OCTOBER 2014 ECOLOGIC

ECOLOGICOCTOBER 2014

WATER BUDGETING

LIFE, NECESSITY, SURVIVAL - WATER PRETTY MUCH SUMS IT ALL UP

Let’s remember all that we learnt about water, its uses as a commodity - to cook, drink, wash, bathe and sustain living beings. It is startling how water defines us in so many ways!

However, just for a while, let us try to identify water better. Fascinating - the roles water plays for us! One look at the ocean and you feel freedom; sit on the sea side, stare into the infinity and you have a chance to rediscover yourself; a drop of water speaks hope to you and the flowing river pushes you to pave your way through the obstacles that life throws at you.

Unfortunately, our multitasker is in jeopardy today. And we are to blame.

We humans consider ourselves an intelligent species, but we could not be more wrong. Each passing year the rains get uncertain and unreliable. And when that happens, we, for the time, being acknowledge the significance of water in our lives. Eventually, as we enjoy equitable rainfall, we re-crawl into our web of indifference.

We have drained our natural resources to be left with a handful and simply taken all that we have been gifted by our ecosystem for granted. Our actions are a result of our easy access to resources.

What we need to feed into our systems is the fact that water accessibility is secondary, but access to fresh water that can be consumed is a matter to ponder upon. In fact, we need to correct our belief from ‘water is infinite’ to ‘water is finite’ and ‘potable water is even more limited’.

Of course, its availability changes every year as it gets circulated in the form of rainfall.

Yet, it is essential to identify the water at our disposal at a given period, water coming in and the water utilized, to refrain from facing water scarcity. It is time for a clarion call. To ensure we respect water, save it, manage it - budget it!

This edition of our quarterly newsletter - ECOLOGIC - focuses on the concept of Water Budgeting, and WOTR’s consistent efforts and applied methodology to employ this idea. It highlights our vision of bringing water to the poor.

Read, learn and if you can, implement!

BY ADITI WAGH

EDITORIAL

ECOLOGIC, OCT 2014 01 ECOLOGIC, OCT 2014 02

03Water Budgeting: The Idea.The Concept

05Our Vision. Our PerspectiveThe Way WOTR Sees Water Budgeting

07Methodology For Water Budgeting

08WOTR’s Work With Water

10Our Rural Managers

11Installation of Water Level Indicators

14Sawargaon Stories – Studying The Impact

15WOTR’s Water Budgeting Game

17Groundwater Monitoring In Action Research Project

22The Grey Room - Our Challenges

23Government’s Response To Delayed Monsoon

26The Need Of The Hour

CONTENTS

THE IDEA. THE CONCEPT

Water Budgeting (WB) approach is geared towards ensuring optimum, equitable and most efficient use of water. This involves gaining an understanding of water availability, a community’s existing needs and requirements of water, crop planning based on water availability, optimizing irrigation, equitable sharing of water, and considered decisions on ground water withdrawals.

When you acquire knowledge on basics of money spending from your guardians, you learn the rule ‘Money saved is money gained’. Once you plan your cash flow, understand how much comes in; you can successfully keep a track of how much goes out. And a bank assists you to do just that. Water - budgeting works on the basic principles of banking.

LET’S UNDERSTAND HOW?Most of us have a bank account where we deposit our money. So, you have some

money saved in your account which constitutes your current balance.

Then, you spend a part of that saved money from your balance on say daily expenses, shopping, travelling, or other minor business transactions.

Now, at times unforeseen expenses fall into your bucket. If you do not have a backup in the form of savings, you will find yourself in a financial turmoil; which is why it is advisable to go by a budget.

See how much money you have at the end of every month - via salary, interest on investments, bonus, lottery, etc. Then, consider your basic obligatory expenditures rather than going the Michael Carroll way! Check what you do have left post incurring these expenses, and save wisely keeping an emergency outlet in store, so that you don’t have to pine for a penny!

The same concept applies to Water budgeting. Except, saving water, undoubtedly occupies a greater importance than any other form of budgeting, even when it comes to this ‘green god’ called money.

Identify your water income. To create a balance in your ‘water account’ figure out, “What are my water sources and what are my water requirements?”

Rain water is the main source of fresh water inflows into the ecosystem; so that’s your central water income. Nature stores this water in the form of groundwater, surface water and soil moisture. There are several nature-devised outflows such as evaporation, run off and infiltration.

