Seminar on Water Management

Host Club : R C NIDADAVOLE

25-03-2007

Maruteru Rotary Club Participation

Dr K Subba Reddy Chairman Water Management Addressing the meeting

D.T.S . Reddy Co-chairman Water Management Presentation on Watershed Management

Seminar Leader PDG K. Soma Sundera Sai Releasing pamphlet on Watershed Management

Members of R C Maruteru along with PDG Soma Sudera Sai, Governor K. Chayadevi, PDG K Subba Reddy

Watershed Management

 Definition

 A watershed can be defined as the drainage basin  or catchment area of a  particular stream or river. Simply put, it refers to the area from where the water flows to a particular drainage system, like a river or stream, comes from.

Why Watershed Development? 

Watershed management, is a holistic approach which aims at optimising the use of land, water and vegetation in an area to alleviate drought, moderate floods, prevent soil erosion, improve water availability and increase fuel, fodder and agricultural production on a sustained basis. People and their environment are interdependent. Any change in the surrounding environment directly affects the people living therein. A degraded environment results in a degraded quality of life of the people. Thus efforts to reduce poverty and improve the standard of living of the people must aim at improving the environment they live in. The environment does not recognize people determined administrative  boundaries. A watershed provides a natural environmental unit for planning a developmental initiative. 

What is Watershed Development? 

Watershed development refers to the conservation, regeneration and the judicious use of all the resources - natural (land, water, plants, animals) and human - within a particular watershed. Watershed management tries to bring about the best possible balance in the environment between natural resources on the one side, and human and other living beings  on  the  other. 

Components of Watershed Development? 

• Human Resource Development (Community Development)

• Soil and Land Management

• Water Management

• Crop Management

• Afforestation

• Pasture/Fodder Development

• Livestock Management

• Rural Energy Management

• Farm and non-farm value addition activities.  All these components are interdependent and interactive

Successful stories:

             1.Community generated environmental regeneration in Rajasthan

The regeneration of the Arvari and other small rivers with johads (check-dams), in Alwar district in Rajasthan has brought about a change to the lives of the people. Johads are small earthen check dams that capture and conserve rainwater improving percolation and groundwater discharge.

In the 80s, 700 villages in Alwar district were reeling from drought. Only 6 per cent of the area was under forest cover; the topsoil had eroded, only 3 per cent land was cultivable and there was widespread degradation. 80 per cent of the men had migrated to nearby cities.

Realizing the importance of johads the Bhaonta village decided to dig out the ancient johad, Once the johad had water in it, it recharged the groundwater and made the Arvari river, which originates from there, come back to life. Similar activities were conducted downstream and the river started flowing through the year by 1995. This initiative has been inspired by the Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) which set up its ashram at Bheekampura and started promoting johads through their paani yatras. Till date, they have built 3,000 water-harvesting structures in 650 villages. For every Rs 100 invested to making johads, the productivity of the village has gone up to Rs 400 per capita per annum. More than 6,500 square kilometers of land was re-claimed in 65 villages, wells had water, milk production increased 10 times and those who had migrated came back to build johads. What makes the TBS initiative different is involvement of the local people. No decision was taken to build anything unless there was consensus among the villagers. The villagers have elected a "water parliament’ to ensure that the rivers, and the wells they regenerate, do not dry up again. During sessions of the water parliament In-depth study and discussions are held highlighting the villages’ individual problems and finding ways to tackle them. There are strict rules regarding the use of the river water. The choice of crops is also monitored by the members of the Parliament. Since the water resources are limited, sugar rice (paddy) are forbidden. The model has been replicated in other areas of the district. The result is that 700 villages have water throughout the year.

             2.Watershed management in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh

The watershed schemes being implemented by the central and state governments in Kurnool district have resulted in greenery everywhere, increase in the number of wells and the water-level in them. The watershed schemes were aimed at developing the ayacut areas by preventing soil erosion, preserving fertility and groundwater and developing the forest area. Under the scheme, checkdams, rock-fill dams, stone bunds, percolation tanks were constructed throughout the district. In the S.Rangapur watershed in Kurnool district, the water table substantially increased enabling cultivation of double crop through irrigation wells. Despite drought in the area the crop yield in this village had gone up during the current season.

Before the implementation of the scheme, all the 65 families in the hamlet were economically poor. Today the number of wells have increased and water is in abundance even in summer due to the construction of check-dams. Groundnut yield has doubled. Growth in income per head is 36 per cent according to official estimates. The villagers have started a forest development programme under the banner ‘Ashokavanam’ and have decided to avoid using wood for cooking and were planning to generate biogas. The women in the village have formed four thrift societies. Women in Lakshmipalle of Done mandal are also representing a watershed committee, which has become an example for others to follow.

            3.Village-level planning in watershed management in Kakannur, Andhra Pradesh

Kakannur village, in Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, is an example of what successful village-level planning in watershed management with the help of the local community can achieve in a short span of time. Assisted by a non-governmental organisation called VASORD, it has successfully stopped migration of people even during the non-harvesting season.

The village has doubled the yield of its principal crop castor seeds and has also added 300 acres of land under cultivation, besides adding to income generation in terms of higher wages and higher crop productivity. The watershed development programme has ensured that water is now available at 70 ft below the ground, where three years ago the groundwater was not available even at 150 ft.

The process began with the formation of "Kakannur watershed association" which worked towards contouring, bund making, creating check dams and ‘gully’ controls. The National Remote Sensing Agency also helped in providing data with the help of satellite imageries.

             Planning and Management of watersheds in rural areas

The People’s Research Organisation for Grassroot Environmental Scientific Services (PROGRESS), Hyderabad, has initiated a project on design and development of software for Planning and Management of different types of watersheds in rural areas. The objectives are to design and develop a software that could assist in Resource assessment, Planning and Monitoring in Watershed Management Programmes.

A Database covering socio-economic data; natural resources data and monitoring data on water levels, land use, soil moisture, stream flow, physical activities, financial progress, thrift and credit has been established for these watersheds. A monitoring network has been set up to assess the impact of the watershed treatment.

The software has been developed in three modules viz. Database module, designing module and mapping module, that could work independently as well as a single system when integrated together.

For further details please contact the Project Coordinator at PROGRESS, 12-13-626, Nagarjunanagar, Tarnaka, Hyderabad- 17. Phone:91-040-7172408, Fax- 7172471. E-mail: progress @hd2.vsnl.net.in.