THE ROTARY CLUB
of
Lahore Cantt.
May 25, 2002
Rtn. Col. (Retd.) N.D. Tanvir
District Governor.
My dear Tanvir sahib,
This is with reference to our discussion regarding possible improvements in the water tank’s design being used by Rotary in the Thar desert areas. I have rushed through this draft during today’s holiday (Id-e-Milad) to try to make it available to you as quickly as possible, for which reason I can hardly claim that I have done justice to the subject. But I do think it reflects my views in sufficient detail. (A friend who looked at this report said that “in your design the upper opening of the tank is wider! How do we safeguard that bigger area against it being used for squatting, children’s play and so on?” These kinds of questions will continue to pop up. In this instanced I just said “why not stack some thorny bramble bushes on top?”)
Please be advised that I am neither an expert in engineering, or in sociology or weather sciences or in any discipline relevant to this subject. So this is just a general knowledge report. May I suggest that you may kindly constitute a committee of relevant experts (Rotarians or otherwise) to review these suggestions and come up with their independent recommendations. If this report is considered sufficiently useful, you may even like to commission suitable persons to upgrade it. Alternatively, prepare a new one. Formatting and illustrations also need to be improved. I would suggest that this be done immediately so that you are fully prepared to answer any questions about the technicalities of this project as may be raised by informed observers at the Barcelona Convention. Questions of hygiene of the system are especially likely to raise many an eyebrow. This is too vital a consideration, for which reason I have also devoted particular attention to it in my proposals. I will be important, I believe, that you should not be caught off-guard if this question comes up. An argument that, whatever the quality of water in the tank, it is still better than what they now have, is not likely to cut much ice, and perhaps rightly so. The reason is that, for any health consequences arising from installation of these tanks, we stand liable.
Now a few overall comments about the new proposals. The tank design as it now stands in practice has an important advantage which can be stated as “one size fits all.” Therefore the chances of error are minimized while putting in the installations The principles involved in what I am saying here in my report open up multiple choices in design which can also take advantage of any local topographical features. Our best choice would include employment of a full time project engineer for this purpose, who will custom design a tank installation for each locale. This engineer will preserve all drawings, with annotated notes, for the projects he attends, and will also have the mandate to develop and report on further improvisations and design improvements as he goes along. This will build on experience, and past knowledge gains will not be lost. Multiple usable models will come up and be recorded to suit different needs and locations. This movement will lead ultimately to the development of an “appropriate technology” which can be extended to other parts of the country in NWFP, Baluchistan, and barani Punjab, as well as in other parts of Sind, where people are short of clean, palatable water, a difficulty which is likely to continue to aggravate in future. The impact of public service achieved by Rotary by so proceeding will therefore be extensive. One simply has to visit a deprived area even in one of our big cities to see the pitiable condition of drinking water available to adults and children living in many of our “katchi abadis.”
Many worthwhile schemes of “appropriate technology” (mostly imported) have failed to stabilize due to inadequate attention in follow-up. The bio-gas project is one of them, in which a family possessing just two buffaloes could install an on-going gas supply in its kitchen. If we can bring up the standard of economy, innovation and utility in this water tank project to internationally acceptable standards, we might be providing relief on a scale which may comply with the Rotary maxim: MANKIND IS OUR BUSINESS. This will not happen in a day, but it will not take more than a day to kick off the developmental process.
Please treat this letter as an integral part of the main report.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
M. Zahiruddin Jeddy
Rotary Club Lahore Cantt.
Water Tank Project