One of the major artificial ways to retain this water and make it accessible to the

majority is this prodigy – Watershed Development. A watershed provides water for several purposes, for instance, drinking water for humans and their livestock, water for agriculture and the like.

Using water wisely is an art; which brings me back to the analogy of banking. You keep an account of water flowing in, acknowledge your basic needs, and ensure you store water for the bad times ahead.

This is where Watershed Organization Trust comes in. The effort is to help the community use existing water more equitably, optimally and efficiently in the context of erratic rainfall, climate variability possible drought.

We begin with classifying the water budget of each

community. Streamline the water at disposal according to the community’s requirements.

After this, if the use requirements exceed the availability, there are ways to shift a negative balance to positive.

A change in irrigation, crop-planning and groundwater withdrawals will do the trick via bore wells, dug wells, hand pumps, etc

Once we have identified the sources of water, next in the what-to-know list will be how to store this water to make it publicly available.

Not only does WOTR help villages implement water budgeting but also helps develop ways to get access to groundwater via bore wells, dug wells, hand pumps, etc.


WATER BUDGETING

The concept of Water Budgeting aims to use water judiciously for people, agriculture and livestock with a

view to optimizing benefits in the context of climate variability, erratic rainfall and drought

Extensive promotion of drip irrigation practices for water budgeting

WOTR has been about water for the past two decades.

For us, water budgeting and the way we use water holds the key to future progress and prosperity, especially in rural India.

The concept of carrying out water budgeting on scientific guidelines and taking into account the requirements of the locals will lead us to establish a new approach to managing water in a watershed.

In watershed development programs, with community participation, we undertake need based area treatments, drainage line treatments and soil/ water conservation measures to reduce the soil erosion. These practices conserve the water, recharge the aquifers and improve soil health and productivity.

We have installed Automated Weather Stations (AWS) in 69 villages in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. These help us determine rainfall in the respective village and give us the basics to calculate water availability.

We undertake surveys to get details of the ways water is used, which guides us to analyze the current water consumption and cropping pattern.

In order to settle on an appropriate cropping pattern, we consider household food

security and market needs for generating income. With the community’s participation and intervention, first we take into account domestic and drinking water needs. Then, we consider the amount of water utilized for livestock consumption and irrigation. In accordance with all of the above, we finalize what our cropping patterns and livestock holdings should be.

Next is to introduce water conservation technologies among communities as well as focus on improving environmental services and soil health so that the water retention capacity of the local ecosystem is enhanced. Technologies like drip irrigation, micro irrigation, and organic inputs for soil amendment, enhancing plant growth, and disease & pest management using locally available material are also widely promoted.

WAY WOTR SEES WATER BUDGETING

OUR VISION

Our regular weather based advisories make things even more easy and beneficial for farmers. These weather based advisories are specific to the crop and farm conditions. The information in terms of weather forecasts, crop treatments, nutrition and health and market prices is disseminated via SMSs.

Data collected from our automated weather stations is fed into the forecasting models of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

The information package includes practices & measures to facilitate increase in productivity and cost reduction in farm management.

A key element of these advisories is irrigation management which consumes over 80% of net water available. We hope not only to reduce water related vulnerabilities of rural communities but also build their adaptive capacities to climate and rainfall variability while improving their quality of life and wellbeing.

AGRO-ADVISORIES

Data collected through AWS disseminated via charts AWS installed in Gunjalwadi, Sangamner Taluka,

Ahmednagar district


METHODOLOGY FOR WATER BUDGETING

WOTR conducts trainings to educate farmers on how they can measure and manage the groundwater level. Bore-wells and dug-wells are monitored using different methods. Monthly data collection is conducted to track the groundwater fluctuations during the year and to analyze the trend in water availability.

The data so assimilated is exhibited publicly in villages for everyone’s easy access to the information.

HOW DOES THIS INFORMATION HELP FARMERS?

As per the accumulated data regarding groundwater level, every farmer can adjust her/

his crop and irrigation plan to the prevalent water availability. This ensures cultivation without losing half of the yield to water shortage.

In order to prevent water wastage, we promote micro-irrigation and offer financial support for the same. Micro-irrigation techniques can be simple such as drip irrigation, sprinklers or advanced, such as subsurface drip irrigation.

