A reader recalls
A pioneer in water management
The article 'Where is the water? Rainwater harvesting a forgotten solution' (MM, May 1st) reminded me of the remarkable effort made by the late Fr. Sebastian Kallarickal, SJ, in Loyola College (Madras) in the 1970s.
Fr. Sebastian had just joined Loyola after his PhD (Physical – Organic Chemistry) in Germany and he took over as Head of the postgraduate Department of Chemistry of Loyola, filling the vacancy caused by the death of eminent chemist Lourdu Yeddanapalli, SJ.
Fr. Sebastian brought in at least two novel changes in the College. Before his time, as the joke prevailed, the job of every new Rector was to dig one or more wells for water supply in the campus, which housed nearly 600 resident students, quite a few Jesuits, and livestock that included several heads of cattle and pigs.
Fr. Sebastian thought differently in the context of water resource management. Noticing that the 3-storied chemistry building in Loyola included an extensive terrace, Fr. Sebastian built a subterranean tank of about 100,000 litre capacity near the chemistry building. He connected this tank with a part of the terrace using stormwater pipes. Before every predicted rain event, he ensured that the terrace was swept clean. During the monsoon the tank would be full to the brim with overnight rainfall. Any extra rainwater could not be stored, unfortunately, because no other subterranean tank was available and he was testing the efficacy of a trial.
He used to tell me that the rainwater he harvested was 95-99% clean (except for traces of sulphur which, he related, was due to the refinery near Madras that belched SO and SO2). The water stored in the tank was used exclusively for meeting the distilled water needs of students using the chemistry laboratories (who included pre-University classes until the end of 1970s, and undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral research students in substantial numbers). He ensured that this water was stored in a smaller tank on the terrace and was connected to the laboratories by a separate pipeline.
When I was managing the electron microscope (EM) at the Entomology Research Institute (which was housed in the chemistry building for long), to meet the cold water needs to run the EM, Fr. Sebastian would generously allow me to draw around 300 litres every three months for many years. I think – to the best of my knowledge – this was the earliest formal effort at rainwater harvesting made in Madras. A few years later, he built another subterranean tank of the same capacity. It was, however, distressing to know that the college administration has since shut down this facility, which shows sheer apathy.
The other change Fr. Sebastian made during his stay in Loyola was to calculate the economics of management of the Bunsen gas supply to different laboratories in the chemistry building and the ensuing changes for the flame supply. I would be happy to share those details, should anyone be interested.
Fr. Sebastian was a subtle and shy person. Only those of us close to him knew him and the goodness of his heart well. I would gladly refer to him as the first formal natural resource manager of Madras; he did all of what I have described here long before anyone in Madras started even talking of different environmental management efforts. Much later, the Centre for Environmental Sciences of Anna University came into existence. A remarkable trait of Fr. Sebastian was that he never indulged in any cheap gimmick, unlike many people sitting in higher echelons nowadays.
A Raman
araman@csu.edu.au
Charles Sturt University
New South Wales, Australia.
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