Water Cannot Exist Without Water Bodies: India’s Water Warrior Nimal Raghavan

Originally from Thanjavur, Nimal has spearheaded the restoration of over 200 water bodies in India and worldwide, earning the title “water warrior of India”. You worked in Dubai until 2018. Why did you decide to leave that role and return to India to become an environmental activist?

In November 2018, I came here for a vacation. And to build a house here. My place is actually known as the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. Over the past 20 to 30 years, the place which is known as the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. The farmers converted their paddy fields into coconut fields. Because the income we get from coconuts is much, much higher than the income we get from paddy. And also less maintenance and also coconut requires less amount of water.

And we belong to an agricultural family. My father had a brain tumour when I was six months old. With my father’s treatment, my education, my sister’s education, and her marriage, we were able to survive only because of the income we received from our coconut field. So, this is the scenario of almost 80 per cent of the people in the delta region.

In 2018, I came here for vacation to build a home, and I was supposed to leave by November 15th; on November 13th, there was a news flash forewarning Cyclone Gaja. This news was flashed everywhere, and we did not trust it because we had never faced any calamities or natural disasters before, not even a tsunami. So none of us believed the effect of cyclone.

But I have few contacts abroad, and we have few activist contacts, and they called me and they informed me that a cyclone is going to devastate you people. So be aware, they said. So this made me think and I just extended my holidays and I stayed back.

On the night of November 15th, I went along with my friends to many areas. Also, my home is just three kilometres away from the Bay of Bengal. So I visited the sea and many other places, and everything was neat and clean. But there was a feeling, in my gut, that something was going to happen. So, I asked my neighbours and people who live along the shores and those who live along the lake to stay in my grandfather’s home. So I brought almost 50 family members to the home, and I asked them to stay there. They were cursing me as they were not happy to be there. But I insisted that we wait there.

Around 11:30 pm, it started to drizzle. So, we went inside the house and for six hours we witnessed a cyclone. I would say it played with us. My uncle’s home is 500 to 600 metres from my home. After the cyclone ended, the coconut tree was uprooted. When I visited my aunt, she was sitting outside her house, crying.

I went to other places, and everywhere it felt like a death had taken place. That’s how people were reacting. So at first, I started with the relief works, like clearing roads, ensuring electricity, and distributing groceries. With the help of many people and NGOs, we carried out relief work for two to three villages at the time.

While the relief work was going on, there was talk that my hometown had become uninhabitable. People in my friends’ circle—all of whom had agreed to settle down in our hometown after 40 years—were thinking about settling down in Bangalore.

80 per cent of people survived because of incomes derived from coconut cultivation. That was under threat. My hometown was in danger. And, with everyone thinking of leaving, I thought, ‘Should I also leave?’ I felt that I shouldn’t and that I should do something. Later that night, I resigned and started working.

So, for the first three months, we were taking care of almost 105 villages—the relief works, emergency works. After three months, I suddenly began worrying about a permanent solution and whether I was on the right track. It was then that I learnt that in 2017 alone, we wasted around 120 TMC [thousand million cubic feet] of water.

At that time, I was not aware of the TMCs. 120 TMC is the amount of water required for Chennai for the span of 20 years. But this news was not shown on TV. What we are seeing is that this government is fighting with another government for water. And these farmers are not letting these farmers receive water. So this was the news shown on TV. But what is happening here is that we are simply wasting the water.

This led us to many places, where we spoke with many people, and we decided to work on a water body. So we chose Peravurani Lake [in Thanjavur], my taluk’s headquarters. Peravurani means a reservoir. Pera means big. The lake was 564 acres.

So we started working on it with public support. Also, at the time, we had only 20,000 rupees in hand. Several people told us that this lake requires at least two to three crore rupees.

When the cyclone took place, I created a hashtag, ‘BounceBackDelta’ and posted it on Facebook. This rapidly spread, which led to many people following us and coming out to help us.

A cricket team that won a recently held tournament contributed their prize money to us for the first day of food. On the second day, a newly married couple came to the lake directly and donated some money. And later, a child contributed six months’ worth of savings, and an old lady gave her 100 days of MGNREGA money. A son of a local headmaster, who resides in the USA, sent us one lakh rupees. This is how it started.

People also started helping us. We continued working for many days and many months. On the other hand, we had to deal with negativities in the form of accusations. Some accused us of profiting from the conservation project through the alleged sale of sand, etc. In Tamil Nadu, the sand mafia is the biggest. So this kind of stuffs are happening.