An alternative method applied is intercropping. Intercropping involves planting two or more varieties of plant species next to each other on the field. The plants chosen are such that they benefit from each other’s presence in the same patch of land.

A sun-sensitive plant can, for example, benefit from the shade of a bigger plant; thus helping the farmer most effectively to achieve a better yield at the end of the season.

Yet another technique to promote water saving is composting. You might wonder about the relationship between composting and water budgeting. Composting increases the infiltration of water and decreases the evaporation rate.

It increases the water retention capacity of soil by up to 60%. This method comes very handy to reduce ‘water loss’ as water lost from the soil through evaporation or irrigation is unavailable to humans.

BENEFICIARIES NOTE

The primary stakeholder in the water budgeting exercise is the “Farmer”. This exercise helps the farmer become aware of the water availability at watershed/village level and make an appropriate agricultural plan. This reduces the risk of crop failure due to water shortage and thus makes the farmer less vulnerable in the context of climate change.

Watershed Organization Trust has been mobilizing local communities to physically change their landscape for the good and undertake vegetative, mechanical and engineering measures from the ridge to valley approach in a sequenced, integrated and comprehensive manner.

We have been engaged in supply side augmentation which focuses on minimizing runoff and harvesting rainwater (as it is the only freshwater source) wherever it falls across catchments and watersheds within which people live.

WOTR has implemented activities such as afforestation, pasture development as well as soil and water conservation measures like constructing continuous contour trenches (CCT), water absorption trenches (WAT), field/contour bunds, check dams, gabion structures, etc. in over 1300 villages in association with local people (through shramdaan) and a number of partners.

This effort at water conservation and water supply augmentation has been employed on 2.10 million acres of land impacting over 2,427 villages and

transforming lives of over 2,200,000 people, majority of who are poor. Achieving this scale required developing significant technical, social and managerial skills within WOTR.

We have successfully managed to develop the capacities of over 2, 48,487 persons from 27 states of India and 62 countries development practitioners and villagers to undertake integrated watershed development in conjugation with ecosystem regeneration initiatives.

WOTR’S WORK WITH WATER

Soil and water conservation measures by WOTR


Manjula preparing compost for water retention as per WOTR’s trainings

Watershed Organization Trust initiated the concept of water budgeting under the Climate Change Adaptation Project in 2009.

Since then, a number of trainings have been conducted for village folks to mobilize and spread awareness about water conservation and the benefits of doing water budgeting.

One of the many villages increasingly adopting the concept of water budgeting is Bhojdari in Sangamner Taluka. Our active attempts to spread awareness have resulted in more and more Bhojdari villagers adopting this approach. One of such prospering villagers is Manjula Sunil Lohote.

WATER MANAGEMENT BY MANJULA SUNIL LOHOTE IN BHOJDARI

“I learnt of water budgeting ideas from WOTR’s training program and began implementing them since.

By May, there is minimal water left, so we need to

use the remaining water judiciously. During this time, the drip irrigation set bought with the financial assistance of WOTR’s project proves to be of great help.”

Manjula takes a single crop per year (tomato and onion alternatively). That is her strategy to save water. “We do not take second crop and instead save water for summer. If we go for second crop, our water will not last till next monsoon.

We need to irrigate our onion crop every 12 days if we use chemical fertilizers; however we can irrigate every 15 days if we use compost. This saves water.”

Emphasizing the role of compost in water conservation, Manjula informs, “Compost plays an effective role in retaining water. Hence, if you utilize compost instead of the usual chemical fertilizers your crops will flourish consuming less water due to compost’s ability to retain water.”

She stresses on compost’s cost effectiveness, “Not only does compost prevent me from using water intensive chemical fertilizers but also ensures I save money. One gunny bag of chemical fertilizer costs me Rs.1300, while preparation of 2-3 tonnes of compost costs only Rs.120.”

People from nearby villages in the Sangamner taluka are now coming forward to take part in the water budgeting activity. In the near future, it is expected that the entire Sangamner cluster where WOTR is working will adopt water budgeting to conserve water, reduce agriculture vulnerability and secure water availability, especially in summer months.

MOVING TOWARD WATER MANAGEMENT

OUR RURAL MANAGERS


The idea behind the Water Budgeting initiative is to help rural communities use the existing water in an equitable, optimal and most efficient way. The first step is to identify the water availability and requirements on an individual as well as village level.

