Traditional ways of harvesting rain in ancient Indiaancient India

May 9-10, 2013y ,SIRDUP, Lucknow

Total precipitationTotal precipitation 4000 BCM

Wh t iWhat we use is only 25% of that

Rest flows away

Does it work?

To leapfrog to prosperity

• The 1970s was a decade of floods and droughts in India.

• A retired jeep driver returned to his degraded, parched village, Ralegan Siddhi, in Ahmednagar district.

• Out migration, poverty , alcoholism• He organised the people to construct

small dams across seasonal channels. • Slow rise of groundwater• Krishna Bhaurao Hazare is fondly

called Anna Hazare.

To leapfrog to prosperityprosperity

To leapfrog to prosperity• The village has a branch office of a major bank

with nearly Rs 3 crore in deposits of villagerswith nearly Rs. 3 crore in deposits of villagers• The village today makes use of solar power,

biogas drip irrigationbiogas, drip irrigation• Took nearly 5 years for first impacts to become

visible.visible.From one of the most destitute villages of India

to one of the richest. 28% of population earn more than Rs. 40,000/month.

W t f lif Al• Alwar district became completely

Waters of life - Alwar

degraded at the time of independence.The Aravalli range denuded.

• According to remote sensing data, Aravallis were shown as brown areas. f f• If a farmer spent Rs. 10000 on

cultivation he only got back Rs. 500 as return.A t di t i ti• Acute distress migration; some blocks were all-women villages.

• Women had to walk long distances to collect waterdistances to collect water.

• Less than 3% of cultivable land was irrigated

R j d Si h h ki i h h• Rajender Singh, who was working with the government in Jaipur, gave up his job and took a bus with a few friends to undertake “social work”bus with a few friends to undertake social work .

• He got down at the last stop of the bus, Alwar. Taking the help of elderly citizens he started work• Taking the help of elderly citizens, he started work on building a small earthern dam on the seasonal channel The water then percolated down to thechannel. The water then percolated down to the aquifer and gave water to the nearby wells.

• Today, Rajender Singh has helped constructToday, Rajender Singh has helped construct hundreds and thousands of such check dams and revived entire rivers.

•Tarun Bharat Sangh began work in 1985. First work was of repairing a damaged johad

•Johads – earthern dams to capture rainwater to percolate down and moisten the soildown and moisten the soil

•Impact of first dam was water in dry wells. Decided to focus on

t h tiwater harvesting

•Three principles: 1. Johadsshould be built to catch water;

2. As the catchment areas are totally degraded, the forest has to be protected and regenerated to halt soil erosion; 3. There should be consensus within the community on the works yto be taken up

•Thanagazi, a ‘dark zone’ in the 1980s, was recently declared a ‘white zone’ by the irrigation department

•Official documents say that the forest cover is 40 per cent now, a rise of 33 per cent in the past 15 years for the Aravallithe past 15 years for the Aravalli.

•In 1995, the five rivers became perennial

•Milk production has gone up by ten times

•In many villages, people have started cultivating sugarcane and wheat, which are water-intensive

New paradigm or …..?

• After 60 years of dams and canals, India isAfter 60 years of dams and canals, India is now looking at small rainwater based water systems that will provide water for drinking,systems that will provide water for drinking, domestic use, animals and agriculture.

Wh th B iti h t I di th• When the British came to India, they saw a land that was rich, urbanised, literate, where arts and crafts flourished The wealth of thearts and crafts flourished. The wealth of the cities came from the villages. Each village had a complex system of croplands grazinghad a complex system of croplands, grazing lands, forest land all based on water that was conserved from the rain that fell only yfor 100 days.

• When the British came, there were ,thousand of tanks,lakes and other water harvesting systems in the country.

Zings

In Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh

Streamwater, river water, snowmelt

Diversion channels leading to storage structures

Kuhls guhlsKuhls, guhls

Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & KashmirJammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand

Spring or stream waterp g

Diversion channel;s leading directly to fields

Kundis RajasthanKundis- Rajasthan

Rainwater

R i ll d h hRainwater collected through artificial catchments diverted to underground storage tanks

Kuis/Beris- Rajasthan

G d tGroundwater

Seepage collected from surface water accessedsurface water accessed from ground

Thar desertA talab is a local reservoir made out of naturalmade out of natural depressions on outcrops of hillocks or rocky formations. Usually, only the slope side of the reservoir or talab was provided with strong parapet walls.parapet walls.

Thar desert

Thar desert

• Jodhpur At th ti f i d d th

Thar desert

At the time of independence, there were over 200 water bodies in all, many of them over 500 years old. The city’s 40 odd talabs in the cityThe city s 40-odd talabs in the city still exist today and many of them are over 300 years old.

Jodhpur was perhaps the only city inJodhpur was perhaps the only city in India where an all out effortwas made to capture all available rainwater.

Virdas- Kutch GujaratVirdas- Kutch, Gujarat

Rainwater

R i t ll t dRainwater collected over salinewater in storage structures by maldhari ytribals

Khadins/haveli

Rajasthan Madhya PradeshRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh

Rainwater

Collection of runoff directly in agricultural fields

Kana nadis (Flood irrigationAhar-pynes - BiharFlood and rain watersDiversion of flood and rain waters

Kana nadis (Flood irrigation channels)

W. Bengal, OrissaFlood waterse s o o ood a d a a e s

through canals to storage structures to agricultural fields

Flood watersInundation channels leading

to agricultural fields

Decline of traditional systemsF ibilit t i ht• From responsibility to right

• Began with the British – (1) Introduced a taxation system that impoverished the peasantrysystem that impoverished the peasantry

• (2) Introduced a bureaucracy to manage water resourcesresources

• (3) Emphasis on larger irrigation projects like canals. Less emphasis on minor irrigation like bandharas. Destroyed community ownership as well as community responsibility.

• Continued by independent Indian policies Big is• Continued by independent Indian policies – Big is beautiful – water bureaucracy completely took over water managementg

Water harvesting today

Thank youThank you

S h it S tSushmita SenguptaDeputy Programme Manager

Water ProgrammegCentre for Science and Environment

sushmita@cseindia.org