India's Water Revolution #6: Urban Mega-Drought Solutions

Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison journeys to India to film the water harvesting work of the Ramachandran family in the drought-prone city of Chennai. We tour their home site where they have been developing water and food resilience over the last 30 years on a small city lot. They were able to maintain their own water supplies while the city of 10 million was crippled by water shortages. Guided by daughter Gayathri Ramachandran, we visit the work and see the effects of a small-scale groundwater restoration and water harvesting project that has dramatically improved the lives and sustainability of this family, setting a shining example for Chennai and the world.

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[kumad]

I know that woman... She was my batchmate in permaculture class, Aranya Alternatives Agriculture...🙏

[aparnabhardwaj]

We salute this Lady, and her family, for those wonderful green actions. Her plans should be considered for urban implementation.

[albertsmith]

I can't remember how I came across this channel, but every time I watch the new video it just makes my heart sing with hope!

[buhu]

I think netflix should contact you to make this series available to a greater audience.

I also have a request for a future video after his series: if you had a piece of land in a dry climate, how could you use it with the sole purpose of restoring the ground water table? I'm buying a piece of land soon and the only thing I want is to let things grow, not for harvesting but just an extra piece of nature.

keep up the great work!

[coffeemachtspass]

I love this series. It makes me excited to go look at my garden again.

[aron]

I have 40 acres in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada. This is very helpful.

[samikshalohar]

Absolutely love the series! And Gayathri being the exact same sassy Gayathri, so so proud of you lady :)

[PhiTonics]

Every time I hear your intro music on this series I get so jazzed!! 🤗

[emiliano.marquez]

¨You want me to show how a laundry stone works XD, I can do this¨ favorite part. And i love her garden. Thanks Andrew for another awesome vid. Keep them coming ;) I think I'd like to see a project somewhere where there's high jungles. Love from Mexico.

[TWRider]

I like the little chuckle when she talks about the laundry stone.😀

[wduprevil]

I glad this clever woman has a water reservoir system in place where she can store water and survive. I'm not Indian, but grew up in a country where water scarcity is also a big problem. It looks like this woman is a well to do and her house has a very large roof surface. All the structures she was showing, the average person from Chennai might not be able to afford to do in their home.

[Renobon]

My God! I love this documentary! I'm from Brasil, and my house is like that! Se has a lot of trees, water cistern, solar heater, and area to receive and percolate the rain water. I love this, that's a great solution to dry station and percolate water. Thank you very much! God bless you!

[willm]

Love this stuff 🇨🇦 everybody get on board! We can fix this tired old planet and the animals that live here!

[Curtisjackson]

Before 40 years, Chennai and Tamilnadu doesn't need any special ways to conserve water. It had 40000+ water bodies and proper drainage ways to conserve water. Credits to rulers of South India for the past 2000 years, particularly Cholas .
Unfortunately, recent economic boom, avoiding encroachments for vote bank politics, unplanned executions, blocking of drainages and water inlets/outlets caused the unfortunate situation of Chennai now.
I would just give one example of the lost lake right in the middle of the city in just a 60-70 odd years. It was called as "The Long Tank of Madras". It was about 9 kms in length and 2-3 kms in width. There is absolutely no trace of it now, only the road names like "Lake view road" exits to remember it, but without the lake today.

Chennai water issue is Man Made and they are still losing many water bodies in the name of development.

To keep is simple, Most of Chennai was built on Top of water bodies.

[b_uppy]

THAT WAS AMAZING. Proves even in urban areas that permaculture techniques work.

[abelddamulira]

Thanks for this video cause for a very long time I've been wondering how I can transform my village in Uganda located in a semi arid area where there's no water. But now am well equipped with a lot of knowledge on how to do it after watching your video clips. Thanks very much.

[jaredosullivan]

Andrew, I hope the farmers of Soth Africa's Western Cape are watching these videos. They've had terrible drought for many years.

[Peanutfry]

Such a well done series showcasing unique intelligent efforts! Thank you for your videos!

[KhairulAnwar-mplo]

This is an awesome series. Thanks for your efforts.

[NewArchipelago]

The way you make these videos is great! Having the maps and graphics makes it a lot more informative and easy to understand the concepts you're talking about. I think your channel has a lot of potential.. it's exactly what I was looking for anyway.
I think it would be great if you could make content to promote and spread awareness of projects like this all over the world.