Next is coming up with suggestions for changes in irrigation practices, crop-planning and groundwater withdrawals to ensure the availability of water for all planned activities.

One of the practical difficulties that farmers face while measuring the total amount of available water is the calculation of water in bore-wells at any given time of the year.

To address this difficulty, WOTR has procured water level indicator instruments that let farmers measure the groundwater level in bore-wells across the year. The information on groundwater levels at various times of the year helps them to decide

what crops to grow and when as well as plan an appropriate irrigation schedule.

WOTR has selected 3 bore-wells in Bhojdari village to conduct training programs for farmers to understand the working mechanism and operation of the instrument.

Sangram Patil, an assistant researcher, WOTR, says, “The purpose of this machine is to help farmers assess the amount of water used for domestic needs, how much

water to utilize for what crop and which crops to grow under water shortage conditions. The machine gives an accurate status of water available in the borewells.”

HOW THE MACHINE WORKS?

The water level instrument has an indicator cable with an inbuilt sensor. To measure the groundwater level in bore-wells the cable is lowered down the bore-wells. Once it touches water, a beep sound goes off and a red light starts blinking. That is when you stop lowering the indicator cable. The cable carries yellow markings showing depth in feet and white marks showing it in inches.

The reading marked on the indicator cable at the surface of the bore well indicates the level of groundwater from the surface. While conducting water budgeting exercise, this machine helps us calculate the groundwater stock. It is also very useful in knowing the time required for refilling the bore-wells.

“I use water level indicator for my bore-well. This assists me to track the increase and decrease in the ground water level. Once I know the water availability, I can decide upon which crops to grow in Kharif, Rabi as well as summer. I also can estimate the time taken to replenish my 425 ft. deep bore-well. This helps me choose crops when less water is available to make some profit. I measure groundwater level at an interval of 15 days.” - SUDAM, A FARMER IN BHOJDARI

Installaiton of groundwater level indicator in Bhojdari village

INSTALLATION OF WATER LEVEL INDICATORS


SAWARGAON STORIES

WOTR marked its presence in the village of Sawargaon Ghule in 2009 with the Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) project, jointly supported by SDC and NABARD. Under the CCA, soil and water conservation activities have been undertaken. Village area treatments have been implemented to retain the running water and ensure that the soil absorbs it. Every village under WOTR’s jurisdiction has a Village Development Committee (VDC). It is a group of villagers who are selected by their community to ensure grass root implementation of interventions. The concept of water budgeting was also introduced to them under the CCA project.

NAMDEV KUNDAJI GHULE, VDC PRESIDENT, SAWARGAON

“WOTR has taken up water conservation and budgeting activities in our village. Our work is to handle its implementation. WOTR in its trainings informed us about field bunds to contain water. The VDC plants trees on each of these bunds. We have covered almost 50 per cent of the total work area. With the support of VDC and the villagers, our goal is to finish the work within two years.”

Ghule further quotes, “As goes the saying, ‘small drops make a mighty ocean’, we will enact stringent water management measures. The first step is to make villagers aware about the village area, rainfall, water requirements for agriculture, animals, livestock and villagers. In accordance, we prepare a water budget and adopt a relevant cropping pattern”.

Informing about the process, he continues, “The instrument to measure rainfall has been installed in the village. The data so accumulated and analyzed is put up in the form of charts

for public comprehension. It includes- how much capacity does the soil have, how much water is needed by animals, birds in a year, how much water is needed per person.”

“As per the government records, in rural India on an average, a person needs 40 litres of water per day, a big animal 60 litres per day, small animals and birds need two litres of water per day. Equipped with the above statistics, the VDC has prepared this chart. The chart displays the list of crops taken in the village with the amount of water each one of them needs per hectare”, says Namdev.

Reminiscing the past and planning the future, he continues, “Since 1972, Sawargaon Ghule has been dependent on water tankers for water supply during summers. In future, we are hoping to avoid this. We want to manage our water resources in a way that we do not have to rely on importing water. The vision is to plan water for agriculture, ourselves, our livestock and adopt drip irrigation instead of traditional ways so we avoid drinking water and

fodder scarcity. For a smooth execution we need to educate villages at each process level.”

Acknowledging WOTR’s role Namdev concludes, “WOTR has been a patient listener. In time, we hope our villagers make the most of the bestowed knowledge and each household adopts water budgeting.”

