Accepted Papers - 3.pdf - UNESCO

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
59. Sustainable Watershed Development by Refilled Continuous Contour
Trenching Technology”
* Parag A. Sadgir *G. K. Patil *V. G. Takalkar
ABSTRACT
Environment has been considered as the aggregate of all external conditions and
influences affecting the life and development of an organism. Development without regard
to the ecological equilibrium has led to an environmental crisis in the recent past. About
2.7 per cent of the total water available on the earth is fresh water of which about 75.2 per
cent lies frozen in Polar Regions and another 22.6 per cent is present as ground water.
Based on per capita renewable water availability, India—the second most populous country
in the world—has water enough to meet its people’s needs. But despite an estimated 2,464
cubic meters per person per year, many of its nearly 900 million people suffer severe water
shortages, in part as a result of uneven availability of water. Sustainable development of
watershed area is the need of the hour not only for soil conservation, ground water
conservation but it also has impact on national economy and solution for employment
problem. For balancing of the balance of the VASUNDHARA, it is necessary to maintain at
least 33% forest coverage of the available land in each country. In draught prone area,
there are two critical factors: water and soil. So in such areas main objective is to conserve
the soil and conserve water. Once soil and water conserved, vegetative growth sustain
easily. For the same to satisfy this objective economically and efficiently, REFILLED
CONTINUOUS CONTOUR TRENCHING (RCCT) Technology is the solution for sustainable
watershed development.
INTRODUCTION
Based on per capita renewable water
availability, India—the second most populous
country in the world—has water enough to meet its
people’s needs. But despite an estimated 2,464 cubic
meters per person per year, many of its nearly 1
billion people suffer severe water shortages, in part
as a result of uneven availability of water. Most
rainfall comes during the monsoon season, from
June to September, and levels of precipitation vary
from 100 millimeters a year in the western parts of
Rajasthan to over 9,000 millimeters in the
northeastern state of Meghalaya. Floods and
droughts are both common throughout the country.
While the number of people with access to safe
drinking water and adequate sanitation increased
between 1980 and 1990, population growth erased
any substantial gain, especially in urban areas.
Between 1990 and 2000 an additional 900 million
people are projected to be born in regions without
access to safe water and sanitation. India’s
vulnerability to regional water scarcity is well
illustrated by the case of Rajasthan, a state in
northwest India. Situated in one of the most
inhospitable arid zones in the world, Rajasthan’s
northwest corner extends into the vast Thar Desert.
With a wide range of temperatures and an
unpredictable monsoon climate, drought and
desertification are common, and water is a scarce
commodity. Even those who live in areas of high
rainfall in India often face drought because
landscapes have been denuded. Soil is compacted
* Lecturer in Civil Engineering Department, Govt. College of Engineering, Aurangabad
e-mail : gkpl13@rediffmail.com
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and most rainfall runs off before it can sink into the
ground, increasing flooding. The region of
Cheerapunji in Meghalaya, for example, receives
among the highest levels of mean rainfall recorded
in the world. Yet because of intense seasonal rainfall
and the fact that the area’s forests have been cleared
in the past few decades to meet growing demands
for agricultural land and housing, much of the runoff
cannot be captured. The region now suffers from
excessive flooding for three or four months and
frequent droughts the rest of the year.
NATIONAL WATER RESOURCES AT A GLANCE
Quantity (Cu.Km)
Precipitation Volume
(Including snowfall 4000
Annual Potential flow in Rivers 1869
Water Availability (1997) 1967
Utilizable Water Resources 1122
After decades of work by governments and
organization to bring potable water to poorer people
of the world, the situation is still dire. The reasons
are many and varied. The poor of the world cannot
afford the capital intensive and technically complex
traditional water supply systems which are widely
promoted by government and agencies throughout
the world. Water is the key of life, presence of water
and its absence determine the fertility of the bareness
of the land and the ecosystem that surrounds it. Soil
erosion takes place on steep slope because no
obstruction to flowing water. “Water is explosive;
not to shunt loose”
In degraded watershed, which lacks forests
and cropland conservation measures, water running
downhill too fast erodes soils and washes out crops.
It pollutes streams or fills lakes with sediment. It
causes frequent flash floods and contributes to
bigger floods downstream. In a well managed
watershed, most of the storm water soaks into the
soil, increasing groundwater supplies and providing
crops, pastures and trees with needed moisture.
Floods are controlled. The overall objectives of all
watershed management programmes are:
� To increase infiltration into soil
� To control damaging excess runoff
� To manage and utilize runoff for useful
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purposes
In India out of about 328 million hectares,
about 175 million hectares of land is classified as
wasteland. Most of this wasteland can be
transformed into a precious and bountiful natural
capital in order to overcome this water crisis. The
denuded forestlands have great potential for
producing fodder, fuel and low quality timber. To
achieve this, it is necessary to adopt the different
soil and water conservation engineering measures,
supplemented with proper afforestation techniques,
grassland development. In the top portion of
catchment area, Contour trenches are excavated all
along a uniform level across of the slope of the land.
Bunds are formed downstream along the trenches
with material taken out of them to create more
favourable moisture conditions and thus accelerate
the growth of vegetation. Contour trenches break
the velocity of runoff. The rainwater percolates
through the soil slowly and travels down and
benefits the better types of land in the middle and
lower sections of the catchments REFILLED
CONTINUOUS CONTOUR TRENCHING
(RCCT ) method is the solution for watershed
management: soil conservation and water
conservation.
WHAT IS REFILLED CONTINUOUS
CONTOUR TRENCHING TECHNOLOGY?
The RCCT work starts from top to the
bottom of the hill, so that total area is covered with
not only retention of soil in it’s own place but also
arrests every drop of water and infiltrate into the
subsoil instead of flowing as surface water with
evaporation losses making soil erosion. It recharges
downstream water sources e.g. nalla, dug wells, tube
wells etc. This particular technique has proved most
effective. Principle behind this technique can be
narrated as
“ONE WHICH IS RUNNING, MAKE IT
TO WALK;
ONE, WHICH IS WALKING, MAKES IT
TO STOP;
ONE WHICH IS STOPPED, LET IT BE
ABSORB IN SUBSOIL”
When rainwater is in excess, allow it to pass
through subsoil to down below drains. This gives
desired effect of zero to minimum soil erosion and

