Goa Water Stories: An interactive digital archive of Goa’s rich water heritage

THE GOAN

PANAJI

‘Goa Water Stories’ is an online interactive digital web archive of narratives of water, engages and intersects with the local and indigenous communities through 18 interactive and immersive story-projects developed by over 30 young individuals. “It’s a project that documents Goa’s rich water heritage, traditional water management systems, and contemporary challenges related to water conservation and climate change,” states Wency Mendes who has curated the project.

“Each of these 18 projects has an impact on the locals and their livelihoods and lifestyles as this work is based on research and thereby creating knowledge and thus awareness. The research is self-evident. Solutions need to be taken up by the community and authorities as per their convenience,” shares Wency. ‘Goa Water Stories’ uses visual storytelling, oral histories, and digital exhibitsto highlight Goa’s water bodies, such as rivers, lakes, wells, tanks and the traditional khazans(coastal wetlands) linked to the Western Ghats, the monsoon water cycle and watershed and the coastal ecosystem. It explores themes like sacred water traditions, communitywater practices, indigenous knowledge, and environmental threats such as mining, tourism, and pollution. It collaborates with local artists, researchers, and communities to preserve water-related cultural narratives while advocating for sustainable water practices in Goa.

All content – including videos, images, illustrations, photographs and written materials – developed by the cohort are under creative commons. These digital objects are metadata-tagged, geo-tagged, and translated into English, with further auto-translation enabled for additional languages via web-based software. The project began in 2023, but the online multimedia archive and stories have been launched now on https://goawaterstories.livingwatersmuseum.org. There have been multiple workshops, and presentations showcasing the research as exhibitions at various venues including the Goa Institute of Management in Sanquelim, Goa University and the Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts.

The resulting digital archive is now community-curated as an interactive and interconnected storytelling platform ‘Goa Water Stories’ hosted by the Living Waters Museum. Through this online archive, users can engage with multi-narrative storytelling, explore and learn from these experiences, and connect with the environment and communities on the ground. The Living Waters Museum (LWM) is a digital, interdisciplinary museum that explores water heritage, culture, and sustainability in India and beyond. It uses storytelling, visual arts, and community engagement to raise awareness about water-related challenges, including climate change, pollution, and conservation.

Founded by Dr Sara Ahmed, the museum is part of the Global Network of Water Museums, supported by UNESCO. It collaborates with artists, researchers, and local communities to document traditional water management systems, indigenous knowledge, and contemporary water issues. LWM’s projects include interactive exhibits, oral histories, and visual narratives that highlight the interconnections between people, water, and the environment. It has worked on themes like urban water systems, rivers, groundwater, and indigenous water wisdom.

The co-creators of Goa Water Stories are primarily young women and men who live and work in Goa. Some are environmentalists, architects, researchers, artists and academicians. They all share a passion to conserve and protect Goa’s rich biodiversity and ecology. ⁠”The team has visited some rivers, lakes, ponds and streams. However, it has not been feasible or possible to visit and study the hydrology of Goa with the available resources. Each of the 18 projects shares its findings in interactive and multimedia stories, which is made available online. These interdisciplinary multimedia projects present hyperlocal narratives, amplifying voices from the ground. Rooted in lived experience, these narratives are closely linked to local flora, fauna and livelihood practices to construct a discourse centred on water, ecology and the impact of climate change,” explains Wency.

The program fosters dialogue through visual storytelling towards building an online interactive archive, serving as a platform that brings together diverse stakeholders, including institutions, students, researchers, academics, writers, artists and experts. This collaborative effort facilitates critical engagement with water-related issues through workshops, colloquia and presentations in libraries, colleges, universities, museums and galleries. The participants developed a shared vocabulary and subjectivity through these activities, initiating hyperlocal and public discourse on water heritage. This multi-dimensional and inclusive approach integrates research, data visualisation, storytelling, and digital tools.

Where will the project be, five years from now?And would it have made a difference to Goa, to its people and the world, overall...? Sharing his thoughts on this, Wency adds thatthis will be a rich multimedia memory and digital archive if we do not pay heed to the impacts of climate change and indiscriminate large-scale development. “We must take cognisance of the impact of changing climatic conditions on our water systems and water tables. Village community participation along with our traditional knowledge systems is the key towards building resilience,” he concludes.