Dear MEL Topic Readers,
He brought over 600 water bodies back to life. His next mission: saving
India’s vanishing stepwells
India is home to a vast network of waterways, including the Ganges, which
supports hundreds of millions of people. However, the most sacred river is also
one of the world’s most polluted rivers because of untreated sewage,
agricultural waste, and industrial runoff. India also has an architectural engineering
marvel, stepwells, ancient subterranean structures with steps leading down to
water for drinking, agriculture, industry, and community. Because water is
considered sacred, stepwells weren’t created just as water reservoirs, but were
also crafted and embellished with carvings and divine sculpture. Also, when the
water level declined in the stepwell, people had to step down deeper to fetch
water, which physically reminded them of the water scarcity. However, these
precious water bodies have long been neglected or abandoned since the British
rule. An environmental conservation group, which has restored over 600 water
bodies in India, has recently restored two stepwells and is planning to do
more. It requires generational and traditional knowledge and craftsmanship to
protect and revive long-abandoned historical assets of human ingenuity.
Read the article and learn about India’s historical water bodies.
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