By Alliance Communications Coordinator Amy Durr
The work of mitigating or even reversing the effects of the climate emergency is a marathon, not a sprint. It can be a struggle to remain hopeful. Yet, there are pioneering people who somehow overcome the fatigue and obstacles to succeed in doing inspiring, impactful work to make a huge difference in their communities. Dr Rajendra Singh is one of those global heroes.
Singh journeyed from being a city physician to serve poor rural Indian communities. It’s hard to believe one person could inspire villagers to transform their communities and give hope to people around the world. His amazing story is told in the 28-minute documentary film Reviving Rivers by Water Stories, directed by founder Zachary Weiss:
“The farmland in his region had turned to desert, water sources had gone dry, and all of the young people from the villages had migrated to the cities for work. While he was treating the remaining elderly villagers for night blindness (due to malnutrition), one village elder showed Rajendra a more powerful way to help the community. He told Rajendra that what the community needed to be healthy was not medicine, but water – Rajendra had to shift his focus to treating the Earth.”
The trailer for the film Reviving Rivers, with Dr Rajendra Singh the Waterman of India
Here are some of the highlights provided by Water Stories:
Engineered Water Systems Failed While Treating the Earth Succeeded
Despite the huge amount of energy and money that has been put into developing elaborate water systems, the distribution and availability of water seems to continue getting worse. The engineered solutions that nations around the world have pursued, while solving our immediate needs, have made the long term outlook even more bleak.
The best solutions we’ve found have come from people living close to their landscape, dependent on the health of their land for their own survival.
In the driest region of India, Dr Rajendra Singh was up against these enormous challenges.
“Don’t do the treatment of humankind, treat the Earth, because this Earth nobody has treated today. If Earth is sick, then nobody is healthy. If you treat the earth, the Earth will treat us and make us healthy.” – Dr Rajendra Singh
The Astounding Gift of the First Johad
With that Rajendra’s education on the traditional water structures of Rajasthan began. The village elder lowered Rajendra into various wells, showing him the differences in the geological layers. They saw how in vertically fractured geology the trees grew bigger and stronger, as they were able to access the groundwater.
Then the elder took Rajendra to a specific place within the landscape, and told him to start building a water body there. As the monsoon season came, so did the rains to fill the waterbody. Rajendra’s first Johad (water body) worked, providing water to both the landscape and the life on the landscape.
But something even more miraculous happened. Downstream of the water body a well that had gone dry was full to the top with water. Not only had the water body brought life to the landscape, it also had recharged the underground aquifer.
“When I completed the first water body and saw the water downstream in the well, that is a great memory for me. – Dr Rajendra Singh
Water Returns to a Virtual Desert and a Movement Begins
As people in the surrounding communities saw and heard of the results, interest in the work started to spread. As more villages brought water back to their landscapes, health, prosperity, and enjoyment returned to the region. Instead of just one crop per year, villagers were now able to grow 2, 3 or even 4 crops each year.
Young people who had migrated to the cities for work started to return. Working with water delivers results after the first rainy season. As people helped infiltrate the seasonal rains into the ground, the health of their communities returned. Rajendra’s work became a movement, spreading throughout the region.
“First I learn from the community, old people, and after that I give the training to the young people.” – Dr Rajendra Singh
The Remarkable, Rejuvenating Reappearance of Rivers
As the groundwater in the region returned, so did the flow of the rivers. Seasonal rivers started to flow year round. Rivers like the Arvari that had been dry for decades started to flow year round once again.
250,000 wells were recharged, benefiting more than a million people and even causing reverse migration. 7 rivers were revived.
“When I started the work my Earth was fevered, sick – now my Earth is healthy, because the temperature has gone down 2 degrees.” – Dr Rajendra Singh
His story should be our history.