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Check Dams to the Rescue! AVM S Sahni asahni@devalt.org
In
our country, particularly in the
Bundelkhand region of Central India, ground water holds the key for
increasing irrigated croplands. During the past four decades, growing
population, and increase in irrigation has led to excessive withdrawals
of ground water without commensurate recharging, resulting in the water
table going down steeply from about 30ft to more than 100 ft below
ground level in the said area. Also the water available at these depths
has been steadily decreasing and in quite a few villages even one
assured crop per year has become a problem. Extraction of water from
increased depths is expensive and beyond the means of poor/marginal
farmers. Its other adverse effect is acute shortage of drinking water
during the hot summer months in a large number of villages. Erratic
monsoon is a regular feature of Bundelkhand when rainless periods during
monsoon months (end June-mid Sept) extend from 10 to 15 days and more
along with one or two cloudbursts when 100-200mm of rain is received in
24 hours. Bundelkhand being a plateau most of this is lost in runoff.
The last 20 years experience has also shown that in two out of five
years the region receives deficient rain. Monsoon during 2004 and 2005 in the Niwari block of Tikamgarh district of M.P was deficient by about 45%; as less than 500 mm of rain was received against the normal 900 mm; with the result that a large number of farmers were unable to harvest the groundnut crop during Kharif and wheat during Rabi season. All these factors have contributed to extreme water stress in the region and tend to be the main cause of rural poverty and indebtedness. Some of the measures, which aid in ground water charging, are: 1. Increase vegetal cover over land 2. Adopting watershed approach 3. Proper land use and 4. Building appropriate water harvesting structures on nallahs/streams. A check dam is a barrier built across the direction of the flow of water over streams and nallahs to store part of the excess flow that takes place during the monsoon. Check dams store surface water for use both during and after the monsoon and recharge the ground water of the area. Increase in ground water charging results in increase water availability for irrigation, industrial and household use. Thus in areas covered by a check dam, one crop cycle can easily become two and in some years three crops can be grown with enormous economic benefits. Even in a poor / deficient rainfall year, crop lands covered by the check dam can harvest at least one assured crop and there is no shortage of drinking water for humans and animals during the hot summer months. Now to the story of three check dams built prior to the monsoon of 2005 in the Rajapur, Kashipura and Kaina villages of Niwari block of Tikamgarh district. The people of these villages having realized the immense benefits of a check dam approached the social action group of Development Alternatives located at Taragram (near Orchha in Niwari Block) and requested that a check dam be constructed on a nallah near their villages. They pledged to make available sand, boulders and provide all the unskilled labour as part of their shramdan. The villagers of Kashipur and Rajapur also agreed to chip in with some cash in the form of payment to unskilled labourers if they were not coming forward voluntarily. Shri Ram Aggarwall an NRI from London who had earlier contributed a handsome amount to develop Mazra, a small village of Niwari Block, into an Adarsh Gaon, came forward to meet the cost of cement, steel, skilled masons and other incidentals. Here is a brief description of the three structures and their benefits during the Kharif and Rabi season of 2005. Rajapura The structure built on the Barua Nallah near the village has a length of 66m and a height above nallah bed of 2.5 m. The upper catchments area of the Barua Nala received only two short spells in end June and mid August, both lasting hardly two days each. These resulted in the check dam over flowing from end June to end October. Had the monsoon been normal and evenly spread, the overflow would have easily lasted till Feb/March. The cumulative effect of increased ground and surface water compared to the previous years was that nearly 120 acres of cropland received assured irrigation in Kharif (July-Oct) and Rabi (Nov to March). Some of the farmers also grew vegetables after harvesting wheat in March. In a normal monsoon year, farmers of the adjoining villages would also be able to irrigate their crops by lifts irrigation and it is estimated that this structure would be able to provide assured irrigation for two crops per year on an area of approximately 200 acres. The farmers of Rajapur are proposing to raise its height by 0.5m. Between July and October, ten new wells were dug by the villagers. Water table of 31 existing wells were monitored in June (before rains) and in end October. The ground water charging reflected an increase of water table from 5 to 15 ft. plus.
Kachipura
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