Namdev Kundaji Ghule, VDC

President, Sawargaon


the anticipated availability and proposed usage.

The game, thus, enables one to understand the trend water usage, whether positive or negative. Further, it also helps in decision making regarding which agricultural practices to follow and where optimization can be done to manage water.

Since the current rainfall will not remain same as that of

previous years and it could be anywhere between very high to very low, the simulation game can provide an insight leading to the foresight.

The farmer (user) will be able to understand how things might go out of hand in the future if water is not used carefully.

The simulation game, thus, becomes a tool for motivation and inspiration.

WOTR HAS DEVELOPED A SIMULATION GAME ON WATER-BUDGETING

Water budgeting can be defined as ‘an estimate of harvested water resources and its utilization for a defined period of time’.

The game is based on a simple model of inflow and outflow of the water in a watershed and gives the net balance of water for a water year (June-May). WB inputs include precipitation, village area, surface water storage and groundwater storage as inflow; outflow would be agricultural, domestic and livestock water requirements, evaporation, runoff and infiltration. The game then computes net water available at the end of the water year.

The Water-Budgeting game is played to simulate the amount of water we get from rain and the amount of water we use in our day-to-day lives. The simulation game can represent trends of water availability and water requirement according to

WATER BUDGETING VERSION 1.0

WHO CAN PLAY?

The WB simulation game is played with a group of villagers. The game play needs to be facilitated by a trained person. The facilitator can be a person from the village, who is handling the water budgeting responsibility. It can ideally be played with the community during Gram Sabha / village meetings / in schools during WB discussions.

HOW TO PLAY?

While playing, the facilitator has to gather data for the village and feed it into the simulation model (i.e. village area, rainfall, type of land, biotic population,

cropping pattern and area cropped under micro-irrigation/ flood irrigation etc.). Based on water availability and usage, simulation will generate line graphs showing ground water and surface water availability in the village.

This catalyzes discussions and debates within the game players on bringing changes in the cropping pattern and water usage. The facilitator continues playing the game till a consensus regarding desired changes in cropping pattern according to the water availability status is arrived at.

This process, ideally, should take place within the village

before every cropping season. As a strategy to implement water budgeting in the village, a special Gram Sabha should be called. Efforts should be made to make members from all type of land holding groups remain present for the meeting.

The aim of this meeting is to start the process of changing cropping patterns and using efficient irrigation methods within the village and help the community to start thinking of applying the water budgeting concept within their own farms and villages.

The water budgeting game

WOTR’s water budgeting game helps the farmers/users simulate the amount of water received from rain and the amount we use in our day-to-day lives. The game helps the user understand the trend of water usage and thus manage available water accordingly

The simulation game is played with the villagers

and facilitated by a trained person


PARTICIPATORY GROUNDWATER MONITORINGAND MANAGEMENT IN ACTION

GROUNDWATER MONITORING IN

PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE AND EQUITABLE GROUNDWATER USE IN RURAL COMMUNITIES IN THE WAKE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Drought prone interiors of Maharashtra are exclusively dependent on groundwater resources for rural drinking and for subsistence and irrigation needs.

The project area lies in such water scarce semi-arid zones where rainfall is not more than 750 mm and intensive use groundwater without planning leads to running out of the resources much before the onset of next monsoon.

This action research project on groundwater in the wake of climate change is focused on two major principles

(i) Increasing awareness about groundwater use for enhancing efficiency and (ii) Promoting groundwater monitoring and sharing with an equity principle.

The objective of the project is to

identify and test the strategies to fulfill these two goals and make a protocol for further replication of these strategies.

This project is implemented in two villages of different agro-climatic and socio-cultural settings, Sundarwadi in Aurangabad District (an assured rainfall zone) and Kumbharwadi in Ahmednagar District (in water scarcity zone).

Groundwater monitoring and groundwater data collection are pre-requisites for effective management of groundwater resources. Monitoring helps collect data to calculate the groundwater availability. In the absence of monitoring, groundwater extraction from the aquifer will continue to remain unchecked until the resource is exploited and damaged to an irreversible extent.

FIGURE 1: Describes the Geological Vertical Section of Dugwells (Litho-logs) in

Project Villages. Basalt is the impermeable layer and usually dug wells

are dug up to this layer. Sundarwadi has maximum depth of dug wells

as 12 m, while Kumbharwadi has 23-14 m.

