200-Year-Old Taka To The Rescue Of Parched Gullets

Life is beginning to stir under the feet of the denizens of Ahmedabad's walled city. The old havelis located here have rediscovered centurise old underground water tanks several feet deep that were closed decades ago when the local municipality started supplying tap water.

With the increasing scarcity of water and erractic municipal water supply, citizens are now falling back on efficient water conservation systems started by their ancestors.

One of the first people to rediscover a `taka (as these tanks are called in Gujarat) in this ara was Ashutosh Bhatt of Dhobi ni Pole. Bhatt stopped using his taka some sixty years ago. While many of these takas dired up due to non utilisation, Bhatt is one of the fortunate ones whose 200 year old taka still holds some 35,000 gallons of water.

 

The concept of a taka is simple. A long pipe leading from the rooftop of the haveli gathers rainwater that collects there and channels it into an underground tank that runs deep in to the groud. The tanks (that look more like small wells) have a coat of limestone on the inside that is regenerated and does not wear off. No sunlight can penetrate into the taka making it difficult for bacteria to thrive in the water. The first few rains are allowed to drain off and the channel is kept closed so the rooftops are cleaned up. With succeeding rainfalls, water keeps collecting inthe taka refilling it contineously. As water also petroolates into ground it help to recharge the water table.

The system is some 304 years old but we had forgotten its utility until recently. In a region like ours which experience drought or water scarcity every few yer, this is a good way of conserving whatever rainfall we get," Bhatt observes.

The wtare that Bhatt discovered in his taks was chacked for purity and hygeiene by the muncipalty and was found to be superior to international standards set by the World Health Organisation. For instance, while WHO consider 5 units of turbidity safer for drinking water, this one had no turbidity whatsoever.

Similarly it also had no fluoride content while WHO standards permit a fluoride content of 1.5. Bhatt is part of the Khadiya Itihas Samiti (Khadiya being the name of his locality) which has after a survey discovered 65 takas with water, in 16 people (lanes) in the area. The Samiti is actively exploring how many of these can berevived. And fast.

According to figures available with the Samiti the water level of bores in the various zones of Ahmedabad city has dropped drastically inthe last decade.

In the central zone, the water level of bores is down to 375 feet from 308 feet ten years ago in the eastern zone it is down 380 feet from 300 feet and in the western zone its down to 350 feet from 272 feet. If figures are compared every five years for the past forty years, the sharpest decline in the east and west zones has been in the last five years, where the level has dropped 64 and 54 feet, respectively.