once subsoil water starts draining due to obstruction,
moisture detain for more period which is in term
available for plant growth. This RCCT Technology
reduces soil erosion to minimum level and the plant
growth on such trenches is very promising with 90%
to 95% survival rate with increase in height of plant
from 45 cm basic height to 2m within only 6 months.
This method can be adopted in low rainfall area to
high rainfall area up to 3200mm and from flat area
to hilly area with 65% steep slope. This method is
suitable for plantation of all species and easy, simple
for laborers and comparatively less record keeping.
The most advantage of this method is easy and detail
checking is possible at a glance.
RCCT has proven that the wasteland can
be transformed into natural capital at very low cost,
within a short span of time and with guaranteed and
instantaneous results. RCCT is proven to be
applicable to diverse agro-climatic zones for
watershed development, soil conservation and
forestation. RCCT isbased on knowkedge input as
against costly material and capital inputs used in
other conventional techniques of watershed
development.
In Maharashtra state (INDIA), within last
eight years 30,000 hectares forest area is covered
with this RCCT Technology. The average length of
RCCT is 1200m per hectare. The number of plants
actually planted in the above mentioned area is 540
lakhs with average survival rate 94.25%. The rainfall
ranges from 200 mm to 3200 mm. The approximate
quantity of water conservation is 89.155 million
cubic meters. Considering 50% evaporation and
other losses, 44.58 million cubic meter is infiltrated
into the soil strata.
METHODOLOGY
Assumption :
For the watershed area with soil cover more
than 30 cm to be treated, average length of CCT per
hectare is 1200 meter gives good result. Similarly
for soil cover in between 10 cm to 30 cm, average
length of CCT per hectare is 1060 meter and for the
area with soil covers less than 10 cm, average length
of CCT is 200 meter assumed.
Collection Of Data :
After selection of area where afforestation
activity to be carried out, first of all detail inspection
333
of the total area is necessary for collection of data
about
1. Available depth of soil cover
2. Width and length of the streams in selected area
3. Area and definate boundary marking
4. Ground levels at bottom and top of the hills,
5. Horizontal distance between bottom and top
of the hill
Theory :
1. From the collected data and map of the area,
total work to be carried out can be worked out.
Similarly possible minimum and maximum
length of CCT can be worked out.
2. From that data, average length of the trench can
be calculated.
3. umber of CCT line is calculated by using the
relation,
No. of CCT line == Total work to be done /
average length of CCT
4. Hight difference between top and bottom of the
hill is calculated by using the collected data.
5. Contour interval can be calculated by using the
relation,
Contour interval == Total height difference /
no. of CCT line.
Instruments : Following equipment are used
1. CONTOUR MARKER: Contour marker
consists of two staff members of 1meter to 1.50
meter height with piezometric transparent tube
of 12 meter length to show the level difference
between two points. Every staff member
consists of scale of 1meter or 1.50 meter. Each
centimeter of scale is divided into four parts
with accuracy of 0.25 cm. This instrument is
used for finding out contour interval as well as
to lay out the contour.
2. CENTRELINE MARKER: Centerline marker
is simple instrument having two edges about
35 cm apart with handle at center. Centerline
of CCT is marked with the help of centerline
marker.
3. SPACEMENT MARKER is the instrument
used for marking position of plantation at
specified spacing. The instrument consists of
three pegs at equidistant at specified spacing of
plantation with handle at center. The spacement
marker is operated across the centerline starting

from one end with reference to the last point as
first point for the next position. The point where
cross line matches to the centerline, point is for
plantation.
Process of Laying Out Contour :
The process starts from top of the hill.
Contour marker is the instrument for laying of
contour and marking of contour lines at calculated
contour interval. One staff member at one point and
another staff member at fullest length which is
roughly 12 meter. Once reading is same at both
points, two points are marked. First person with staff
or follower has not to move till the contouring
between two points is completed. Once farthest two
points marked, person “LEADER” again come back
close to follower & goes on selecting & fixing points
of equal height till he reaches to the original farthest
point. This method of measurement is called “
Whole to Part”. In this method, error is minimized
or avoided completely and check is obtained. Once
LEADER reaches his original point, then follower
becomes LEADER. The process continues till
completion of that particular CCT line. For change
in CCT line, contour interval is taken into
consideration. Similarly the total CCT lines are
marked.
Simultaneously, number of CCT lines can
be operated for speedy completion of work. All spots
are marked with lime or by putting a small stone to
avoid confusion. Once lines are marked, digging of
trench operation is started. To maintain accuracy in
digging original marking is kept untouched & about
5cm apart . Size of trenches is 60 cm * 30 cm. Upper
fertile layer of soil is deposited on uphill side of the
trench & remaining material like murum, boulder
of size more than 20 cm on downhill side. Wherever
plenty of stones are available, contour bunds are
constructed on downhill side in advance and then
digging of trench is started on up hillside of bund.
Trenches are kept expose to weather for about two
months. After this operation, refilling operation
starts. In this operation, for refilling good quality
comparatively fertile soil, which is stored on uphill
with topsoil layer upto 1meter width of that area, is
utilized. It is necessary to develop the perfect shape
with 55cm to 60cm central depths as shown in figure
no.3.
During transportation of plants from
nursery, it is necessary to provide cushion layer of
grass to avoid damage to the plants due to shocks.
The plants should be arranged in vertical position
in two layers maximum. At the time of unloading,
it is necessary to take utmost care of seedlings so
that minimum damages or injury to the plants. Plants
are to be unloaded at convenient places where from
transport to actual planting site is easy. They should
be arranged in upright position.
Plantation Procedure:
In draught prone area, Nature is very tricky;
it may rain torrential or may not at all for longer
period. And even it rains, there is large dry spell.
This is the most critical point to be thought at the
time of planting. In order to have success, it is
essential to protect the plant at initial stage of
transplantation during dry spells.
The plantation operation is carried out with
optimum management of man power and time. The
plantation team consists of 15 persons with
plantation of 750 plants/day. The plantation
operation is divided in following stages;
Centerline marker 1 To mark the centerline
Spacement marker 1 To mark the cross line
Digger 1 For digging polypot
Excavator 3 For removing the soil from polypot
Fertiliserer 1 For specified dosing of fertilizer
Cutter 1 For taking cut from the top to centerline of bottom of one side of polybag
Planter 3 For plantation of plants by removing the plastic polybag Taking the plant on
forearm and gently put in polypot pit filling the vacuum with adjoining soil
and gentle press is given with hands
Porter 3 For transportation of plants to actual plantation site
Drainer 1 For wetting the plants till it is saturated
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The plantation process starts with formation of
groups of 15 persons in each group. The plantation
area is distributed in the formed groups. After
draining of seedlings, every person transports the
plants to plantation site while proceeding for on site.
Then three persons are allotted separately for
transportation of plants. In order to have success, it
is essential to protect the plant at initial stage of
transplantation during dry spells. For that the poly
plants is fully drained with water till all air bubbles
from bag are out and the surrounding soil is fully
saturated. The excess water from polybag is
removed.
Centerline of CCT is marked with the help
of CENTERLINE marker. The SPACEMENT
marker is operated across the centerline starting
from one end with reference to the last point as first
point for the next position. The point where cross
line matches to the centerline, that point is for
plantation. Simultaneously drained seedlings are
transported and laid all along ridge of the contour
on the upper side of the cross, which is actual
plantation spot. The digger digs it to the specified
size followed by the excavator. Excavator excavate
the pit to the size required for plantation followed
Human resources per hectare :
Cost structure per hectare :
by cutter, who is taking cut from the top to centerline
of bottom of one side of polybag. Fertiliserer, who
is spreading the specified dose of fertilizer in the
pit, follows cutter. Then planter is planting the plants
by removing the plastic polybag and taking the
plant on forearm and gently put in polypot pit.
Filling the vacuum with adjoining soil and gentle
press is given with hands. This process continues
till completion of plantation.
The economics of this RCCT technology is
very interesting. One milliliter rainfall in one hectare
area in which RCCT works are completed collects
10,000 liter water. If the annual average rainfall in
that area is 500 milliliter and considering 50%
evaporation losses, 2.5 million liters of water is
infiltrated in subsoil to recharge down below water
sources. Now a day in hilly areas, drinking water
problem is so sever that water tanker supply is
compulsory for survival of people. Considering
capacity of tanker 10,000 liter and cost of one trip
from water source to needy area is Rs. 500 per trip
average, RCCT works supply 250 tanker/hectare/
year worth cost Rs. 1,25,000. The expenditure for
one hectare is approximately Rs. 30,000 in four
Sr No Description Man days
1 Laying contours 8-10
2 Digging contours 200
3 Raising seedling in the nursery 30
4 Refilling contours and planting 175
5 Maintaining plantation 60 + 25 + 15 +10
Sr No Description Cost per hectare
1 Development cost per labourers Rs. 31500.00
2 Seeds, jute bags & soil mixture Rs. 600.00
3 contengencies Rs. 948.00
4 Labour amenities Rs.1264.00
5 overheads Rs.5688.00
6 Total cost Rs. 40000.00
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years. So that benefit cost ratio comes 4.17 from
indirect benefits for one year only. The cost of water
conservation for RCCT is Rs.6.00/M3 comparing
with percolation tank, Rs.25/ M3 and major
irrigation project RS.35/ M3.There is no
displacement of tribal, no water logging problem,
no mosquito breeding site created, no pumping
required, less water treatment require. This is
decentralized water conservation technique.
Considering the micro watershed, necessary
treatment is applied. This removes root cause of soil
erosion and depleting ground water levels. The
production of grass in one hectare is approximately
2 to 3 MT/hectare costing Rs. 1000/MT and thinning
operation gives firewood and other products of
worth cost approximately Rs. 6400/hectare.
Appreciation of land due to his woks increases in
three fold because the no irrigated land gets
converted into well irrigated land. Farmers are
taking double season cash crops in place of single
crop.
ADVANTAGES
1. Barren land gets permanent biomass cover
and soil protection
2. Soil loss in cultivable area becomes nil
3. Every drop of rain is held in situ
4. Augmentation of ground water without
grouting
5. Good soil moisture and good ground water
available in the wells, tube wells and tanks
6. Increase in life of dams, prevention of floods
by avoiding silting
7. No displacement of communities or creation
of environmental refugees and hence no
rehabilitation costs
8. No migration of villagers to cities as the local
water availability ensures livelihood
sustainability
9. Decentralized and democratic water
management
10. Evaporation losses are negligible as compared
to tanks and dams
11. No separate nullah bunding, gully plugging
and such other civil structures
12. Accelerates soil formation and natural
succession dramatically
13. Increases fodder resources for feeding cattle
and livestock
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14. Increased agricultural and biomass production
15. Guaranteed mass employment generation to
rural people at their doorstep
16. Land value increases significantly
17. Increases crop intensity and biodiversity
18. Women free from the drudgery of finding
and fetching water, fuel and fodder from
distant places
19. Clean water for drinking purposes.
DISADVANTAGES :
1. Very tedious and laborious for alignment
2. Time consuming
3. Requirement of accuracy skilled labours and
instruments like contour marker.
4. There is potential danger of water flowing
along the upper edge in case the trench breaks.
CASE STUDY : Dolasane, Tal. Sangamner, Dist.
Ahmednagar (Maharashtra) India
Dolasane village has an forest area of
524.40 ha. Total 145 ha. Area was treated with
RCCT method.
The impact of RCCT work on village has
been clearly indicated;
• Agriculture: yield per acre increased from 50
kg to 500 kg per acre of bajra and wheat.
• Irrigation : 95% agriculture is rainfed has
changed to well irrigated due to increase in
water level of wells.
• Grazing :cattle population is reduced from
6358 to 1115 with increase in milk production.
• Control of soil erosion & flash floods
• Income generation: farmers with four acre
land can make a profit of Rs. One lakh
minimum per year.
No. Description Data
1 Name of village Dolasane
2 Village area 1185 ha
3 Number of households 271
4 Annual rainfall 293 mm
4 Average number of members 05
5 Total population 1356
5a Men 533
5b Women 434
5c Children 389