We were also accused of indulging in caste politics. But we kept our accounts transparent. We built the teams. Many people joined us from different communities and religions. After the 50th day, people started questioning what would happen if there was no rain. We did not have answers to that because it entirely depended on nature.

On the 60th day, the government announced that from May [of that year] the second dam will be open. The problem was we were situated 300 kilometres from the dam, so we were unsure if we would receive water due to demand.

After 60 days, I received a call from Prasanna Iyengar, an engineer from the PWD [Public Works Department]. He said we will receive water in two days. I informed everyone with excitement, but on the day, only six people gathered. We were standing near the lake when they were about to open the shutters

When the water began filling the lake, I stood there watching. At that moment, I felt as if the water was crossing all the obstacles we had faced along the way, i.e., insults, problems, etc. The water is crossing all of that and coming. The six of us gathered there, removed our footwear, touched the water, prayed, and placed flowers.

Within 107 days, we restored the lake completely. We cleared 200 acres of an invasive species. We desilted the lake and created almost seven kilometres of boundaries. And we restored like 15 kilometres of river channels, and we made four lake islands of 6,000 trees, and we planted palm trees all over the boundaries.

The entire project was completed with 26 lakh rupees. When citizens and officials visited the river, they said, ‘This is how a lake restoration should be.’ They also insisted that many officials and NGOs follow this. Six months later, the PWD informed us that the water level was now at 350 feet (before the project, it was at 50 feet)

When I heard this, I thought to myself, ‘We managed to end 30 years of drought in 107 days. So why can’t we do the same wherever there is water scarcity?’ That is how the journey began.

You have undertaken extensive water restoration projects both in India and in Africa, specifically in Kenya, working with government institutions of both countries. What differences have you noticed?

To be honest, I don’t notice a difference. Because water is a universal language, and water scarcity also has same language. But the difference is people’s understanding and negligence.

In Africa, they accept the work. After restoration, they follow up and take care of the work properly. Achieveing 100 per cent sustainability is possible in African countries.

But in India, it’s a challenge. If we visit places a year or two following the completion of our project, we notice major differences. People started dumping their waste again, and people started sending the wastewater into the lake, and that’s how people’s understanding is different from Africa and India.

You have worked on over 200 projects. What’s been the hardest and most challenging conservation project you’ve worked on so far?

Every project is challenging. Tomorrow I am starting my 265th project, for which I have to work like it were my first project. Receiving permission is hard here, for each and every water body, you have to get permission from the government. In some places, it is easy, but in others, the process is hard. For instance, had I received timely permission in Ramanathapuram, I would have restored 500 water bodies by now. We also have to receive permissions at the right period—if we get permissions before the monsoon season, that will be a challenge.

And the second challenge is threats. In Tamil Nadu, sand mafia is powerful.

Have you faced threats, either in person or on social media? And if you have, how do you deal with it?

Getting threats on social media is a common thing. The government gave me personal security as I was receiving death threats regularly. Those in the sand mafia are not common people—they will either be from a political party or a powerful person in the area. A common person cannot easily encroach on a lake.

They used to threaten me in every way possible. These individuals will also be behind blocking and getting permissions, i.e. the delays. They will also spread negative information among the locals and will even approach government institutions to dissuade them from granting permissions.

They even find ways to disrupt our projects. Some come to beat us, and during nighttime, they steal our materials such as petrol or diesel, or batteries from the machines.

Has this been a challenge only in Tamil Nadu or elsewhere in India?

To be honest, it has only been a problem in Tamil Nadu. In other places, people help and take care of us.

 Most people at the grassroots level struggle to work with government institutions. How have you managed to collaborate with them successfully?

The people are the ones who invite me to work there. The villagers, fishermen, and the beneficiaries of the water bodies are the one who invites me to work there. So, I’ll be the person between the people and the government.

For example, Idinthakarai [in Tirunelveli district] is known for fishing. When I was working in Thoothukudi, I received a call asking for support. When I visited the place, I learnt of a dam between the sea and a water body. This dam was built in the 1980s by the Germans. It formed a crack, and they needed to rebuild it. So they asked me.

I needed permission to undertake this project. So, I approached the Collector. He began by asking me how I entered Idinthakarai. When I questioned this, he told me that it is a struggle to connect with the people. ‘Is it possible for you to work there?’ he asked. And then he granted the permission, and I began my work. The following year, the Collector and Deputy Collector visited the area and decided to expand the project by building a dam there.

