GREEN WATCH

HOT SHOWERS IN GHANDRUK

A beautiful village situated below the majestic Annapurna range of mountains, Ghandruk receives as many as 7000 tourists annually. The number of tourists who visit the area, mostly for trekking expeditions, is increasing every year; this means a proportionate increase in pressure on the fragile ecosystem of the Annapurna region. Added demand for energy is one of the most significant factors contributing to the increased pressure on natural resources.

For trekkers and tourists, the temptation to take a hot shower after a long and fatiguing trek is natural enough. But, though the use of back boilers has reduced the firewood requirement in heating water, wood is still the predominant energy source and hot showers are one of the most energy-consuming activities. Keeping in view these circumstances, IT Nepal collaborated with National Power Producers, a micro-hydro manufacturing company, and helped Rishi Gurung, a local entrepreneur, establish a micro-hydro powered hot shower complex in Ghandruk.

The hot showers use the otherwise "wasted" ballast power from the 50 KW Ghandruk community-owned micro-hydro plant. The ballast is a four-hundred liter water tank insulated with glass wool and constructed out of mild steel plate, with nine heaters of 6 KW capacity each placed inside the tank. The water that is heated in the ballast, using the excess power from the power station, comes from a five-hundred liter polyethylene overhead tank. It takes two to three hours to heat the water in the tank to about 50 Degree C.

At present, three showers supplied with hot water from the ballast make up the micro-hydro- powered hot shower complex. It costs NRs. 35 to take a hot shower for about five minutes in one of the three shower booths which have been in operation for a couple of months. The entrepreneur has to pay the community a relatively small sum of money. It is expected that he will recover the investment that he has made in establishing the complex in a fairly short period of time and make good profit from the business, while also providing a service to tourists and helping alleviate some of the pressures on the environment by providing an environment-friendly alternative to fuelwood usage.

(ITDG Newsletter) July 9, 1996 Explore Nepal Weekly

A LEAF FROM HISTORY

Pesticides: universally derided for being the bane of today's environment. Used worldwide without adequate checks and safeguards, they infiltrate soil, air and water, ravage food chains and play havoc with human as well as ecological health. The US National Academy of Sciences has noted a 64-fold increase in pest resistance to pesticides in less than 50 years. In 30 years, warns the Academy, pesticide use has increased 12-fold but crop losses due to pests have doubled.

The Vrikshayurveda, a branch of medicine from the ancient ayurvedic tradition, offers a remarkable solution to this enduring problem. In the methods prescribed by the ancient text, a multi-pronged attack on pests and diseases is recommended by enriching the soil with nutrients to spur useful microbial activity for their control and elimination. Efforts to scientifically validate some of these traditional natural plant remedies have been made recently by plant pathologists Ramachandra Reddy and A. L. Siddaramaiah of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

In the prescribed methodology of treatment, keeping the seeds healthy and soils free of marauding pests have been accorded primary importance. The text records that seeds from fruit trees falling on the ground should be mixed with cowdung and dried for five days. Following which, they should be dipped in milk for another five days, soaked in water, treated with a mixture of coconut water and eggplant and finally exposed to the incense of cow milk ghee (clarified butter) and Embelia ribes burm (vayuvilanga). The incense contains sandalwood - Canarium strictum (ordinary dhoop). However, C. strictum is fast becoming rare. The incense is prepared by placing the concoction over burning charcoal. The next step is sprinkling the seeds with water before sowing. Such methods will improve germination and sprouting. To protect seeds from diseases, they should be soaked in cow milk for ten days and taken out every day with palm greased with ghee rolled in cowdung, which is mixed with the flesh of a hog. These treated seeds can then be planted in soil, which, in turn, is treated with sesamum. The sown seeds must be sprinkled with milk and water.

Elaborating on the importance of cowdung and urine, Reddy says that the dung is processed inside the body of the animal, where the temperature is higher than that of the human body. Once the dung is excreted from the body, rapid changes occur in the composition of its microorganism content. Those microorganisms which have the potential of attacking and eliminating plant pathogens, grow fast and target the disease-causing germs in plants. However, cowdung - a pest killer and growth regulator - cannot be sprayed directly onto affected plants, since it causes retardation of growth. Instead, it should be sprayed in the form of a decanted solution: a 1:10 mixture of dung and water.

Diseases which owe their genesis to the wind can be fought by applying clarified butter to the seeds. Diseases caused by phlegm can be treated with acidic substances mixed with hot water. If trees are affected by pests, they require surgery: the disease-stricken part has to be surgically removed. A paste made of Embelia ribes, cow milk ghee and silt should be applied to the operated part, which then needs to be sprinkled with water and milk. Plants attacked by pests can be treated with a mixture of fresh cow urine, clarified butter, Embelia ribes burm, mustard and sesamum. All this can be applied to the trunk and then watered with milk and water. Cow milk, curd, ghee, cowdung and cow urine all have qualities which protect plants. The Panchagavya - five products from the cow - are considered sacred and purifying.

January 15, 1996 Down To Earth (Science and Environment Fortnightly)

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