Water Management

This paper uses secondary data to showcase the water bodies that were built in the Vijayanagar Empire. The author states that there were 88 such water bodies and these were used for irrigation purposes and also for consumption.

The author gives a brief history of tank irrigation in South India. The number of irrigation tanks in India were 208,000, of which 120,000 were in the three Southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. These tanks irrigated 1.8 million hectares. The author uses graphs to point out to the decline in tank irrigation.

The basic objectives of this study were -

India is predominantly an agricultural country and even with current orientation towards services, still agriculture contributes ¼th of total GDP of the country, 15 percent of total export and 65 % of total population’s livelihood.

Content and Image Courtesy: World Water Week

World Water Week is hosted and organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and takes place each year in Stockholm. The World Water Week has been the annual focal point for the globe’s water issues since 1991.

Guest Post by: Parineeta Dandekar

At the first sight, Daarche Paani (‘water at the doors’) appears unreal.. on a small flat plateau called ‘Sadaa’ in konkan, an elegant cobbled walkway leads a puzzled visitor to stairs carved in stone, which go down to an ancient grove, and here is an intricate system of tanks, channels and falls which supplies water to the Panderi village and goes down as a free flowing stream, to irrigate a plantation of arecanut, pepper and mangoes in a village called Gudaghe. When I visited the place, I could see three eminent visitors, a silent lady washing her load of clothes, a fairy bluebird splashing at a tank and a huge moonmoth in one of the trees.

Stone walkway and ancient mango trees leading to Daarche Paani.
Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

Mark 1 model ready for launch 1984

Trials in Pai river northern Thailand 1986

The Water Footprint Network would like to invite you to join the next e-learning course on “Water Footprint Assessment: towards sustainable and efficient water use”.

Period: 7-18 February 2011

Venue: Online

Objective:

Introduce the concepts of water footprint and virtual water; discuss potential applications in water savings through trade; present why a business would want to conduct a corporate water footprint assessment, and how to do so.   

The author sees the need for the conservation, maintenance and management of these ancient water bodies for the supply of water to cities. The author suggests that there is need to integrate traditional wisdom with modern water resource management.