Pictures from terragalleria.com

Source: Tamilnadu Science Forum

Tank Rehabilitation Programme in Pondicherry

Forming and Registering Tank Associations• General Body constituted with 1 male and 1

female representative from each household in the village.

• The GB elects an executive committee.• Adequate representation to all sections with

“weighted voting”.• Special emphasis on representation for

landless, dalits &women

The Case

Reason for Rehabilitation

Tank association trained and guided to evolve action plan for rehabilitation of the tank. Because of exclusive reliance on ground water over the last two decades the tank system was in disuse, the ground water was depleted with saline water ingress, and large areas had no access to groundwater as they were unable to deepen the bore well. The community had to understand that the solution lay not in more ground water but in tank rehabilitation.

The Case

Methodoogy

• Tank association came up with new technological solution - the underground water conduit- for a locale specific problem and the engineers finally consented.

• New social solutions also involved to give landless benefits from tank rehabilitation - fish culture, and fodder cultivation.

The Case

Result

Programme successful with benefits immediately seen. The tripartite system of government public works department, the tank association and the NGO is the key to success. The NGO plays the role of forming, training and supporting the tank association.

The Case

The Village Tanks

• Local community resources

• Indigenous, traditional technology

• Agricultural lifeline

• Predominantly in the Deccan Plateau, Eastern India and Chhotanagpur Plateau due to undulating topography.

Source: Asian Development Bank,2006

What is Tank Rehabilitation?

• Process of restoring tanks to their original design, standards and performance.

• Rejuvenating the interest and participation of the users.

• To make the best use of the tank system.

Source: MYRADA TOOL KIT

Importance of Tanks and Need for Rehabilitation

• There are 2-3.5 lakh tanks irrigating 3 mha of land (Total land 563 mha).

• In Orissa alone 3 lakh ha is irrigated by tanks.

• 40% of the Indian landmass is arid i.e. 500-1000 mm of annual rainfall.

Source: Asian Development Bank,2006

Cont…

Importance of Tanks and Need for Rehabilitation (cont…)

• River basins- Saturation in production.

• Groundwater depletion

• Problems with major irrigation structures

• Community participation

• Backward and forward linkages

Source: Asian Development Bank,2006

Process

• Desilting – Removal of silt.

• Surplus weir crest conversion.

• Sluice outlet maintenances

• Tree planting

Source: MYRADA TOOL KIT

Source: ifpindia.org

Picture from IWMI-TATA Water Policy Programme

Collection Transport Storage Application Release

Tank system levelWatershed level

ET Irrigation-26.4 ham

Runoff-60 ham

Losses-9 ham

Source: IWMI-TATA Water Policy Programme

Components of Water-Use Cycle (Gundlur Tank)

Questions Being Asked

• Is rehabilitation really required?

• What about their present role?

• The present stakeholders?... Petta Cultivation

• Do all tanks qualify? (Traditional Approach)

Source: Institute of Social & Economic Change, Bangalore

The World Bank fundedKarnataka Community Based TankManagement Project consists ofthree components: 1)undertaking tank system improvements;

2) establishing an enabling environment for the sustainable, decentralized management of tank systems; and

3) strengthening community-based institutions to assume responsibility for tank system development and management (World Bank, 2002).

PRADAN Model

• Trust building

• Standardisation

• Integrated Tank Development System

• Self management

Source: MYRADA TOOL KIT

Noticeable Activities

• Southern States- Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka & Pondicherry.

• Orissa- World Bank & United Nations Support.

• Rajasthan- TBS & Government of Rajasthan.

• Agencies- EU, NABARD, Ford Foundation, PRADAN, TBS, DHAN Foundation, Government.

Source: Asian Development Bank,2006

References

• REHABILITATION AND MANAGEMENT OF TANKS IN INDIA, A Study of Select States, Asian

Development Bank• Rethinking Tank Rehabilitation, Water Policy Briefing,

IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program, Issue-7• TANK REHABILITATION: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL,

Abhishek Sharma, R.Sakthivadivel, Frank van Weert• The People’s Science Movements, Tamilnadu Science

Forum• The Socio-Ecology of Tanks and Water Harvesting in

Rajasthan by Tushaar Shah and K.V. Raju• The Myrada Tool Kit

Group-15

Murli Manohar 21

Saurabh Pandey 47