In this project, our focus is on groundwater monitoring in terms of quantity rather than quality because our main objective is to make use of groundwater more sustainable and judicious.

METHODOLOGY FOR GROUNDWATER MONITORING

WELL MAPPINGGPS locations of all structures, including dug wells, bore wells, and other water harvesting structures are recorded and projected onto village/watershed map to understand the extent and spread of groundwater structures in the village/ watershed.

SELECTION OF OBSERVATION WELLSBased on a well mapping exercise and primary hydro-geological assessments of watersheds, wells to be monitored are selected on a sample basis.

Water levels are recorded on a bimonthly basis in selected wells, and this data is analysed and displayed on boards across villages.

In Sundarwadi, 5 dug-wells and in Kumbharwadi 2 dug-wells and 2 bore-wells have been selected based on criteria of the spread, geological formation, and water retention period of the well.

USE OF GROUNDWATER LEVEL MEASURING TOOL:To measure accurately groundwater levels in the selected bore wells, groundwater level indicators are used. The data is being recorded in selected wells since May 2013.

WEATHER DATA MONITORING: Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) are installed in both villages, which give records of rainfall, temperature, wind speed, and humidity. Daily data of these indicators get displayed on boards in villages.

USE AND APPLICATION OF DATAGroundwater level and rainfall data are the major requirements for calculating groundwater stocks and flows. This data is useful in WB exercise to plan crops based on groundwater availability in Rabi and summer season cropping. Past data on groundwater level fluctuations alerts people to cautiously plan for crops in rabbi and summer seasons. On the basis of weather data and the GW stock available post monsoon, farmers get bi-weekly weather forecasts and crop advisories via SMS. These advisories help farmers to irrigate the crops at the right time and avoid ground water wastage.

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT FIGURE 2: Describes the groundwater level data SundarwadI. Readings of water

level were recorded bi-monthly, on 15th and 30th of each month. The

graph shows the wells are almost dry in the month of May and are up

to ground level in the month of October (post Monsoon) and then the

water level starts declining again.


LEARNINGS:GROUNDWATER AND WEATHER DATA MONITORINGGroundwater monitoring and weather data monitoring are important tools for demystifying, simplifying and imparting basic knowledge of hydrology to communities.

Data variations, particularly decrease in groundwater levels, alert users to properly plan and use groundwater.

Simple manual data collection and its display increase the interest and capacities of people to understand and manage groundwater.

While conducting water budgeting exercise and calculating the groundwater stock, the periodic data of groundwater level is very useful.

This data also reveals the behaviour of the water levels throughout the year, for e.g., when it is the highest and when it is the lowest, (refer fig. 2).

Data collected is regularly updated to benefit farmers

Our experiences confirm that if data on weather conditions and groundwater levels is shared through display boards and discussed in village communities, it helps communities plan appropriate cropping patterns and use ground water effectively.

Farmer experiences show that crop advisories help them to effectively manage their crops, and weather forecasts help them reduce crop losses. For e.g., if farmers receive rainfall prediction, they can avoid spraying of fertilizers/pesticide and evade its washout due to unpredicted rain, thus saving cost incurred or they can protect their grains left out for sun drying from an unpredicted rainfall.


WOTR has developed a tool called “CoDriVE – PD” which stands for Community Driven Vulnerability Evaluation – Programme Designer, based on over two decades of developmental experience in India.

CoDriVE-PD enables planners, development practitioners, researchers understand how communities may be vulnerable to climate change and why.

Based on this knowledge, communities can then be mobilized to undertake measures that help them adapt to climate change, reduce its impacts and avoid development patterns or mal-adaptation that may make communities more vulnerable at a later date.

CoDriVE-PD is a recombinant tool developed by converging key aspects of three well known international research methodologies and is built on the “5 Livelihood Capitals Framework”.

It adopts a systems thinking approach which uncovers interrelationships and interdependencies between them, and generates a quantitative vulnerability code that grades a community’s vulnerability to climate impacts. This enables communities, planners and practitioners to prioritize and plan for adaptive measures and interventions.

CoDriVE-PD can be used in a wide range of social, economic and agro-ecological contexts in developing countries.

In order to support easy and large-scale application of CoDriVE-PD, a web-based software program is being developed to process and analyze key data of a community with a view to generating a vulnerability profile and suggesting situation-specific adaptive actions that may be undertaken.

