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from Down to Earth, Vol 8, No 16 January 15, 2000
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte2000115/dte_analy.htm
R A I N W A T E R H A R V E S T I N G:
STANDING THE TEST OF DROUGHT
After the 1999 monsoon failed in several areas of Gujarat and Madhya
Pradesh, there is a serious drought. Summer is a good four months
away, and already there are reports of riots and deaths over water.
But several villages are well equipped to face the water scarcity.
While travelling through the region, a Down To Earth reporter found
that the villages that have built water harvesting structures do not
have a drinking water problem, and some even have enough for
irrigation
MANISH TIWARI DAHOD (GUJARAT)
The story echoes the fable of the industrious ant that stocks
foodstuff for winter and the lazy grasshopper that is left without
food. Women and children dig the dry bed of the Sukhi river near
Dahod town of Gujarat. Sitting aside one-metre-deep holes, they wait
for life to seep into the holes in the form of water - all other
sources of drinking water have dried up completely. "It takes at
least one hour for us to get one pot of water. But we are forced to
do this as there is no alternative," says Lasan Bhilwad, a tribal
woman from the nearby Rentia village.
Barely 25-30 km from Rentia, all the wells and handpumps of Thunthi
Kankasiya and Mahudi villages have plenty of water. The seasonal
river Machhan, which flows past these villages, has enough water even
for irrigation. The N M Sadguru Water and Development Foundation, a
non-governmental organisation (NGO) functioning in Dahod district
that is known simply as Sadguru, and the residents here have
constructed a series of concrete check dams to collect rainwater for
irrigation. Moreover, watershed management (WM) measures have been
adapted for recharging wells and handpumps. Their past efforts are
bearing fruit today.
As Lasan Bhilwad stands on the riverbed with her four children, one
can understand why it is difficult to find a family in this region
that is willing to marry its daughter to someone from a water-scarce
village, no matter how agreeable the prospective groom may be. They
do not want their daughters to undergo the agony of seeing water
trickle into a hole, even as people trickle out of the village to
look for greener pastures. Water means prosperity - its scarcity
means poverty, regardless of material wealth. And these are
particularly 'poor' times for hundreds of villages in Gujarat. The
reason is summarised in one word: drought.
"This is the worst drought I have ever seen in my life," says the
48-year-old Bhilwad. The rainy season has just ended, yet there is
little water. Nobody knows how the residents will survive till the
next monsoon. The portents are all there to see in the deserted
Piyaka village of Mandvi taluka in Kachchh district of Gujarat. All
the 550 people from 21 houses have left Piyaka for good. "We were
forced to leave because we could no longer face the water crisis,"
says Argi Badra, 44, who was on a one-day visit from Mumbai when he
spoke to Down To Earth.
Most reservoirs in the Saurashtra region in southwestern Gujarat
have only 9 per cent of their capacity of water, which will last for
only two months, according to the Gujarat Water Supply & Sewerage
Board (GWSSB), Rajkot. The board says the region received a mere 356
millimetre (mm) of rainfall this year till October 30, as against an
annual average of 530 mm. People in Rajkot city are getting drinking
water supply for half-an-hour every alternate day. "We really do not
know how we will meet the drinking water demand in our district in
April-May 2000. Already, we are supplying drinking water through
tankers in several areas where there are no pipelines," says Ashwini
Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Rajkot district. In the
Kachchh district, rainfall this year has been around 133 mm, much
less than half the annual average of 266-417 mm. Already, riots are
taking place in the state due to water scarcity (see p7: Riots over
water).
Drought is nothing new here, but this year's water scarcity has been
particularly devastating. Apart from Saurashtra and Kachchh, the
districts of Dahod and Panchmahals in Gujarat as well as Jhabua and
Dhar in the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh are facing a serious drinking
water crisis. With little water for irrigation, the first casualty
has been agriculture. After the kharif crop (harvested in autumn)
failed to a large extent in these areas, there are already signs that
the rabi crop (harvested in spring) will suffer a similar fate.
"Rainfall was low this year and distributed in such a way that there
was no run-off. So, harvesting of water did not take place. Yet many
watershed areas, where rainwater harvesting and soil-water
conservation measures have been implemented, are better off in terms
of water availability," says Harnath Jagawat, director of Sadguru.
Water scarcity: the region's history Water was easily available in
the region 10-15 years ago. But overexploitation has depleted
underground aquifers. The groundwater table in these areas has fallen
below 300 metres, says G F Joshi, executive engineer with the public
health works division in Rajkot. Seawater has ingressed into the
underground aquifers in a major part of Kachchh region, according to
a recent report of the Gujarat Ecology Commission.
"The presence of 700,000 dugwells in Saurashtra region indicates the
presence of extensive groundwater aquifers throughout the region.
This means there is one well for less than 20 people, or one well for
every 9 hectare (ha) of land or one every 1,000 feet (304 metres),"
according to Ashvin A Shah, a us-based engineering consultant who
conducted a survey in 1998 on water availability in the region.