When someone in my position, who has restored 265 water bodies, faces challenges like this, it hard to imagine what a beginner may experience. This is how the system is.

You have been working for over five years. In that time, different political parties have been at the helm of affairs in Tamil Nadu. You have managed to work with all of them. How did you manage that? And is it important to be apolitical?

It is not important to be apolitical because the system and the scenario are similar. Demand is also similar. And also, people’s expectations are similar. The only advantage I have gotten, after working for all these years, are connections with officials and Collectors.

In some places, I can receive permission via text message, whereas in others, I have to make repeated attempts. In other States as well, regardless of who is in power, the problems, the systems, and the process will be the same.

Another source of revenue for you has been from private players through corporate social responsibility initiatives and through crowdfunding. How have you managed to navigate that?

We began crowdfunding with public support. After three years of maintaining a record, we became eligible for CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility]. So after three years only we started getting CSR support and with CSR support we can able to work on many places in many states actually.

But the problem with CSR is that they concentrate more on beautification than on impact. For example, I worked on a lake of two acres for 50 lakhs rupees. Whereas for my first project, I worked on a lake of 564 acres for 26 lakhs rupees. So, concentrating on the impact means work will be happening and mainly, more people will be benefited.

Coming to environmental factors—encroachment, pollution. What’s been the biggest challenge that you faced?

Encroachment, always. And the next part is pollution—there is a law which allows for sewage water to be sent to any water body. The sewage water must be treated before sending it to the water body. But nobody is following that. So this is the biggest problem: sewage water, water contamination.

During the water treatment process, when we are working, we need to follow up on the process. If we are working on a contaminated water body for two weeks to a month, there should not be any external water. As you can only treat the water, you cannot treat the entire source. So these problems will happen when you are treating it, and people will not be understanding. Because many industries and companies are sending their sewage water.

Another important factor is the municipality. The government has a strict law that prohibits dumping waste in a water body. But municipality workers simply dump the waste and garbage into the water body. Recently, we were granted permissions to work on a water body which was treated like a dump yard for over 40 years. So, we entirely removed this garbage and sent it to the dump yard unit. And while measuring the lake, there was a delay. So we paused the work for a few days and continued working in other places. During this time, people from the municipality began dumping waste into the water body again. 

Alongside your restoration projects, you have raised awareness about water conservation on social media. You have a very big social media presence. How important is public awareness and are social media platforms a good avenue to educate and inform citizens?

Hundred per cent. None of my projects could have happened without social media. As I said earlier, I started with the hashtag ‘BounceBackDelta’. Another hashtag, ‘BounceBackRamnad’, helped us in Ramanathapuram.

Without community involvement, awareness, and participation, sustainability is not possible. After the completion of our projects, the people are ones who will live along the water body.

That is why I start engaging with people as soon as I begin a project. So they will have a better understanding that will, hopefully, dissuade them from repeating past mistakes when it comes to water bodies.

 Tell us more about MEGA Foundation, the organisation that you founded in 2019 to fight the effects of climate change, and some of the achievements that you all have witnessed along the way.

MEGA stands for Make Earth Green Again. We started the foundation in Thanjavur. As of now, we have worked in almost 19 districts, 13 States, as well as in Africa. We will start working in Sri Lanka in July. The biggest water body we have restored is a lake of 1,118 acres; we have also restored 1,680 kilometres of rivers and river channels. We have planted around 25 lakh trees, 507 forests, and six lakh palm trees.
For the fourth consecutive year, we are working in Ramanathapuram and have been trying to put an end to the water crisis in 455 villages. So far, we have restored 23 rivers and river channels and also 35 water bodies. Thanks to our work, nearly 117 lakes in Ramanathapuram, the district renowned for water scarcity, were at their full capacity. People who left returned to work in agriculture. The problem is being solved, and people have started working on their water bodies. 

Before we sign off, if I had to ask you about your long-term vision for water conservation around the world, what would it be?

Simple. There’s a saying in Tamil which translates to: A world cannot exist without water. I say, water cannot exist without water bodies. So wherever there is a demand, wherever there is a need, I will go and I will work. I want to put an end to water scarcity. I don’t want to see the phrase, ‘farmer suicide’ in the dictionary. I don’t want farmers to die because of water scarcity. Also, I don’t want people to pay money for water. I am fighting for that.