This is a work in progress and as WOTR (and others) apply CoDriVE-PD across geographies and communities, these case studies (and refinements to the tool) will be shared and widely disseminated.

We welcome reader and user feedback and suggestions – it would make the CoDriVE-Programme Designer more accurate, robust and better able to capture local particularities.

The e-version of CoDriVE-PD (Community Driven Vulnerability

Evaluation – Program Designer) can be downloaded at

http://bit.ly/ZFSs9E

WOTR RELEASES COMMUNITY DRIVEN VULNERABILITY EVALUATION PROGRAMME DESIGNER

00

On the boulevard to progress and development, one always finds roadblocks. These hurdles test our willingness, dedication and determination to achieve our goal or at the least continue down that road.

WOTR, on its journey to help communities realize the scarcity value of water, continues to face challenges on three levels.

SOCIAL CHALLENGES

In order to work with a rural community, it is imperative to gain its trust and convince the beneficiaries. However, the most difficult part while dealing with a rural populace is to change the mindset of the village community regarding crop planning and irrigation methods.

They fail to see the impact of water intensive practices on the available water resources. Their tendency to opt for short time gains without factoring long term losses is what usually proves to be a major hindrance in implementing water management techniques.

TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

While WOTR has succeeded in addressing some technical challenges, there are a few challenges that still need to be solved.Till date, it is impossible to accurately calculate water flows and stock under the ground.

Calculating water availability is a very complex subject that includes domain knowledge of hydrology, geology and meteorology. In short, it is difficult to calculate “invisible” water at village/watershed level. This makes the budgeting part a bit tricky and challenging.

ECONOMIC CHALLENGES

In order to implement various water saving strategies in villages, a decent capital amount to invest in water saving and productivity enhancing technologies is a prerequisite.

Usually, farmers cannot afford such technologies (drip and micro-irrigation systems, sprinklers, plastic mulches, etc) and fall short when it comes to employing them. So, even if the villagers are onboard to adopt water budgeting techniques, they often are unable to translate this awareness into action due to paucity of funds.

OUR CHALLENGES

THE GREY ROOM

ECOLOGIC, OCT 2014 ECOLOGIC, OCT 2014 22

hamlets in the state. As on July 14, Kharif crops excluding sugarcane were sown over 21.12 lakh hectares as against 113.31 lakh hectare during the corresponding period of last year. The situation is alarming and the government is doing its bit to salvage the situation. The state has already spent Rs. 2,000 crore to provide water tankers and support for livestock.

The prediction of monsoon 2014 to be ‘less than normal and delayed’ had made the Government of Maharashtra (GOM) take a decision on contingency measures to

make provision for drinking water, water for domestic use and fodder for cattle. The Government is continuing with the drought relief measures undertaken since 2012. It consists of provision of relief employment, supply of drinking water and distribution of fodder in cattle camps.

SOME KEY RELIEF MEASURES BY GOM

In response to the serious drought situation that persists, the government has undertaken implementation of relief measures. As the drought

Maharashtra, the third largest State in India, has 70 % of its area falling under semi-arid zone. Every year some parts of Maharashtra witness drought or drought-like conditions affecting availability of water for domestic, drinking and irrigation purposes. However, in 2014, the situation is even more disturbing due to the late onset of the monsoon.

This year, from June up to mid -July, when usually monsoon is the strongest, Maharashtra hardly received any rain. As a result, water is being supplied by 1,731 tankers to about 1,600 villages and close to 4,000

Relieved farmers share a smile, thanks to the government aid and efforts

condition has intensified, the expenditure on these measures has also correspondingly gone up.

Some relief measures include:

• SUPPLY OF DRINKING WATER THROUGH TANKERSIn the present challenging situation of depleting water levels in reservoirs as well as deficient rainfall in various parts of Maharashtra, water is being made available to people for consumption through private and Government tankers.

• SCHEME ON REPAIR, RENOVATION AND RESTORATION OF WATER BODIES (RRR)Work on 258 projects is under progress via this scheme aimed at increasing water availability.

• PROGRAMME FOR SCARCITY RELIEFThe State Government has prepared a Programme for completion of irrigation projects / project components which can be completed within one year, and which will augment drinking water sources and facilitate fodder production in villages badly affected by drinking water scarcity.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN BY GOVERNMENT FOR DROUGHT MITIGATION

• BUILDING OF CHECK DAMS (CEMENT NALA BAANDH / CNB)The Government is encouraging the construction of CNB as a standalone activity. Earlier CNB used to be constructed as a part of watershed treatment.

