The Magic of Living Soils

When you head out for a stroll, do you simply pick up your phone, keys and wallet and set off, or do you stop every other thought and instruct your brain to direct your feet? When you are reading a newspaper, do you stop breathing or digesting your breakfast?

Of course your body continues all of its automatic functions, and you can walk, breathe and finish breakfast all at the same time if you choose! This, my friends, is a system. An intelligent system that has complex functions happening simultaneously and seamlessly.

You might well wonder why I’m talking about the human body on Frank Water’s blog! The reason I am pointing out the obvious systems of the human body is to draw parallels with the system that holds us and nourishes us in her lap – Mother Earth. Our land’s skin is the top 30 cm layer – the soil. The health of this soil and water subsystem decides a whole of things. The soil and water subsystem sustains and supports the majority of our needs and those of all other species that live on Earth as part of the larger intelligent system: nature. 

At Frank, we understand the implicit interconnectedness of the natural systems and strive to work on the foundations of problems that impair access to clean and safe drinking water and sanitation across geographies. From remote tribal communities nestled in forests, communities that face scorching heat in central India to mountain communities that depend on spring water in the Himalayas. This understanding drives us to work on strengthening the natural system, the “soil and water subsystem”  from where the water is sourced. 

How can the soil and water subsystem be strengthened? 

The strengthening of the natural ecosystem is done by strengthening the soil of the land area that feeds the waterbody. This is done by the communities themselves with engineering or nature based interventions. Engineering solutions can carefully shape the land with activities and interventions like trenches and contours to store and direct rainfall. Nature based interventions are planting trees, grasses and encouraging communities to reduce their chemical usage in farming. Along with this foundation work, there is education for communities on sanitation and hygiene to ensure that the benefit of clean water is not thwarted through unhygienic habits or unsanitised environments. 

How does this ensure sustained access to clean and safe drinking water? 

Once the land and soil that feeds the water body is strengthened through these interventions – now the soil is enriched with organic matter and microorganisms. The soil is enlivened by all these organisms making it as intelligent as a healthy human body. A living and healthy soil has a structure, has enough holes to breathe and is home to many organisms – not just microbes, but also insects and rodents. A teaspoon of healthy soil has more organisms than there are humans on earth.

These living and intelligent soils now behave in a very dynamic manner. Healthy, living soils can hold more water in them than all freshwater bodies put together on the planet. 

Healthy, living soils also respond to climate shocks in a dynamic manner. When there is drought,  they release water to plants and water bodies. In floods, they act as a sponge absorbing deluge and preventing landslides, soil erosion and flash floods.

Your support for Frank Water is amplified by supporting humans in their larger natural system. You can spark some magical outcomes when we protect water bodies and enliven their surrounding soils.