K2K – In search of Water

Every year, over 500,000 children in India never reach the age of 5 because of water-related diseases like diarrhea, gastroenteritis, hepatitis. Over 300 million Indians have no access to toilets. Already, 224 million Indians live in water stress in river basins, and more than 67% of the country’s renewable water is in areas that serve 33% of the population. About 70% of irrigation needs and 80% of municipal water supplies come from groundwater sources. However, depleted aquifers and lowered groundwater tables mean that this is no longer sustainable. It has been estimated that by as early as 2020, India’s demand for water will exceed all sources of supply.

Can we make a difference? One individual thinks so. And one organization is supporting him in his mission for the cause of water.

On April 26th 2008, Sharada Prasad will start a 19,000 km Motorcycle Ride across India. The objective of Sharada’s ride is to discover what water means to people across the country. The problems faced by people with respect to water are different in different parts of the country.

For more information, visit our interactions page.

The Route:
During his 75 day long ride he will cover 19000km, pass through all 28 states and 5 union territories. He will be passing through 7 ecological zones and 11 national parks. He will be crossing 15 major rivers and countless other water bodies.

To find out more about the route, click here

The ‘Water Quilt’:
At the heart of this effort is the Water Quilt. Binding all these communities is a collective quilt, stitched out of paintings from every place visited on this trip. Find out more about the quilt here

The Technology:
An aspect that makes this ride unique is the technology. The entire route will be tracked using a GPS receiver. The route will be overlaid on Google Maps. People will be able to follow Sharada’s trail to an accuracy of 30ft. Sharada will be uploading GPS tracks, geotagged blogs, surveys and discussions almost every day. An example of GPS track and geotagged photos is as below.

Mysore Ranganathittu at EveryTrailIf you are excited with the trip, there are many ways to participate. Find out more here