Rainwater Harvesting

This presentation deals with a case study of rainwater harvesting of Thane city of Maharashtra. It begins with a discussion of the Environmental Status Report of the Thane Municipal Corporation for the year 1999-2000 which states that all the groundwater is non potable. The authors identify the research and development needs as follows –

Waternama is a collection of traditional practices for water conservation and management in Karnataka. The book is produced by Communication for Development and Learning and edited by Sandhya Iyengar.
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From: IRRAD Connect Volume 6 Image & Content Courtesy:IRRAD

In Mewat, the ground water is depleting at the rate of about 25 cms a year and salinity is increasing in many parts. The rising water salinity is affecting crop yield and limiting the choice of crops that can be grown. About 80% of the total geographical area in Mewat is cultivated. Of this total cultivated area, only 44% falls under the irrigated area, the rest is rain fed area. For the irrigated area the source of water is almost exclusively (95%) ground water, but it is very limited, generally enough only for one crop a year. It also includes pockets of saline water which is not fit for cultivation of most of the crops grown in that area. About 30% of households own wells or tube wells. Fast ground water depletion and seasonal variation of tube well yields is a matter of concern leading to low crop intensity. This is especially true in the villages where IRRAD is working. To check these rising water concerns a tailor made, integrated water management plan was needed for each village, with the first step being the study of topography, water flow, soil characteristics and traditional knowledge. Subsequently, the designing of appropriate interventions to harness and conserve water is undertaken. To this effect, IRRAD has carried out technical interventions like the check dams, gully plugs, recharge wells, soak pits, roof water harvesting etc. Taking water as an entry point of development work, IRRAD has intervened in many villages, expanding its activities to 17 villages.

This handbook on roofwater harvesting by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre has been written to assist NGO and government staff responsible for implementing domestic roofwater harvesting systems or programmes. It is also meant to serve as a source of material for rainwater harvesting associations preparing national design guidelines in local languages.

Water Initiatives Orissa(WIO) and the Indian River Network (IRN) organsied the Odisha River Conference during 18 - 20 April 2009 at Sambalpur, Odisha. Attended by about 75 participants which included activists, environmentalists, journalists, academicians, researchers and civil society representatives from across the country, the Conference has just concluded with a "Sambalpur Declaration" that calls for saving the rivers from the current fate of high rate of degradation and giving communities their traditional rights over the rivers, among other strong resolutions.

The Hesperian Foundation is a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care. Their first book, Where There Is No Doctor, is considered to be one of the most accessible and widely used community health books in the world.

"Going home with more than theerth", is a case study written by Shree Padre in April 2007, on the how the problem of drinking water availability in summer, was solved by the Veera Narayana Temple at Gadag town, through rain water harvesting.

"Plenty on the roof", is a case study written by Shree Padre in August 2005, of how a district panchayat office in Kerala, used rainwater harvesting not just to overcome shortages in piped supply, but to tap the overhead source, so that no other source was needed.

The Mazhapolima program is quite unique; it aims to (eventually) recharge about 4.5 lakh dug wells in the district, and do this through community awareness and action. It's driven by the District Collector, Mr. Kurian Baby, who strongly advocates sustainable, local development & innovation.

A Gram Panchayat (GP) in Kerala is fairly large, and has a population of approximately 20000 people, as compared to about 10000 in Karnataka, and about 700 in Uttar Pradesh. GP's have ward divisions, about 20 of them per GP. Each GP has a staff of at least 6-8 people. The GP that we visited - Adat, had about 12 employees , 4 lower division clerks, 3 upper division clerks, 1 Joint Secretary, 1 Secretary, 2 peons and 1 sweeper. Except for the peons and the sweeper, the employees are all usually SSLC-pass, but here in Adat they were mostly graduates. For salaries alone, the GP spends about Rs 1.5 lakhs per month. Adat GP executed 124 projects last year. The GP's annual budget was Rs 1.40 crores, not including NREGA funds. Out of this, Rs 40 lakhs was raised by the GP through property taxes etc. Most other parts of the country, GP budgets are only about 5 to 10 lakhs. The Adat GP office was a large 2 storeyed building. Mr Vijayan, the Joint Secretary proudly showed us their awards, which filled up an entire wall.

I was in Bhavnagar - Saurashtra, Gujarat and came across rooftop rainwater harvesting works implemented by (one more than 10 years ago) by Utthan with financial assistance from WASMO, along the same lines as what SACHETANA is attempting . These have strongly withstood the test of time and ALL of the rooftop rainwater tanks I saw (more than 120) were functioning and people were using this water exclusively for drinking and cooking. Here is a proof of concept idea which has withstood the test of time and which is ripe to be taken to areas of high fluoride and arsenic as one possible solution. Even in Gujarat this has unfortunately not happened in the fluoride affected areas at a scale which would benefit people.