However, the use of pumpsets for water-intensive agriculture over the
past 30 years has lowered the groundwater table from about 9 metres
to about 46 metres, he says, indicating that the capacity of the same
aquifers is still available to store water.
In the area underlain by Bhuj sandstone in Kachchh, the depth of
dugwells was 9-30 metres and water level was 2-21 metres in the
1960s, according to a paper prepared by K C B Raju, adviser, Shri
Vivekanand Research and Training Institute in Mandvi, Kachchh
district. Today, the depth of dugwells is 30 metres or more and the
depth of the bore in them is between 30 metres and 100 metres.
There are about 30,000 dugwells/borewells and about 350 tubewells
tapping the underground aquifers in Bhuj and Manchar. The utilisable
groundwater resources of the district estimated in 1991 are about
517.07 million cubic metres (mcum). However, more than 55 per cent of
the water has already been extracted, and 57 per cent of the land
area of Kachchh has been occupied by the saline mudlands of the Rann
of Kachchh, which will not contribute to groundwater recharge, notes
Raju. He quotes data from the agriculture department of Gujarat to
say that the cropped area in Saurashtra and Kachchh has declined by
35 per cent in parts affected by seawater intrusion.
Shamjibhai Antala of Saurashtra Lok Manch, an NGO based in Dhoraji
village of Rajkot, says the number of wells and borewells in
Saurashtra and Kachchh has increased 16 times over from 25,854 in
1961 to 425,000 in 1998. The groundwater table was about 12-15 metres
below the surface in most areas of Saurashtra and Kachchh, while
today it has dropped to 215-305 metres, he says. The story from Dahod
in Gujarat and Dhar in Madhya Pradesh is much the same.
Impact of this year's drought The water problem became a political
issue in Gandhinagar during the September-October general elections.
The candidate from the state capital was home minister L K Advani,
and the slogan doing the rounds was "Pahele Pani, Phir Advani" (Water
first, then Advani). According to GWSSB, 73 per cent of the villages
in Saurashtra and Kachchh (3,774 out of 5,181) are expected to face
drinking water scarcity this year, apart from 60 cities. About 4,730
villages of these areas are included in the "no-source" category,
meaning that drinking water has to be supplied from outside to these
villages.
"There is a limit to which the government can provide water through
tankers. Had it not rained in the first week of October 1999, as we
had feared, we might have faced serious consequences. Now, at least
we have been able to catch some rainwater, which is adequate to meet
the drinking water needs of the district for another four months,"
says P B Trivedi, district magistrate of Rajkot. "It would have been
very costly for us to provide water for four months to water-scarce
areas in the district through tankers," says Ashwini Kumar.
In Jhabua district, the total kharif crop yield of 1999 is estimated
to be 60 per cent lower than in 1998 (106,735 metric tonnes as
against 265,036 metric tonnes), according to Wasim Akhtar, collector
of Jhabua district. Moreover, the rabi crop yield this year is
expected to be 93 per cent lower than in 1998 (9,966 metric tonnes as
against 141,099 metric tonnes). Jhabua recorded a rainfall of 536 mm
this year, the second lowest in the past 25 years, according to the
district administration. The average annual rainfall in Jhabua in the
last 25 years has been 886 mm.
In Dhar district, the rainfall recorded this year was about 665 mm,
as against the average annual rainfall of 840 mm. "Of the total
227,000 ha of the rabi area, we expect to harvest only about 150,000
ha. This is less than 35 per cent of the rabi crop last year," says
Rajesh Rajora, Dhar's district magistrate. The district has 244
irrigation tanks, out of which only 12 tanks have water up to 90 per
cent of their capacity, while 155 tanks have either half their
capacity or less.
Holding their own Villages which have
harvested rainwater are faring quite well in the face of drought
Water harvesting systems have certainly benefited a large section of
society in the Saurashtra and Kachchh regions. There is no way better
than such systems to optimally tap water resources," says R C
Trivedi, former chairperson of Gujarat Pollution Control Board, who
lives in Ahmedabad.
Manibhai Padmabhai Patel of Dhoraji village in Rajkot district,
says: "After I started recharging my well, not only can I cultivate
crops even during drought but the crop production has also increased
several times over." Mohanbhai, also of Dhoraji, started recharging
his well ten years ago. Since then, his total cropped area has
doubled. Another resident, Dayabhai Premjibhai Patel, says his crop
area more than tripled after he began recharging his well four years
ago.
According to Shamjibhai Antala, who has done yeoman's service in
creating awareness about recharging of wells in Saurashtra, "The
farmers today realise that the government will do nothing for them.
So, farmers are now building water harvesting structures on their
own." Antala recalls picking up the idea of recharging wells from a
vigilant Dhoraji farmer, named Ramjibhai Manjibhai: "From 1985 to
1987, there was scarcity of water. In 1998, the rains were good. This
farmer made efforts to divert rainwater from a nearby stream into his
dry well. The experiment was successful and Ramjibhai's well was the
only one which had water in the summer."
"Preliminary reports from Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh show that
in areas where watershed management (WM) measures have been taken,
crops and the groundwater table have not been affected as adversely
as areas where no soil-water conservation measures were taken. The
number of handpumps and wells that have dried up in WM villages is
definitely lower than in non-WM areas," says Rajora.
