A walk through Gunjung village in the North Cachar Hills in Assam, northeastern India shows little visible water. The children are waiting for the rains. They are tired of the dust and want to have the ease of access to drinking, washing, and playing in abundance of water again - the sheer glory of the first strong rains will be a rainbow come true.

For now it is dusty, the streams are dry, wells are shallow at best, tanks are down to a murky level and many pumps don't produce. For the last couple of years, the students of Good Shepherd High School under Fr. Nileshkumar Parmar have been making daily rainfall records trying to understand what is happening to the weather.

Today in classes we discussed the different ways of getting water. There are the clear flows that come out of a rock outcrop along by the road tapped with a bamboo for drinking. There are the streams and these are only found further down the valley. There are a few shaded wells and pumps; these are cool places as long as there is some water. Today, the children say that with so many people, these areas are drying up faster and often long before the rains return.

These are areas where we take water, but where do we try to contribute to water availability in the village? We looked at a number of proactive schemes in the community. Many people are now harvesting rain from the roofs and storing it in tanks to use at this time. The students see this done with all the school buildings. The tanks have to be kept very clean. Some people have made ponds and where these are shaded and animals don't have access, they are much better. Many would use such water and boil it for drinking. Drinking water is scarce and in many other villages, people have to walk downhill an hour to get it, and it is always the women.

Hill slopes with forest cover or at least permanent vegetation, retain water and release it in the shallow dips and ravines. This is piped and brought to a distribution point. As many tanks are abandoned or empty, the youth find it difficult to see how they could "produce" water in a viable way. Most areas we looked at are under jhum (slash and burn) and are cleared and burned every few years. Vegetation cover is one of the more important ways of maintaining water in the uplands, but human nature says "now" and individuals take what they need or want, with little ability to relate to the future, the future of these children. So how do we help this generation change?

These children, and some already are youth, are the way forward. In their lifetime, jhum has intensified and it is hard for them to understand how to keep the folds of the landscape covered with vegetation and forest so that water can gather and run clean. It takes time and effort and constancy to let the vegetation grow back and enhance it with planting of further trees from the forest until there is shade. The vegetation allows for easy infiltration of water to filter down, rather than run over the surface, and reach the water table, to emerge later to the surface as clear running water. Soil is not lost and the water can be collected. Check dams can be built to help further water infiltration or actually impound water. This can be piped to a tank and community can conserve the use of the water. Slowly the youth can envision this but it takes a community effort to achieve it.

As Sister Valsina says, there are many water system schemes in the area started by the government that she sees when she goes around on her health run. Of the 12 she knows, only two are operating today. She laments that even if the government gives tanks and pipes the community does not always manage the catchment areas and then someone takes or sells the pipes and the system is a wreck. How do we help children and youth learn new ways? How do we conserve water when we have it? How do we re-use water for a vegetable garden? These are the skills by which the youth will live a better life and be more secure. Having a healthier life and adapting to the rainfall all help in adapting to the longer term climate change.

Thinking of school projects, children and youth might map out their village waters sources according to the different types they see. Then they could identify where they could see possible improvements and by what methods. In the course of a year, they might adopt one area for improvements with community recognition and engagement can grow up, keeping this site functioning. Even if these youth get government jobs they will have to take up these responsibilities of caring for their village life. Education that empowers the youth to improve the lot of all is most valuable.

By Pedro Walpole, S.J.

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