‘Rejuvenating Waterholes- The Solar Way’

The documentary ‘Rejuvenating Waterholes- The Solar Way’ is directed by S.M. Keerthi Kumar, Cameraperson, EMMRC and K. Gopinath, Technician, EMMRC. It received the ‘Best Film Award’ at the All India Children’s Audio and Video Festival-2018, organised by NCERT. The script and the research for the documentary were done by D.H. Tanuja. .  Speaking to SOM, Gopinath said, “This film is about the waterholes in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, where animals come out in search of water in peak summer and thus there are high chances of human-animal conflicts as the waterholes tend to be dry. So to avoid this conflict, they have dug borewells. As electric lines would be a disturbance to wildlife, with the help of solar panels, power is generated for drawing water from bores and animals get adequate water. Ambadi Madhav, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, helped us during the process of our documentary.”

Bandipur Tiger Reserve has seen 5th consecutive drought this year and quenching the thirst of animals has been a major problem. Previously, the department tried to fill ponds with tankers. But their efforts had to be given up as it was not feasible. To find a viable solution the Forest Department came up with a novel idea of tapping the ground water. The solution was installing solar pumps. These solar pumps installed in Bandipur Tiger Reserve and adjoining Nagarahole Tiger Reserve are the first in the State of Karnataka. Since installation of solar water pumps the incidents of human-wildlife conflict has reduced.

S.M. Keerthi Kumar, adds, “Animal – man conflict has been on the rise which is a major concern for wildlife. Artificial ponds were not working out. So with the help of solar panels a motor used to draw water automatically from bores especially when there is adequate sunlight providing sufficient drinking water to animals. The elephants broke the solar panels and the bore was also damaged. Now, the solar panels have boulders to protect it from animal hindrance and an elephant protection trench has been laid out. Currently, about 30 waterholes with this solar panel facility has been constructed and the waterholes are filled with water. The vegetation is green, the animal-human conflict is minimised and we are using a sustainable source of energy. We got support from the officials of Bandipur Tiger Reserve, EMMRC and our Director Prof. Gangadhar. Tanuja’s research work is commendable as it gave us an insight on how to go about shooting the film.”