In the current atmosphere of communal conflict it is for everyone to learn from water to be “boundary-less and seamless”, a woman who has taken water to some of the drought-stricken villages of Rajasthan said on Saturday.

“Today, look at what our country is going through; the kind of divisions that is taking place. There are divisions between brothers; we are getting divided in the name of communalism and religious connotations. We should learn from water... water is not restricted to any boundary,” Amla Ruia said.

“Today we are dividing our spaces because of communal conflicts. Religious upheavals are dividing our nation. Instead, we should take a cue from water and become boundary-less and seamless.”

Ruia who lives in Mumbai and has completed close to 400 check dams in the water-deficient areas of Rajasthan and transformed the lives of villagers there by converting arid land into irrigated farmland was in the city on Saturday evening to talk about her journey and water harvesting work.

She was speaking at the meet, “Silver Rain Drops”, presented by the Alka Jalan Foundation at Daga Nikunj off Ballygunge Circular Road.

“The water that is being contained in my neighbouring field can fill up my wells and the crops from my field will reach your plate. So, there are no boundaries. We should live up to the vision of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The world is one family). We should keep this feeling in our heart and this will solve a lot of problems in our country,” she said.

Check dams are successful only in undulating terrain and they use the entire rain that has fallen on the hill range that is used as catchments, Ruia said. An hour’s rain can be sufficient to fill this huge structure that can hold litres and litres of water, to recharge 100 or 150 wells and to convert several hundred acres of arid land into irrigated farmland.

Ruia started water harvesting in 2000.

The Aakar Charitable Trust and she have completed 390 check dams, helping about 700,000 people in more than 540 villages in the past two decades.

Alka Jalan, trustee of the foundation, introduced Ruia. “She has decided to initiate education and water harvesting into the mandate of the trust (Aakar Charitable Trust),” Jalan said.

The foundation promotes talent from performing and non performing arts and organises health talks.

The first check dam came in Jhunjhunu district where the women of a village requested them to make water harvesting structures for them.