• SUPPORT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF FARM PONDSFarm ponds serve as a secured irrigation source for the farmers and also help them deal with dry spells during monsoon. Funds from schemes like Rainfed Area Development Programme are being utilized for installing farm ponds.

• SUPPORT FOR MICRO IRRIGATIONFinancial assistance for drip irrigation, sprinklers, sub-surface irrigation and mainly for horticulture, cotton and sugarcane cultivation is being provided.

• SPECIAL PACKAGES Special packages are being offered for rejuvenation of orchards in drought affected districts of Maharashtra,

which involves pruning and agronomical measures, mulching and water retaining agents.

The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (GOI) has been implementing various agricultural development schemes for the benefit of farmers through programs such as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, etc. Assistance is provided for irrigation and micro-irrigation. However, procedural delays, inadequate funds & delays in fund releases result in the majority of farmers being unable to access these benefits when needed.

The GOM is now engaged in ‘Drought Mitigation and Relief Measures’ giving emphasis on the creation of irrigation potential and completion of project by spending huge amounts of money.

However, there is a strong need for long term planning for the ongoing and future irrigation projects, cropping patterns, revival of local water systems etc. GOM has to take firm decisions for its swift implementation to deal with drought-like condition prevailing in Maharashtra and to help make farmers resilient towards such conditions in the future.

GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE TO DELAYED MONSOON


We live life in a fast lane where everyone runs to live. While it is understandable that in this hoopla-hoo people don’t have time to cater to sustainable development, a conscious attempt is much needed.

The per capita water consumption in urban areas surpasses the per capita water consumption in rural areas by leaps and bounds. In India, the per day per capita water consumption of an urban consumer is 150 litres, while that of a rural consumer stoops down to a mere 40 litres per capita per day, and is much lower in the periods of water stress, which are quite often.

In order to comprehend how the urban population utilizes water, we need to understand that this issue is two-dimensional. There is a need to analyze the scenario at an individual as well as a societal level.

Let’s track our generic every day activities where we consume water. We wake up, brush, drink water, bathe, wash vegetables/clothes/utensils, cook and go to the washroom. The above list provides for

the tasks which fall under the mandatory category. Yet, there are alternatives to save water.

For instance, revert to bucket system for washing, utilizing dual flush system, using water from cleaning edibles for watering plants, adopting the bowl system for washing hands.

However, at times, knowingly or unknowingly, we perform tasks that demand massive amounts of water. It can be swimming in a pool, something that falls under the festive header of splashing water balloons during Holi, or creating fake rain for video shooting purposes. As this plethora of activities displays our insensitivity to water wastage, we need to understand water’s significance and scarcity today.

In current times, the rainfall patterns are changing rapidly. There is reduction in the number of rainy days and increase in the rainfall intensity.

This means that the availability of water is not only dependent on measures we take to harvest but also on how we use it.

Water budgeting is about matching available water with water use requirements and addressing the efficiency levels of water usage. The challenge is to enhance the efficiency of the way we use water.

The purpose of undertaking a water budgeting exercise is to balance water availability with water use and optimize water productivity i.e. getting optimal output for every drop of water. The methodology and technology of doing water budgeting is another institutional capacity that WOTR has developed in its ongoing quest of enabling poor communities to adapt to climate change and make better use of declining water resources.

To use water judiciously is the need of the hour. A water conservation activity without proper management of water doesn’t seem to be sustainable. Therefore, it is very important to know the water availability so that there is no wastage of water and it is used thoughtfully in the context of climate change projected impacts in regions that are semi- arid, drought-prone and rain-fed regions.

THE NEED OF THE HOUR


WATERSHED ORGANISATION TRUST (WOTR)‘The Forum’, 2nd Floor, S.No. 63/2B, Padmavati Corner,Pune Satara Road, Parvati, Pune 411009, India.Phone: +91-20-24226211 • Fax: +91-20-24213530Email: [email protected] • Website: www.wotr.org

WE LOOK FORWARD TO PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN FUNDERS AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO SPREAD THIS APPROACH ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

Content: Aditi Wagh and Harshal Khade

Documents

OCTOBER 2014 ECOLOGIC