DOLASANE , SANGAMNER RANGE I, SANGAMNER SUBDIVISION,
AHMEDNAGAR DIVISION
1 Name of the work WGS Scheme
2 Year of plantation 1995-96 (soil treatment work 1994-95)
3 Location FS no.208 Nasik—Pune Highway
4 Area in hectares 40
4A zone I Soil layer

PLANTATION DETAILS :
Sr DESCRIPTION DETAILS
1 Original habitant species/trees/bushes Tarvad (Cassia auriculata),babhul
(Acacia nilotica spp. indica), henkal
(Gymonsporia montana)
2 Presence of natural forest/trees/bushes in past Yes
3 Approximate years of deforestation 25 years
3A Reason for deforestation Heavy grazing & illicit cutting
4 Selected species for plantation GIRTH HIGHT SURVIVAL
4A Neem( Azadirachta indica) —17729 4/5cm 2.50m 100%
4B Sisso(Dalbergia sissoo) —4629 4/5cm 2.00m 100%
4C Siras(Albizia lebbek)—3175 2/3cm 1.00m 50%
4D Bor(Zizyphus mauritiana)—3175 2/3cm 1.00m 50%
4E Subabhul( Leucenia lucocephala)— 17729 6cm 4.00m 100%
4F Sitaphal(Anona squamosa)—1550 3/4cm 0.60m 50%
4G A.Tortolis—4700 4/5cm 2.00m 100%
4H Nilgiri (Eucalyptus)—500 6/7cm 4.00m 100%
5 Spacing for plantation 0.67m
6 Total number of plants 53187
7 Total number of plants/hectare 1715
8 Grass plantation Dinanath 30kg, hemata-25kg,ber-10kg,
shed-15kg
Details of Water Levels in Wells Downstream Of the Area Where RCCT Work Is Carried Out
Name of Village Depth of Water level in m
farmer well in m 01.05.97 01.10.97 01.03.98 01.05.98 01.07.98
S.R.Jadhav Dolasane 6.6 0.9 3.5 4.5 1.4 4.5
R.S.Gadekar Dolasane 10.5 150 9 6 5 8
R.L.Vajhe Dolasane 10.5 1.5 5.3 6 5.1 6.5
S.B.Kadone Chandanapuri 17 — — 5 1.7 7
R.V.Rahane Chandanapuri 18 — — 5 2 9
S.V.Rahane Chandanapuri 20 — — 2.7 1.1 10
V.M.Momin Varude 12 5.5 10 6.5 5.5 5.5
B.S.Bhagwan Varude 12 1.8 11 8.5 8.1 8.15
B.S.Jadhav Karjule 11 3.6 7.1 7 6 7.2
CONCLUSION
The CCT helps to increase the water levels in the surrounding areas/ dug wells and tube wells which
increases the yield of farms due to change in crop pattern from food grains to cash crops. This will also avoid
loss of soil due to erosion , increase the grass coverage which will helpful for soil stabilization. Due to CCT
tree development is better than any other type of trenching.
� � �
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National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
60. Planning and Design of a Rain Water Harvesting System
for a Watershed of Uttaranchal
INTRODUCTION
In modern concept of planning and
implementation of programmes for enhancing and
sustaining the land productivity and efficient
rainwater utilization; watershed - a geographical unit
has been accepted as the most rational unit. The
word ‘watershed’, introduced in 1920, was used for
the ‘water parting boundaries’. Watershed is that
land area which drains or contributes runoff to a
common outlet. In physical terms, a watershed refer
to the area lying above a given drainage point.
Watershed management involves management of
land surface and vegetation so as to conserve the
soil and water for immediate and long-term benefits
to the farmers, community and society as a whole.
It is an integration of technologies within the natural
*P. K. Gupta *H.C. Sharma *Vinod Kumar
ABSTRACT
The Henwal watershed is located in Tehri Garhwal district of Uttaranchal,
between 30° 15' to 30° 20' N latitude and 78° 25' to 78° 30' E longitude, at an altitude
of about 1500 m above msl. Most of the area is under rainfed agriculture, due to lack
of irrigation facilities. The daily rainfall data of 14 years, of the watershed area, were
analyzed for probability distribution at different levels. The analysis of estimated daily
runoff values for 14 years showed that the annual runoff, more than 500 mm, was
observed in 4 years, between 400 mm and 500 mm in 5 years and less than 400 mm in
4 years. The average annual and seasonal runoffs were found to be 431.7 mm and
292.4 mm, respectively. The average seasonal runoff was found to be 70 per cent of
annual runoff. The expected runoff and seasonal runoff during the first excess period
was 665000 m 3 and for second excess period was 175000 m 3 . On the basis of above the
rainwater-harvesting pond was designed for Henwal watershed having a catchment
area of 351 ha and command area of 315 ha. The bottom width, top length and height
of the designed pond were 2.5, 16.6 and 3 m, respectively. The pond would have a
storage capacity of 5027.4 m 3 . The total cost (excavation cost, LDPE sheet and stone
pitching) of the pond was estimated to be Rs. 146689 and the cost per m 3 of stored
water comes to be Rs. 29/m 3 .
boundaries of drainage area for optimum
development of land, water and plant resources to
meet the basic needs of people in a sustained
manner. The main objective of watershed
management is “Proper use of all the available
resources of a watershed for optimum production
with minimum hazards to natural resources”. How
can we, under such constraints, manage to boost
agricultural production in these areas in order to
satisfy the multiplying food demand of our growing
population, whereas, irrigation would certainly be
the best method, it requires much water, which is
scare in arid and semi-arid countries. Water
harvesting may be one of the solutions to overcome
the problem of scarcity of water for irrigation. Water
harvesting in its broadest sense may be defined as
Department of Irrigation & Drainage Engineering, College of Technology
G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar- 263145, District Udham Singh Nagar (
Uttaranchal)
339

