Uttar Pradesh

Water law and policy framework in India has undergone significant changes in the last couple decades. Given the complex nature of the law and policy framework, the awareness among common people is minimal or nil. This is an irony given the fact that recent law and policy changes call for ‘users’ to be as a key player in the management and development of water.

This set of case studies is a part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covering themes of agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water. The case studies related to agriculture and food security are summarised below:

This paper published in the South Asian Journal of Tourism and Heritage begins by highlighting the importance of the traditional small water bodies in Braj, commonly known as kunds, as important freshwater sources as well as an important part of the culture and the traditions of the area.

There were 1000 such kunds, which used to be the source of fresh water in Braj in earlier times. The water was used for multiple purposes like irrigated agriculture, domestic uses, drinking water for cattle, bathing etc. Due to rapid urbanisation, lack of maintenance and prolonged negligence in the last 50-100 years, most of the kunds today have become silted up and are nearing extinction.

The impending crisis for fresh water has forced the planners and policy makers to take cognizance of these traditional water bodies and an urgent need has been identified for taking necessary measures to restore the kunds. The present study thus aims at understanding the reasons for deterioration of the kunds and makes some technical suggestions for revival of these kunds.

This report describes the findings of a rapid survey conducted by Centre for Environment and  Food Security (CEFS) to evaluate the performance of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the 50 poorest dalit villages of Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. The rapid survey was conducted in the districts of Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur.

This manual by the Uttar Pradesh Water Sector Restructuring Project - UP Department of Irrigation, written for Water User's Associations (WUAs), provides guidelines for restoring under-performing minors (irrigation channels which carries water to the fields) in the state, to their original design characteristics before the maintenance and management of minors is transferred to the WUAs. This is a prerequisite for making the use of irrigation water economical and efficient, and for introduction of volumetric system of water flow.

The present study aims to estimate the soil moisture movement and recharge to groundwater in Saharanpur due to monsoon rains through the unsaturated porous media in case of cultivated and uncultivated fields. Artificial radioisotope was injected at two uncultivated and five cultivated sites before the onset of monsoon and soil samples were collected from the injection points after the rainy season.

The study deals with the distribution of heavy metals on sediments under different flow conditions in the river Hindon. The river is subjected to varying degree of pollution caused by numerous untreated waste outfalls of municipal and industrial effluents.

The report presents an original study of Cadmium adsorption based on experimental data. The effect of operating variables, like solution pH, sediment dose, contact time and particle size on the adsorption of cadmium ions on bed sediments of the highly polluted Kali river in western Uttar Pradesh has been studied.

The study deals with adsorption of lead and zinc ions on the bed sediments of river Kali in western Uttar Pradesh. Adsorption is one of the most important processes in water quality control, which influences the transport of pollutants in aquatic environment.

A detailed survey of the river Hindon was carried out to understand the nature of waste effluents and their impact on water quality.  As per the study, the river water is subject to varying degrees of pollution, caused by numerous untreated waste outfalls of municipal and industrial effluents.

The main sources, which create pollution in the river, include municipal wastes of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Ghaziabad districts received through tributaries as well as direct outfalls. In the non-monsoon months, the river is completely dry, right from its origin upto Saharanpur town. The effluents of Nagdev nala and Star Paper Mill at Saharanpur generate the flow of water in the river.