WATER CONSERVATION EFFORTS OF THUMPASSERI RUBBER ESTATE
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| Thomas, Thumpasseri Rubber Estate, Areeplachi, near Punalur, Kollam |
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Thomas's father, Mathew Achan of Thumpasseri Rubber Estate, Areeplachi, near Punalur, Kollam knew the value of rain from a mistake of the masons. He had directed them to build a beading 9 cm wide and 3 cm high in the yard in front of the house. But the workers build the structure 3 cm wide and 9 cm high. The result: more water trapped in the area during monsoons causing slushy inconvenience. But the next summer he knew the advantages of that inadvertent mistake.
The well near the yard used to dry up in summer. That year it did not happen. From then onwards the estate has been practicing water and soil conservation effort with a systematic approach.
Contour-based water ditches trap rainwater while retention of all the shrubs and weeds in the estate act as speed brakers for flowing water. If at all any shrubs have to be removed, they are cut rather than uprooted.
7 groves are retained in the estate. No kind of intervention is done in these pristine woods. Their role is mainly to retard the rapid flow of surface water.
Thanks to water conservation efforts, a spring in the estate flows perennially. Even neighbours around the estate depend on the spring for their needs during a few months of the year.
3 large dams in the estate act as reservoirs for water and a trap for soil that may be flowing with the water.
Courtesy: Robert Vinod (photo), Karshakashree, June 1999
Contributed by: Administrator