“Collection of runoff for its productive use”. Runoff
may be harvested from roofs and ground surfaces
as well as from intermittent watercourses.
Productive use includes provision of domestic and
stock water, concentration of runoff for crops,
fodder and tree production and less frequently water
supply for fish and duck ponds.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study Area
The Henwal watershed belongs to the
central part of district Tehri Garhwal and is located
adjacent to Hill Campus, G.B. Pant University of
Agriculture and Technology, Ranichauri, between
30 0 15' to 30 0 20' N latitude and 78 0 25' to 78 0 30' E
longitude, at an altitude of 1500 m above msl (Fig.
1). The climate of the area is monsoonic. Mean
Hill Campus, G.B. Pant University of
Agriculture and Technology, Ranichauri
Fig. 1. Index map of the study area
340
maximum temperature ranged from 10.6 0 C
(January) to 25.5 0 C (May). The mean minimum
temperature varied from 1.9 0 C (January) to 14.9
0 C (August). Humidity, as recorded at 2 P.M., was
minimum (30.4%) during April and maximum
(83%) during August. Mean annual rainfall was
about 1271 mm. The average monthly rainfall
ranged between 12 mm (during November) to 266
mm (during August). Based on temperature, rainfall
and humidity characteristics, the year could be
divided into three different seasons viz. summer,
rainy and winter. Total geographical area of the
watershed is 666 ha. Most of the area is under
rainfed agriculture, due to lack of irrigation
facilities. On the basis of revenue records of the
area, the average land use is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Present land use of watershed.
Area under Area under Area not available
Forest (%) cultivation (%) for agricultural
use (Roads,
habitation and
waste land) (%)
34.7 62.37 2.93
The information on crops being grown in
the watershed was collected by interviewing farmers
of the catchment area and from the revenue records.
Maize, sorghum and black-gram were the commonly
grown crops in kharif season, whereas, in rabi
season, wheat, barley, gram and mustard were the
commonly grown crops.
Probability Analysis of Rainfall
The daily rainfall data of 14 years, of the
watershed area under study, were collected from the
agro-meteorological observatory, Ranichauri. The
collected rainfall data were analyzed for probability
distribution at different levels, using the technique
proposed by Weibull (1939).
Surface Runoff and Irrigation Water
Requirement
The surface runoff from the watershed area
and irrigation water requirement were estimated by
SCS Curve Number Method and CROPWAT
software, respectively. Crop evapo-transpiration and
effective rainfall were also determined by using the
CROPWAT software. The whole year was divided
into four periods i.e. mid-June to mid-September,
mid-September to December, January to March and
April to mid June. The first and third periods are
surplus ones while second (autumn) and fourth
(summer) are the deficit ones. Thus, the irrigation
is required mainly during autumn and summer,
except in abnormal years when irrigation may be
required due to prolonged dry spell during surplus
period.
Water Harvesting System
Due to wide variability in terrain and
topography in hilly region, a single design cannot
serve the purpose and harvesting water efficiently.
Keeping this in view, following two types of
irrigation systems were designed to suit different
341
topographic conditions :
i. irrigation system based on runoff recycling; and
ii. irrigation system based on very low discharge
springs and streams (1 to 10 lpm).
i) Irrigation System Based on Runoff
Recycling
The design criteria of runoff recycling based
irrigation system includes size of tanks and
catchment command area ratio (n). The final size
of tank can be determined as follows :
VT = IA * A + Losses
...(1)
Subjected to
RW * N * A > IS*
A + losses
where
V = capacity of tank (liter);
T
I = gross irrigation requirement during summer
S
crop (April to mid June) (mm);
A = command area (m2 );
R = runoff during winter surplus season;
W
N = catchment command ratio; and
I = gross irrigation requirement during autumn
A
...(2) crop.
It is assumed that the tank will be full after
monsoon, and the water needed during summer will
be met by runoff during winter.
Model development for optimal pond design :
The pond is considered as partially
excavated and partially embankment type. Thus is
mainly to avoid unnecessary disposal of spoil and
transporting extra earth from borrow pits. Therefore,
the volume of excavation is considered to be equal
to the volume of embankment to design
economically. This was considered as one constraint
for the optimization model. The geometrical
formulae used for determination of design
components were derived based on principle of solid
geometry.
The classical optimization model, using
Lagrange multiplier, was used to obtain the optimal
design of pond. The objective function of the model
is to maximize, the storage capacity of pond subject
to the constraints that the volume of earthwork is
equal to volume of embankment. Mathematically,

the model may be represented as :
Maximize
Subject to
where
⎛ D + H ⎞
Vsc
= ⎜ ⎟[ CX
⎝ 3 ⎠
D 2
Vdug
= [ CX
3
To obtain the necessary conditions for
maxima / minima, the augmented Lagrange function
is derived as :
where ë is Lagrange multiplier differentiating
equation (13) with respect to H and λ, and applying
the necessary conditions for optimization the
following equation in terms of H is obtained as:
where,
P = 24Z + 2CXZ + 2XZ + 8DZ
Q = 4CX + 4X + 16DZ + 16
2
(C + 2) + 2Z(D + H) (2CX + X + 2Z(D + H))]
(C + 2) + 2DZ(2CX + X + 2DZ)]
3 2
AH + PH + QH + R = 0
25
A =
3
2
Z
2
...(9)
...( 10)
...( 11)
...(12)
...(3)
…(
4)
...(5)
….(6)
…(7)
1 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 2 4 3 2
R = - ( C DX + CDX + CD XZ + D XZ + D Z )
3
3 3 3 3
...(13)
X= bottom width (m), Y= bottom length (m), D=
excavated depth (m), H= height of embankment (m),
Z=side slopes (H : V), T = top width of the
embankment (m), V = storage capacity (m SC 3 ), Vdug = dug volume (m3 ), V = volume of embankment
emb
( m3 ), A = wetted surface area, m w 2 and A = s
exposed surface area (m2 ).
The value of the top width of the
embankment (T) is taken as 2 m for all sides of the
embankment. The bed length is transformed into
ratio (C) to facilitate the computation i.e. C = Y/X
where Y and X are bed length and bed width,
respectively.
General design procedure : The general steps
followed in the design of water harvesting
structures are :
a). Hydrologic design, b). Hydraulic design, and
c). Structural design.
Hydrologic design : It involves the estimation of
peak rate of runoff required to be passed safely
through a given structure and runoff volume or water
yield required to be stored in a pond. The choice of
design frequency depends upon the type of structure,
whether temporary, semi-permanent or permanent.
Intensity- duration- frequency relationship is
necessary to calculate risk and design a structure
that will accommodate the largest rain storm
expected during a particular length of time. Rational
method is generally used for the estimation of peak
rate of discharge.
2
2 1 3 2
VL(H.
...( Zemb8 = ) V2[{T
λsc)
+ = ZH} VH]
sc [{X(C - λ (V + 1) + dug 4Z(D−
+ VH)}]
emb + [4T ) H + 4TH Z + H Z ]
3
VHydraulic = Vemb
Design : Hydraulic design includes the
determination of a). storage capacity and storage
dimensions of water harvesting structure; and b).
fixing of spillway dimensions for safe disposal of
design peak flow (water should flow through the
structure safely without overtopping the bank and
when it leaves the structure its energy should be
dissipated).
342
dug …
The selection of site should begin with
preliminary studies of possible sites. The site should
have enough catchments of provide runoff sufficient
to fill the pond. The low point of a natural depression
is considered a good location. From economic point
of view, a pond should be located where a largest
volume can be obtained with least earthwork.
Location should also have a favorable outlet
condition for excess runoff disposal from the pond.
The sub-soil should allow minimum seepage as far
as possible. In case the seepage rate at the site are
excessive, good fill material or lining material
should be available in the vicinity. The design of
dugout pond for supplemental irrigation envisages
...(3)
( 4)
…

