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Water Management
Practices for Bundelkhand
water for life
Air Vice Marshal S
Sahni (Retired)
It
is now being increasing felt that water shortages in most of Asia is
adversely affecting the quality of life and sustainable development
and unless remedial measures are undertaken on a war footing the
situation would soon become critical. In India, which is blessed
with good rainfall, nearly fifty percent of our 600 million rural
population does not have assured access to potable drinking water.
The position worsens during the hot summer months. Similarly, the
situation on the irrigation front is equally bad. Of the cropped
area of approximately 145 million ha. less than 30% or 40 million
ha. is irrigated and the rest rainfed. In the Bundelkhand region of
Madhya Pradesh which receives an average rainfall of 750 mm the
irrigated area is less than 20%. Development Alternatives in close
consultation with the district administration of Tikamgarh had
surveyed villages of Niwari Block which were facing acute drinking
water problems. Five villages were selected for intervention
through United Distillers of London, ‘Water of Life’ project.
The
main objectives of the interventions were:
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i) |
To provide
adequate quantity of drinking water for the four villages. |
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ii) |
To increase
availability of ground & surface irrigation in the area by
constructing innovative water harvesting structures. |
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iii) |
Upgradation of
wells & hand pumps to minimise/eliminate stagnant water in close
proximity of wells & hand pumps. |
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iv) |
To test water
quality of all sources in the four villages & suggest
interventions : water quality to be tested by the JalTARA kit
developed by Development Alternatives in coordination with WWF. |
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v) |
To increase
drinking water availability for animals in the four villages. |
The
above objectives, besides providing adequate drinking water, were to
lead to greater biomass production in the area viz one crop cycle
becoming 2 to 3 crop activity. In addition, the two water
harvesting structures on the
Gurari River could
lead to pisciculture production thereby adding to the economic well
being in the area. Another important component of the project was
to raise the awareness of the population on the benefits of safe
drinking water and sanitation around the wells and hand pumps of the
villages.
The
project resulted in improving the quality of life of the villagers
in the project area by providing them with the scarce resource —
water. The check dams on the Gurari river have achieved spectacular
results (picture). These water harvesting structures have resulted
in recharging the groundwater supply within a radius 2-3 km around
the structure with the results that farmers can now take up at least
two crops a year thereby improving food security and income. The
water reservoir will also make available adequate water for lift
irrigation to cater for 300 - 400 ha of cropland for a minimum of
two crops. The large structure would have adequate water even
during summer months for pisciculture. Management of water regime
is the key to Bundelkhand’s sustainable livelihood generation and
alleviation of poverty.
q
The author is Vice President, Bundelkhand Operations, Development
Alternatives, Jhansi.
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