Success story of stream water harvesting in 3 villages- Nagaral, Maranbasari and Neeralagi in Gadag district, northern Karnataka

Author : Ayyappa Masagi

This is Ayyappa Masagi, the Founder of Water Literacy Foundation, Bangalore. For the past 25 years I have been advocating and implementing rain water harvesting, openwell/borewell recharging, lake construction, stream water harvesting and grey water harvesting, predominantly in Karnataka and 9 other states in India.

I am glad to share the recent success story of a stream water project done to a stream flowing nearby 3 villages namely Nagaral, Maranbasari and Neeralagi villages of Gadag District in North Karnataka. The project was done in the year 2008/09 and by this year, the water table has increased so much that all new borewells dug are yielding very good quality and quantity water at depths less than 200 ft only.

This may not look surprising if I say success story of 3 villages. However, when you consider the acute water scarcity faced by entire Karnataka, even in Western Ghats, this summer, this will be surprising indeed as the villagers had abundant water not only for drinking purpose but also for other purposes.

During this year’s summer season, numerous borewells had gone dry, newly dug borewells too did not yield any water, lakes dried up, rivers could not meet the water demand in entire Karnataka. But it was vice versa in the above mentioned 3 villages. All the new borewells yielded very good quantity and quality water.

Thanks and regards,
Ayyappa Masagi
09448379497