the determination of specification for the (a) storage
capacity, (b) shape, (c) dimensions (top bottom,
depth, side slope), (d) inlet, and (e) outlet.
The monthly mean pan evaporation data
obtained from the Ranichauri meteorological
observatory was multiplied with a factor 0.7 to get
pond surface area and evaporation (Duggal and
Soni, 1996). The volume of the water evaporated
from the surface of the pond was determined by
multiplying the corrected evaporation with the
average surface area of the pond. 10% of storage
capacity was kept as provisions for the loss in
storage capacity due to siltation.
ii) Irrigation System Based on Very Low
Discharge Spring / Stream
It has been found that low discharge springs
and streams having discharge between 1 to 10 lpm
are very common in hills and they are either
unutilized or grossly under utilized for irrigation
because of a high proportion of application loss due
to low discharge. If the cost of storage tank is low,
this discharge can be stored in tanks and used when
required at a reasonably low cost.
The first and for most components in design
of any irrigation system is the determination of total
irrigation requirement. Since vegetable cultivation
is the most profitable, in the region under irrigation
conditions, only vegetable rotation was considered
for this system. The analysis showed that irrigation
was required during two seasons: (a). autumn
(October to December), and (b). summer (late March
to early June). Since these two irrigation seasons
are preceded by wet season i.e. rainy and winter,
the discharge during this period is surplus and goes
waste. If the water is carried over to deficit season
by storing, the command area can be increased.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Hydrological Analysis
Rainfall : Rainfall data of Ranichauri for the years
1988 to 2002 were analyzed. The maximum annual
rainfall value during the period of study was found
to be 1840 mm in 1998 and the minimum was 719
mm in 2001. The maximum seasonal rainfall during
monsoon season was 1061 mm in 1995 and
minimum 367 in 2001. The highest rainfall was
found in the month of August and lowest rainfall
was in the month of November. The highest value
of weekly rainfall was observed in the 33 th standard
meteorological week and 43 rd had lowest rainfall in
the whole monsoon period. The seasonal rainfall in
terms of percent of annual rainfall is shown in Table
2. From this table, it is evident that the average
seasonal rainfall was about 63 per cent of annual
rainfall. The probabilities and recurrence interval
of annual, seasonal and maximum weekly rainfalls
for the period 1988-2002 are shown in Table 3. The
excepted annual rainfall at different per cent
probability levels are shown in Fig. 2.
Table 2. Seasonal rainfall in terms of percent of annual rainfall at Henwal watershed.
Year Annual Seasonal Seasonal Year Annual Seasonal Seasonal
rainfall rainfall rainfall as rainfall rainfall rainfall
(mm) (mm) % of annual (mm) (mm) as % of
rainfall annual rainfall
1988 1452.34 1000.24 68.87 1994 1175.50 866.30 73.70
1989 1185.00 718.60 60.64 1995 1386.80 1061.40 76.54
1990 1542.20 787.00 51.03 1998 1840.20 1005.50 54.64
1991 1056.70 698.30 66.08 2000 1334.40 902.70 67.65
1992 855.30 541.70 63.33 2001 719.10 367.80 51.15
1993 1452.20 995.40 68.54 2002 1255.40 664.40 52.92
343

Table 3. Probability and recurrence interval of seasonal rainfall during monsoon period at
Henwal watershed.
No. Year Seasonal Rainfall in P = T = 1/P P (%)
rainfall (mm) decreasing order N/(M+1)
1 1988 1000.24 1061.40 0.08 13.00 7.69
2 1989 718.60 1005.50 0.15 6.50 15.38
3 1990 787.00 1000.24 0.23 4.33 23.08
4 1991 698.30 995.40 0.31 3.25 30.77
5 1992 541.70 902.70 0.38 2.60 38.46
6 1993 995.40 866.30 0.46 2.17 46.15
7 1994 866.30 787.00 0.54 1.86 53.85
8 1995 1061.40 718.60 0.62 1.63 61.54
9 1998 1005.50 698.30 0.69 1.44 69.23
10 2000 902.70 664.40 0.77 1.30 76.92
11 2001 367.80 541.70 0.85 1.18 84.62
12 2002 664.40 367.80 0.92 1.08 92.31
The climate balance based on rainfall and
evapo-transpiration data showed that there were two
excess and two deficit periods (Fig 3). The first
excess period was from the 28 th week to 38 th week
and second from the 2 nd week to the 8 th week. It is
evident from Fig. 3 that crops face moisture stress
from 39 th to 1 st standard meteorological week and
from 9 th week to 27 th week. The first spell coincided
with the sowing of rabi crop and its first critical
stage of irrigation. Thus irrigation is required to
mitigate moisture stress in this critical period.
Rainfall, mm
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Estimation and Analysis of Runoff : On the basis
of the daily runoff values for 14 years, estimated by
ANN model, the annual runoff and seasonal runoff
values were computed for each year and are shown
in Table 4. The annual runoff more than 500 mm
was observed in 4 years, between 400 mm and
500 mm in 5 years, and less than 400 mm in 4 years.
The average annual and seasonal runoff was found
to be 431.7 mm and 292.4 mm, respectively. The
average seasonal runoff was found to be 70 per cent
of annual runoff. The expected runoff and seasonal
runoff during the first excess period was 665000
m 3 and for second excess period was 175000 m 3 .
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Probability (%)
Fig. 2 : Annual rainfall at different probability levels.
344

Hydrological Parameters (mm)
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Open pan evaporation Rainfall Runoff
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51
Standard meteorological week number.
Fig. 3 : Climatic balance of Henwal watershed
Irrigation Water Requirement
The monthly reference evapo-transpiration (ET o ) was estimated by ‘Cropwat’ software. From Table
5, it is evident that the ET o is maximum (4.85 mm/day) in May and minimum (1.37 mm/day) in January.
Total reference evapo-transpiration (ETo) for complete year was found to be is about 1098.02 mm. Total
crop evapo-transpiration (ET c ) for different crops such as maize, sorghum, small vegetables, barley, potato
and pulses was 500 mm, the total irrigation requirement was found to be 189.78 mm. Gross irrigation
requirement in summer season (I S ) (March to mid June) was found to be 12.67 mm and in autumn season in
September to December (I A ) it was 133 mm.
Table 4 : Year-wise annual rainfall, annual runoff and seasonal runoff.
Year Annual Seasonal Seasonal Year Annual Seasonal Seasonal
runoff runoff runoff as runoff runoff runoff as
(mm) (mm) % of annual (mm) (mm) % of annual
runoff runoff
1988 550.57 411.08 74.66 1995 536.24 431.9 80.54
1989 440.33 260.19 59.09 1998 654.24 342.73 52.39
1990 510.3 285.6 55.97 2000 473.71 339.29 71.62
1991 343.46 239.14 69.63 2001 112.77 59.00 52.32
1992 254.3 174.34 68.56 2002 481.84 258.37 53.62
1993 397.02 368.53 92.82
1994 425.48 338.93 79.66 Average 431.69 292.43 67.74
345

