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The Mother has spoken, as early as 1965, of this option; She is also recorded as
having spoken of a vision She had of such a plant, as a kind of kidney system.
We definitely agree that a most essential task of a sensible planning for the city of
Auroville is to identify the future methods of water collection, conservation and
consumption. For all of Auroville’s successful efforts at regenerating the land and its
natural resources through erosion control and forestation will be compromised or
negated if more than half of Auroville’s territory is paved and built without having
first designed and created new methods of harvesting the rain-water and directing
its run-off, I a consciously controlled environment.
And in this task, in our opinion, Auroville must be equally concerned with the
harmonious future of its neighbours and companions.
H.K, in our conversations, acknowledged that, if worse comes to worse with the
growing unpredictability of climate changes, a desalination plant might anyway
become necessary, if only to keep the main reservoir filled and functional.
We could only point out to him that if this was indeed the case, there was in fact no
need to force such a big water-body on the immediate environment of the
Matrimandir; it could then remain proportionate to the other essential features seen
and described by the Mother.
In our opinion, the realistic and useful conclusion is as follows:
1-
No further building of the city of Auroville should be done without having
elaborated first a practical and comprehensive system to harvest all the rain-
water and direct all the run-offs to catchment areas that will in turn
contribute to replenish the higher aquifer for the entire area, inclusive of
Auroville’s immediate bio-region.
2-
A number of methods recommended by H.K, either aside from or as part of
his main proposal, for water conservation, pollution-free filtering plants and
devices, sewage recycling, etc., ought to be integrated as a rule in any
further planning.
3-
A concerted effort ought to be made to assess the feasibility and viability of
a desalination plant to be provided for the needs of Auroville and the
adjacent villages.”
***
Note: It was becoming increasingly difficult for C to make her yearly journeys to
Auroville. Although she continued her work as a psychoanalyst every day – and she
had long days -, her health was not as robust, and age began to tell. R too was
getting weaker, and in his case it was compounded by idleness, having retired
earlier, and a very obsessive nature which led him to exert heavy pulls on C’s
energies.
I saw that I had to resolve myself to the necessity to relieve C and to myself do the
journey.
This would be the first time that I would leave Auroville and India together, after 26
years.
It was not easy for me. As a little help, I decided to try and start writing a journal
again. I used French.