To investigate the impact of the drought, the district
administration randomly selected 25 samples each of areas where WM
activities have been undertaken and areas where these have not been
adopted. "We found that the loss of kharif crop in non-WM areas is
around 40 per cent, as compared to just 10-12 per cent in WM areas. I
think moisture control [in the soil] has played a role in mitigating
the damages," he says. Preliminary reports say the situation is much
the same in Jhabua district. "Nearly 20 per cent of the total area of
Jhabua, which is covered under WM projects, is in a better position
in terms of water availability. Crop loss has been 10 per cent less
in areas with such projects," says Sachin Sinha, additional collector
of Jhabua who is also the chief executive officer of the zila
panchayat (district council).
The impact of the WM measures can be assessed in terms of seasonal
migration for employment (see table: Staying put!). "The migration
rate has not reached the proportion that were expected. In October,
nearly 274,986 children received polio vaccination. This month again,
we have reached very close to this figure. Normally, a family takes
along its children when it migrates. As the number of children
receiving polio vaccination this month is nearly the same, it
indicates that the rate of migration is not high," says Wasim Akhtar,
collector of Jhabua. He adds that in areas where stop dams are
successful, in Jhabua tribal people are reaping crops of 40 quintals
per hectare, making them the second highest wheat producers in the
state.
"We have taken up micro-watershed projects in around 40 villages in
the past 4-5 years. We found that wherever water harvesting works
have been carried out properly, the drinking water problem has been
solved to a great extent," says Anil Shah, chairperson of Development
Support Centre (dsc), an NGO based in Ahmedabad.
"This year's drought has worked as a catalyst in increasing
awareness about the importance of rainwater harvesting to deal with
water scarcity. The people are realising the importance of WM. In
fact, villages that do not have WM projects are demanding such
projects now," says Rajora. "We have received many applications from
non-watershed villages to bring them under watershed projects now,"
says Sinha. Mohan Singh, sarpanch (head) of the Umari panchayat in
Jhabua district, says after suffering severe crop damages and
drinking water crises, people in Umari are demanding WM projects.
Down To Earth takes a look at some villages that are shining examples
today.
THUNTHI KANKASIYA (DAHOD) A TURNAROUND
The people of this small village of Bhil tribals in Dahod district
had been facing a serious water crisis. About 78 per cent of them
used to migrate for at least 10 months. There were no wells in the
village. The farmlands were of no use; there was no water. "We used
to walk four to five km in search of drinking water," recalls
70-year-old Madia Fatha. Things changed for the better in 1994.
Today, the people are confident about weathering any drought. This
has only been possible due to WM projects and the construction of a
series of check dams with the assistance of the Sadguru foundation on
the seasonal river Machhan.
According to Harnath Jagawat, director of Sadguru, "When I discussed
the idea to work on water problems in this area, many government
officials and politicians laughed at me. They asked where would I
work when there was no water in the area. They did not realise that I
was thinking of rainwater." The residents organised a meeting in
February 1994, requesting Sadguru to build a check dam on the
Machhan. The dam was completed in April-May 1994 within a record 85
days, such was the level of people's enthusiasm. The engineers of
Sadguru worked out the technical details.
Later, a series of dams were built all along the Machhan to slow
down the run-off and impound the water for irrigation. The Sadguru
foundation has also carried out an intensive watershed project by
stone trenching and bunding, terracing and planting trees in the
area. Since then there has been a total transformation (see table:
Making themselves prosperous). After the construction of the check
dam, a reservoir has been created that has a capacity of 453,070
cubic metres. The river that used to dry up four months after the
rainy season has enough water to meet the irrigation needs despite
the drought. "This has been possible only because of constant
recharging of groundwater through watershed interventions," explains
Rakesh Pandey, deputy director of Sadguru, who led the team that
worked out the technical aspects of the water harvesting structures.
"The 'cascadal reservoir model' has been very successful," says
Pandey, explaining that it involves building small dams near the
source of the river and the construction of a series of small
irrigation structures downstream. The water trapped in the dams
recharges groundwater. Jagawat points out that the water in the
Machhan is from last year's rain as there was no run-off this year.
The rainfall this year was a mere 350 mm, compared to the annual
average of 830 mm, Pandey points out. Yet, all the 23 wells have
enough water to meet their drinking water requirements. The farmers
will cultivate three crops as there is enough water to irrigate 135
ha of land. The water is accessible to all 154 households of the
village.
Today, the residents are entirely responsible for managing the dam.
Jagawat estimates that almost the entire population of the village is
now above the infamous 'poverty line', with the average household
income rising from Rs 8,000-9,000 per year to Rs 35,620 per year.
Sadguru has constructed another check dam on the Machhan near village
Mahudi. Farmers here are now growing wheat, sugarcane, gram, maize,
tomatoes and other vegetables. Says Ramjibhai Katara of Mahudi:
"Earlier, I had to work as a labourer hundreds of kilometres away
from home. Today, I employ labourers in my field."
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