Table 5. Monthly reference
evapotranspiration (E T 0 ).
Month ET0 (mm/d)
Month ET0 (mm/d)
January 1.37 July 3.92
February 1.86 August 2.62
March 3.09 September 2.84
April 3.98 October 3.37
May 4.85 November 2.01
June 4.42 December 1.53
Design of Water Harvesting System for Henwal
Watershed
The geometrical relationships and classical
optimization techniques with an objective function
of maximizing the storage capacity of the pond,
satisfying the given constraints that the volume of
excavated earth equals the volume of fill required
for embankment were used for design of pond.
Pond design and regression analysis
The relationships of bed width (X), vs
storage capacity (V SC ), and bed width vs height of
embankment (H), were established for c = 1 (square
pond) and Z = 1 :1.5 for medium soil fitting to
polynomial and Weebull equations, respectively.
The relationship of bed width (X) Vs storage
capacity (V sc ) as as follows:
The relationship of height of embankment
versus bed width may be written as
Pond design and cost estimates based on runoff
recycle
The pond was designed for a catchment
area of 351 ha and command area of 315 ha. The
bottom length, top length and height was 2.5, 16.6
and 3 m, respectively. The pond had a storage
capacity of 5027.4 m 3 , the total cost (excavation
cost, LDPE sheet and stone pitching) of pond was
estimated to be Rs. 146689.125 and the cost per
m 3 of stored water comes to be Rs. 29/m 3 .
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Relationship between onset of monsoon with
sowing weeks and monthly seasonal rainfall at
346
Chandigarh. Journal of Indian Water Resources
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• Arnold, J.G. and Stockle, C.O., 1991.
Simulation of supplemental irrigation from farm
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• Babu, R. and Mishra, P., 2001. Farm pond in
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1993, FAO, Rome, pp 57-71.
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Hydraulic Structures. Khanna Publishers, New
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Dubey, L. N., 1989. Rain water harvesting for
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irrigation on steep slopes. Jl. of Irrigation and

Drainage Engineering, 129(3): 184-193.
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antecedent rainfall probability. Indian Jl. of Soil
Conservation, 23(1): 13-16.
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prediction of annual maximum daily rainfall for
Pantnagar. Ind. Journal of Soil Conservation,
27(2): 171-173.
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S., 1999. Applicability of SCS runoff model for
small tank catchments in Southern Tamil Nadu.
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Management : Experiences of Shivalik Foot Hill
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harvesting and recycling in northern hilly
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National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
61. Pressurized Irrigation System : An Advanced Irrigation Water
Management Technique For Bitter Gourd (Momordica Charentia)
*V. K. Pandey *Jai Prakash Bhart
ABSTRACT
Water being a limited resource, optimum utilization by efficient water management
techniques, is the key for food security in coming days. Pressurized irrigation is the only
tool for solving problem of water scarcity for Indian agriculture especially horticultural
crops. In the present investigation water requirement of Bitter Gourd (Momordica charentia)
under pressurized irrigation systems i.e. drip (8 lph and 4 lph) and micro sprinkler was
determined using climatological approach. Evapotranspiration (ET) values for various crop
growth stages like initial, developmental, mid season and late season stages were determined
as 164.4, 296.7, 220.9 and 119.3 mm respectively. Thus total ET for crop period was found
to be 801.3 mm. The seasonal water use of Bitter Gourd under 8 lph drip, 4 lph drip and
micro sprinkler were found to be 755.25 mm, 747.50 mm and 790.00 mm respectively. The
highest water use efficiency was found to be from 8 lph (50.7 kg/ha-mm), followed by 4 lph
drip (46.8 kg/ha-mm) and micro sprinkler (29.7 kg/ha-mm) as compared to conventional
method of irrigation. It was concluded that the drip system with drippers of 8 lph discharge
was found to be the most economical for the cultivation of summer bitter gourd for the
Chhattisgarh plain region.
Key words: Evapotranspiration, Pressurized irrigation, Water management, Water use
efficiency
INTRODUCTION
Drip and micro sprinkler irrigation systems are
advanced methods of irrigation through which water
is applied directly to root zone around the plant
through a pipe network with the help of emitters
and micro sprinklers, near consumptive use of the
plant. Drip and micro sprinkler irrigation saves
irrigation water to the extent of 30 - 80% (NCPA,
1998) and enhance the crop yield by 30 to 100%
(Sivanappan, 1998). These can reduce the
consumption by 30 to 50% as compared to the
conventional methods of irrigation. (Narayanmoorty,
1992). The overall application efficiency around
90% can be achieved by drip and micro sprinkler
irrigation where as the same was found to be 25 to
30% while using surface irrigation.
In India, the area under drip irrigation is only
about 0.25 Mha, which is very meager. India has
36% of the total irrigated area of the world where
the drip irrigation area is only 0.8%. Development
of irrigation is considered as the principal means of
removing the climatic constraints of water scarcity
for agricultural productions considering economical
status of the farmers. The area under drip irrigation
in the country has increased from a meagre 1500 ha
to about 70,000 ha and it was estimated that the area
under drip irrigation will be about one lack ha in
1998. More than 80% area has been covered by only
three states i.e. Maharastra (46.64%), Andhra
Pradesh (16.4%) and Karnataka (16.17%) in drip
irrigation.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
Field investigations were conducted during
* Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering,
Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur - 492006 (CG)
348

