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KJ Antoji, a resident of Chellanam and a wire technician was always concerned about the unreliability of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in his place.

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In order to reduce the reliance on the authorities, he spent a lot of time devising an alternative technique.

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He conceptualised a water harvesting system that could store fresh rainwater several metres below sea level for future use, that too by accident.

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This Rainwater Syringe Technique helped independent houses, farmers and business enterprises. And even the government was surprised.

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Penetration of saline water into groundwater is always a matter of concern for the coastal areas of Kerala. But the technique helped in solving this serious issue. 

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“The Rainwater Syringe System that I developed uses the pressure of the temporarily collected water to seep into the storage tank about 6 metres below the land surface, without any machines.”

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So how does it work?

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For an average-sized system, we need to dig a six-metre deep pit and fill half of it with river sand.

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This sand acts as a filter through which water seeps and accumulates below the land surface.

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A catchment area using concrete is to be constructed above this. Water is not collected in a tank but below the ground.

A foot valve installed at the bottom of this pit is connected to a motor that draws water for use.

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One of the beneficiaries of Antoji’s Syringe System is a resort in Andaman. The resort, which was severely hit by a shortage of potable water earlier now gets 1,500 litres every day.

“Rainwater syringes are most efficient only at sea levels. So places like Kerala, Andaman and Gujarat benefit from them,” says Antoji.

Antoji’s invention has been installed in about 400 places, including private homes, farms and resorts.

With a 90 per cent success rate, the syringes have restored over 300 crore litres of water into Kerala’s ground.