can’t get anyone to buy our land which is often flooded. If we think that we can sell our place and go somewhere else, that is also not possible, our destiny is to go to hell lying in this water, but without drinking water,’ says Vijayamma, a native of Ramangari.
“My family and I decided to leave Kuttanad after the 2018 floods. We have been facing many floods for the last ten years. But things got so bad after the 2018 floods. Kuttanad is under water for most of the days in a year. How can we live peacefully there,’ says Santosh, who has moved to Cherthala from Kainakari.
Interventions by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation
The Kuttanad drinking water project started in 1973 has not yet been completed and the traditional water storage systems have collapsed in a big way. The MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) has come up with the idea of what innovative way water storage can be done in the context of the people of this region suffering from lack of clean water.
MSSRF projects are planned to focus on areas where drinking water supply through pipe networks, tankers and country boats is not possible. Plans were made to harvest rainwater to meet their needs in common households. With support from the Department of Science and Technology, US-based Rainwater for Humanity and CSR funding from organizations like HDFC Bank, MSSRF has been installing rainwater harvesting in various parts of Kuttanad since 2012. MSSRF has installed around 150 rainwater tanks with a carrying capacity between 10,000 liters and 50,000 liters.
We have managed to solve the acute drinking water problem of around 970 houses in Kuttanad. Earlier, there was a situation where each family was charged more than Rs. As a solution to such situations, the idea of water reservoir comes into being. Its biggest advantage is that once you invest, you don’t have to pay any more money.
We look for problem solving possibilities by integrating Kuttanad’s own traditional knowledge. Each place has its own set of problems. For example, in the case of people living on the banks of streams, they have easy access to everything except drinking water. They can use the water from the streams for bathing, washing clothes and washing dishes. At the same time, those who live in the middle of the paddy fields and the like have to travel kilometers to get water for all their needs. It also creates huge health problems in women. In such places water has to be brought from outside for all purposes. Thus MSSRF projects have been implemented considering the unique circ*mstances of each place,’ explained Jibin Thomas, Coordinator, Kuttanad Center of MS Swaminathan Research Foundation.
“Rainwater harvesting is the most sustainable and cost-effective solution to water scarcity in Kuttanad. The real beneficiaries of MSSRF rainwater tanks are those who live in bunds and islands (in the middle of paddy fields) and who struggle a lot for drinking water. It is always the poor who are landless and live in bunds who suffer the most from drinking water shortages. For those who were not, they could install various facilities including reverse osmosis plants and purifiers in their homes. Although the rich and landowning sections of Kuttanad survived the drinking water problem, it was the poorest common labor families who suffered in every way. We implemented the plans by finding them,” says Jibin Thomas.
Mercy, a native of Pulingomb, says that with the installation of the rainwater tank, the drinking water problems of four households, including herself, have been solved to a large extent. “In a normal summer we used to spend a lot of money on drinking water in a month. But after the rainwater harvesting, we are able to save a good amount of money every month. It has improved our quality of life,’ says Mercy.
With the installation of the rainwater tank, the drinking water problem of more than 10 families in this area has been solved. I am 83 years old. Can’t go fetch water. A family consisting of son and daughter-in-law resides in this house. Daughter-in-law Jolie is 53 years old. We had to buy mineral water as we could not bring water in a jug after walking for kilometers. It was then that the rainwater tank was installed here. That gave us great relief,’ said Thankamma, a native of Venatukad.