March to July, 2004 in the field size of 21 m x 14 m.
The sub main was laid along the width and the
laterals were laid along the length of the
experimental field. Pressure gauge, gate valve and
the filter unit were installed outside the pump house.
Submain of size 63 mm was connected to the filter
outlet with the help of bends, socket, and elbow.
The laterals were laid along the length of the field.
Micro sprinklers and drippers were connected on
laterals at specify spacing.
Monoblock pump (capacity 7.5 hp), pressure
gauge (range 0.0– 6.0 kg/sq cm) and gate valve (65
mm diameter) were used to control water supply
during the experiments. Water from the tube well
was collected in a tank constructed on the ground
surface. The water supply was bifurcated through
two pipes, one to the point source of application
and another was used as an outlet. A pressure
regulator was provided on this pipe to control the
water supply. Experimental details are presented in
the (Table 1).
Measurement of discharge
Micro sprinklers and drip assemblies were
subjected to five different pressures (0.50, 0.75, 1.00,
1.25 and 1.50 kg/cm 2 ) using 16 mm diameter lateral.
The water supplied for the experiment was a closed
loop. A 63 mm diameter PVC pipe was placed over
stake assembly and drippers to confine the discharge
into the plastic container directly. Irrigation water
was supplied from a well, filtered through an inline,
100 mesh screen. Test times varied with pressure,
drippers, micro sprinkler and laterals length used.
The water collected in the containers was measured
with the help of measuring cylinder. The specified
pressure was maintained during the tests within ±
5% of the base value as specified in ASAE standard.
Design parameters
The manifold and its laterals were designed
and operated as double unified system. The micro
sprinkler and drip irrigation system, which were
controlled by a single valve and inline filter. The
details of various design parameters were worked
out as follows:
Area : 12 m x 14 m = 168 m 2 ,
Water source : Tube well fed water tank,
Crop : Bitter Gourd, Climate: Semi-humid,
Wind : 2.5 kmph (acceptable limit),
349
Rainfall : 278.7 mm (during crop growing period),
Soil type : Sandy clay loam,
Infiltration rate : Average 12 mm/hr, ET crop : 10.23
mm, Ground water contribution: Nil
Effective root zoon depth (D): 0.4 m, Field capacity
of soil (FC) : 32 % (by weight)
Permanent wilting point (PWP) : 18% (by weight),
Critical point for system (CP): 0.85 (allowable
moisture depletion 15%), Available moisture
content: 27% (by weight)
Area for micro sprinkler design: 6 m x 14 m = 84
m 2 , Distribution efficiency (ç d ): 50%
Application efficiency ( ç a ): 85%, Lateral
spacing ( S r ): 1.5 m, Emitter spacing (S p ): 0.5 m
Bulk density (W): 1.38 g/cm 3 , Fraction of wetted
area ( W p ) : 0.4
Length of lateral (L 1 ): 14 m, Width of the field (W):
6 m, Spacing between two
laterals (S l ) : 1.5 m, Micro sprinkler spacing (S m ):
2.0 m
Design of drop and Micro Sprinkler
From the above mentioned parameter and field
data, the various parameters of micro sprinkler and
drip irrigation design were worked out separately.
Net depth (d ) of water to be applied in one
net
irrigation
FC − PWP
dnet = × W × ( 1 − CP)
× D × 1000
100
= 11.59 mm
Gross depth (d ) of water to be applied
gross
dnet
d gross = = 13.63 mm
Ea
Irrigation interval
dgross
=
ET
= 1 day
crop
ETcrop crop
= peak ET + losses = 10.2 + 2.2
= 12.4 mm
System capacity
It was assumed that 168 m 2 area will be
irrigated in two hrs in one day and fraction of the
total area wetted = 0.5
The main line was designed using Williams and

Hazens equations
Sub main: Area = 168 x 0.5 = 84 m 2
d gross = 0.01363 m, = 7200 sec.
Capacity (flow rate)
Q = (0.01363 x 84) / 7200
= 1.59 Õ 10 -4 m 3 /sec or = 572.46 lph
length of lateral - 14 m; Number of lateral - 8
Capacity of each lateral
Q lat = 572.46 / 8 = 71.55 lph
Emitter discharge
=
Gross depth of water × wetted area of
Duration of application
d gross At
q
t
×
= ,
= 2.55 lph
0 . 01363 × 0.
5 × 1.
5 × 0.
4
= ,
2
Daily water requirement :
The daily water requirement of crop grown
under drip irrigation method was estimated by using
the formula.
V = ET × S p × Sr
× Wp , = 10.2 x 0.5 x 1.5 x 0.4
= 3.06 litre per plant
Required discharge for micro sprinkler:
Application depth, Di = 0.50 x Mc x dr, = 0.50 x
0.27 x 0.40, = 5.4 cm
Number of laterals, ln = W/ S = 6/ 1.5, = 4
1,
Discharge of a lateral,
Q
Q × η × η
=
d a
1 ,
S n × ln
= 0.0318 lps
Discharge of a micro sprinkler,
Qs = Q1
× S s / L1
, = (70.318 x 2) / 14
= 0.045 lps
one plant
Estimation of quantity of water
The crop water requirement in drip and micro
sprinkler irrigation treatment was based on the
formula referred by Indian National Committee on
Irrigation and Drainage (INCID) in drip irrigation
in India (Anonymous, 1994) as:
V1 = E p × Kc
× K p × A × N
Net volume of water to be applied,
350
Vn = V1
− Re
× A
Number of operating hours of system (T) during a
week.
T =
Vn × Wp
no.
of dripper/
plant × no.
of plants × dripper discharge
T
Operating hours per application =
N.
m
Where,
V = volume of water applied in (litres), E = mean
1 p
pan evaporation for the week in (mm/day), K = the c
crop factor, K = the pan factor, A = the area to be
p
irrigated in (sq m), N = no. of days in a week, R = e
the effective rainfall in (mm), W = percentage
p
wetting
Nm = No. of application / week , T = No. of operation
hour/week
Water use, Crop yield and Water use efficiency
The seasonal water use of different irrigation
methods was worked out by simple water budgeting
method over the growing season under two modes
of irrigation. This facilitated the comparison of
seasonal water use of all irrigation methods. The
water use efficiency of different irrigation treatments
was worked out in order to evaluate its performances
in terms of per unit of water used. The irrigation
schedule adopted in the surface irrigation was based
on 50% depletion of available soil moisture at the
root zone depth.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Crop Water Requirement for Bitter Gourd
The value of ET peak and crop coefficient for
initial stage, development stage, mid season stage
and late season stage were found to be 7.3, 7.8, 6.5,
4.7 and 0.79, 0.94, 1.18, 1.14 respectively. The ET
values for these four stages were determined as
164.4, 296.7, 220.9 and 119.3 mm respectively. Thus
ET for whole crop period was found to be 801.3
mm and presented in the (Table 2).
Seasonal Water Use
The seasonal water use for the crop was
determined with all the irrigation treatments. The
lowest seasonal water use was found to be 747.5

