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infiltrated during the monsoon season if, for example, the side reservoirs are found
insufficient. There is no saying, however, the effects such an unnatural event – an
enormous amount of water being directed in one spot of the underground at a time
when the entire area is water-logged – would have on the configuration and
behaviour of the sub-layers and of the aquifer, as no study has been made.
- Assumption No 4: The proposal assumes that there is going to be no question
raised as to the water rights. Yet not all the gullies and canyons run towards the
sea: a number of them run inland and have for generations served to fill the village
shallow tanks. The proposal nonetheless assumes that Auroville is in a position to
catch and collect all the run-offs near the heads of all the gullies that are situated
on its territory, thereby depriving the neighbouring villages of an important source
of water. The proposal claims the villagers can be made to appreciate that the
entire water-table will be replenished for everyone’s good, contradicting one of its
own assumptions that the aquifer flows seaward and away from them.
There are other assumptions implied, in essential terms as well as in technical
terms.
Essentially, for instance, this proposal assumes that there is simply no other way to
ensure Auroville’s existence: no other option is deemed worthy of study.
Technically, this proposal also assumes that:
a)
All the existing wells that reach deeper than the higher aquifer can and will
be sealed.
b)
All the side reservoirs can be built and sealed simultaneously and equipped
with appropriate pumping systems connecting them to the main reservoir
uphill.
c)
The main reservoir, a ring-shaped lake more than 100 metres wide and 10
metres deep, with an outer circumference of 1,800 metres, can be sealed
with pre-moulded plates of clay (to be imported) in one go, and immediately
filled up (how?), since the clay plates must be kept wet if they are to remain
waterproof.
We are not broaching here the topics of other, social and financial, assumptions.
But we have discussed with the author of the proposal, H.K, the appropriateness of
locating this main reservoir all around the Inner Gardens of the Matrimandir and
thus preventing the full manifestation of the Park around them and destroying its
existing parts.
Our objection in this regard is simply that it does not reflect the Mother’s stated and
recorded wishes, made most explicit in Her own sketch dated 1965, which shows: a
vast area of large trees, as a transition from the city to its centre; a circular lake;
an oval area enclosing the Matrimandir and its inner gardens.
The proposal thus ignores and dismisses the fact of all the work done during the
last 30 years, which was based on that understanding and vision: a Park or Outer
Gardens as an isolating zone, leading to a circular body of water that marks the
passage into the inner area of the silent inner gardens around the Matrimandir.
Another area of concern was also discussed with H.K, that of the status and
feasibility of desalination plants.