Taking the lead

Situated in the heart of the once proud and prosperous Malwa Plateau, the rapidly growing city of Indore, buffetted by the waters of the Narmada, is today facing an acute water crisis. The municipality cannot supply enough water and the groundwater table is falling, and whatever there is of groundwater is getting polluted. Nothing unusual in this scenario. Every Indian city is facing it. But Indore has one big difference.

Water for irrigating farm lands

Everybody uses water for irrigating farmlands. But Gram Vikas Navyuvak Mandal, a voluntary organisation of Laporiya village in Dudu block of Jaipur district, Rajasthan, has evolved an innovative strategy to regenerate pasturelands. The rural economy relies on agriculture and livestock rearing. Regenerated pastures have given a tremendous boost to the local economy. The system developed is called chauka. This unique system involves rectangular plots of land enclosed by 1.5-metre-high dykes on three sides. The plots, or chaukas, are built in a zigzag pattern

Kalyani

The Institute for Rural Development of the Bharatiya Agro-Industries Foundation ( baif ) has undertaken the excavation of 330 farm ponds in Adihalli watershed, spread over an area of 700 hectares in Arasikere taluka of Hassan district in Karnataka . The approach is based on a traditional concept where structures were dug out in strategic locations, locally known as kalyani. This overcomes the shortcomings of constructing check dams, which cannot be constructed in all terrains and the benefits of which are not available to upstream communities.

Apping the meagre rainfall

In Kachchh district of Gujarat , the Vivekanand Research and Training Institute of Mandvi has designed a number of innovative water recharging structures to capture the meagre and erratic rainfall in this semi-arid district. These structures permit repeated recharge of aquifers by utilisation of the periodic stormwaters, made possible by rapid percolation. The structures harvest more rain than their constructed capacity.

Ground water recharging

In Dihra, a small village 28 km southwest of Bihar 's capital Patna, was facing water shortage. The canal that brings water from Sone canal river failed to meet their irrigation demands. Led by four young people, the village decided to construct the ahar-pyne system of water harvesting. A pyne is a channel constructed to utilise water flowing through rivers to fields where the water is distributed to villagers. Ahar is a rectangular basin built at the end of a pyne with embankments on three sides. This stores water.

Irrigating farmlands

Everybody uses water for irrigating farmlands. But Gram Vikas Navyuvak Mandal, a voluntary organisation of Laporiya village in Dudu block of Jaipur district, Rajasthan , has evolved an innovative strategy to regenerate pasturelands. The rural economy relies on agriculture and livestock rearing. Regenerated pastures have given a tremendous boost to the local economy. The system developed is called chauka . This unique system involves rectangular plots of land enclosed by 1.5-metre-high dykes on three sides.

Water management gets boost in TN

Despite several government programmes, Ramanathpuram district of Tamil Nadu faces severe water shortage. Vivekanand Kendra, a voluntary organisation, tries to convince villagers in Mudukulattur block to participate in reviving ooranis (traditional tanks) and harvest rain from the rooftops. The organisation set about motivating villagers through film shows and weekly group discussions that raised the issue of community-based water management. Work began with desilting of ooranis . To increase the storage capacity, the bed of the ponds was widened.

Water shortage

Despite several government programmes, Ramanathpuram district of Tamil Nadu faces severe water shortage. Vivekanand Kendra, a voluntary organisation, tries to convince villagers in Mudukulattur block to participate in reviving ooranis (traditional tanks) and harvest rain from the rooftops. The organisation set about motivating

Confluence of thoughts

it was an event that sparked hopes. At a two day conference titled Meri gaon ki kahani, meri zubani, (The story of my village in my own words),water harvesters from four states -- Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan -- gathered in Delhi to share their experiences on water harvesting in their respective areas.

A lethal blow

The Maheshwar hydroelectric project on Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh has suffered another setback. The Portuguese government has refused to become a guarantor for a loan of Rs 200 crore being given to the project. The refusal means that Asia Brown Boveri (abb), a multinational company, will not be able to supply hydro-mechanical equipment to the project. It also implies that abb 's six per cent investment will not come through.