mm in 4 lph drip followed by 755.25 mm in 8 lph drip
irrigation and 790 mm in micro sprinkler. (Table
3).
The percent saving in seasonal water use with
4 lph drip irrigation, 8lph drip irrigation and micro
sprinkler irrigation was calculated as 30.14%,
29.41% and 26.16% respectively, as compared to
the surface method of irrigation. These findings are
also supported by Magar et at. (1985) and
Sivanappan and Padmakumari (1980).
Yield parameter
The crop yield was evaluated with all the
irrigation treatments and compared to surface
irrigation. The highest yields from 8 lph was found
(212.49 q/ha), followed by 4 lph (202.79 q/ha) and
from micro sprinkler irrigation (169.17 q/ha)
presented in (Table 4). The percent increase yield
with 8 lph drip, 4 lph and micro sprinkler irrigation
was recorded as 36.89%, 30.60% and 8.98%
respectively as compared to surface method of
irrigation. These results are supported by
Sivanappan and padmakumari (1980) and Magar et
al. (1985).
Water Use Efficiency
The water use efficiency with 8 lph drip, 4 lph
drip and micro sprinkler was calculated and
compared to the surface irrigation. The highest water
use efficiency (50.7 kg/ha-mm) was found from 8
lph, followed by 4 lph drip (46.8 kg/ha-mm) and
from micro sprinkler (29.7 kg/ha-mm). The results
presented in the (Table 5).
CONCLUSIONS
The ET values for the initial stage,
development stage, mid season stage and late season
stage of Bitter Gourd were determined as 164.4,
296.7, 220.9 and 119.3 mm respectively. Thus total
ET for crop period was found to be 801.3 mm. The
seasonal water use of bitter gourd under micro
sprinkler, 8 lph drip and 4 lph drip was found to be
790 mm, 755.25 mm and 747.50 mm respectively.
The water use efficiency of Bitter Gourd under micro
sprinkler, 8 lph drip and 4 lph drip was found to be
29.7, 50.7 and 46.8 kg /ha-mm respectively. The
benefit-cost ratio for 8 lph drip, 4 lph drip and micro
sprinkler irrigation were found to be 4.26: 1, 3.69:
1 and 1.15: 1 respectively.
351
REFERENCES
• Anonymous, 1994. Drip irrigation in India. Indian
National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, July
1994, New Delhi.
• Berthelot, P. B. and Robertson, C. A. 1990. “A
comparative study of the financial and economic
viability of drip and overhead irrigation of sugarcane
in Mauritius.” Agric. Water Manage, 17: 307 - 315.
Battawar, H. B., Shukla, S. P. and Sachidanand, B.
1983. Evaluation of evapotranspiration and crop
coefficient values for vegetable and wheat, mousum.
34 (1): 51-54.
• Chaudhary, J. L. Sastri, A. S. R. A. S. 1992. The
evaporation and water requirement of important crops
in Chhattisgarh region. Bagirath., Vol. 19, No-1: 3-6.
• Darade, R. S. and Shinde U.R. 1993. Field
evaluation of hydraulic performances of static micro
sprinkler irrigation system, unpublished B. Tech.
(Agril. Engg) thesis submitted to Mahatma Phule Krishi
vidyapeeth, Rahuri, (M.S.).
• Goel, A. K., Gupta, R. K. and Rajinder kumar.
1993. Water use efficiency and yield of potato under
drip and furrow irrigation systems. All India seminar
on sprinkler and drip irrigation, Dec. (9 th and 10 th ):
86-88.
• Magar, S. S., Mane, T. A. and Shinde, S. H. 1985.
Development of drip irrigation in vertisol under water
resource constraints. Journal of IWRS, Roorkee, 5(2):
39-44.
• Prabhaker, M. 1997. Drip irrigation in vegetables.
Drip irrigation. Pub. Agronomy club, UAS, Dharward.
• Post, S. C., Peck D. E., Brender R. A., Sakovich
N. J. and Waddle. 1986. Evaluation of low flow
sprinkler irrigation, J. California Agril. University,
California, July-Aug.: 27-29.
• Sharma, H.G., Verma. V.P., Rajput, S.S. and
Pandey, V.K. 1998. Comparative performance of drip
and suface methods of irrigation in banana cv.
Chakrakeli. Proc. of the national seminar on micro
irrigation research in India: status and prospectives
for the 21 st century, Bhubaneswar, July 27- 28: 237-
241.
• Sivanappan, R.K., and Padmakumari, O. 1980.
Drip irrigation. TNAU, Coimbatore, SVNP report 87:
15.
• Westarp, S. V., Cheing, S. and Schreier, H. 2003.
“A comparison between low-cost drip irrigation,
conventional drip irrigation, and hand watering in
Nepal”. Agric. Water Manage. 64: 143-160.

Table 1 : Experimental Details
Table 2: Stage wise crop water requirement for bitter gourd
352

Table 3 : Seasonal water use (mm) in drip (8 lph), drip (4 lph)
and micro sprinkler irrigation for bitter gourd
Table 4: Crop yields in q ha -1 micro sprinkler, drip (8 lph), drip (4 lph) and surface irrigation
353

Table 5: Water use efficiency (kg/ha mm) in drip (8 lph), drip (4 lph)
and micro sprinkler irrigation
� � �
354

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
62. Urban Stormwater Management Through Sustainable Urban Drainage
Systems - A Unified Approach Through Constructed Wetland using
Macrophytes
* M. N. V. Prasad
Abstract
Stormwater is a important water resource. Stormwater treatment and management is
an important topics in tropical countries. In the wake of 2005 Bangalore and Mumbai urban
flash floods all concerned authorities must examine the feasibility of implementing “ Sustainable
Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS)” a well established and operationalized in developed counties.
This is a neglected area in Indian scenario. In this paper stormwater treatment and management
using macrophytes is described. A glossary of terms is also attached at the end.
INTRODUCTION
Pollutants that originate mainly from nonpoint
sources, which are difficult to control.
Constructed wetlands are designed to intercept and
remove a wide range of contaminants from waste
water. These wetlands can save time and money by
using natural mechanisms to treat non-point source
pollution before it reaches lakes, rivers, and oceans.
Conventional wastewater treatment plants can
effectively remove non-point source pollution, but
are expensive to build and operate. Therefore, Local
waste water treatment plants are desirable to reuse
water.
SUSTAINABLE URBAN DRAINAGE
SYSTEMS FOR COLLECTION OF
STORMWATER – WATER TREATMENT IN
CONSTRUCTED WETLAND USING
MACROPHYTES :
The use of aquatic plants in water quality
assessment has been common for years as in-situ
biomonitors and for in situ remediatio. The
occurrence of aquatic macrophytes is
unambiguously related to water chemistry and using
these plant species or communities as indicators or
biomonitors has been an objective for surveying
water quality. Aquatic plants have also been used
frequently to remove suspended solids, nutrients,
heavy metals, toxic organics and bacteria from acid
mine drainage, agricultural landfill and urban stormwater
runoff. In addition considerable research has
been focused on determining the usefulness of
macrophytes, as biomonitors of polluted
environments and as bioremediative agents in waste
water treatments. The response of an organism to
deficient or excess levels of metal (i.e. bioassays)
can be used to estimate metal impact. Such studies
done under defined experimental conditions can
provide results that can be extrapolated to natural
environment. There are multifold advantages in
using an aquatic macrophyte as a study material.
Macrophytes are cost-effective universally available
aquatic plants and with their ability to survive
adverse conditions and high colonization rates, are
excellent tools for studies of phytoremediation.
Rooted macrophytes especially play an important
role in metal bioavailability through rhizosphere
secretions and exchange processes. This naturally
facilitates metal uptake by other floating and
emergent forms of macrophytes. Macrophytes
readily take up metals in their reduced form from
sediments, which exist in anaerobic situations due
to lack of oxygen and oxidize them in the plant
tissues making them immobile and bioconcentrate
* Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500 046, India.
Tel: +91-40-23011604, 23134509 Fax: +91-40-23010120, 23010145 E-mail: mnvsl@uohyd.ernet.in
355

them to a great extent. Metals concentrated within
macrophytes are available for grazing by fish. These
may also be available for epiphytic phytoplankton,
herbivorous and detrivorous invertebrates. This may
be a major route for incorporating metals in the
aquatic food chain. It is therefore of interest to assess
the levels of heavy metals in macrophytes due to
their importance in ecological processes. The
immobile nature of macrophytes makes them a
particularly effective bio-indicator of metal
pollution, as they represent real levels present at
that site. Data on phytotoxicity studies are
considered in the development of water quality
criteria to protect aquatic life, the toxicity evaluation
of municipal and industrial effluents (APHA.
American Public Health Association. (1998). In
addition aquatic plants have been used to assess the
toxicity of contaminated sediment elutriates and
hazardous waste leachates.
In the past research with macrophytes has
centered mainly on determinig effective eradication
techniques for nuisance growth of several species
such as Elodea Canadensis, Eichhornia crassipes,
Ceratophyllum demersum etc… Scientific literature
exists for the use of wide diversity of macrophytes
in toxicity tests designed to evaluate the hazard of
potential pollutants, but the test species used is quite
scattered. Similarly literature concerning the
phytotoxicity tests to be used, test methods and the
value of the result data is scattered. Estuarine and
marine plant species are being used considerably
less than freshwater species in toxicity tests
conducted for regulatory reasons. The suitability of
a test species is usually based on the specimen
bioavailability, sensitivity to toxicant, reported data
and the like. Table 1. uptades the variety of test
species used for phytotoxicity studies. The
sensitivity of various plants to metals was found to
be species and chemical specific, differing in the
uptake as well as toxicity of metals. Many
submersed plants have been used as test species,
but there is no widely used single species. In a
literature survey only 7% of 528 reported
phytotoxicity tests used macrophytic species. Their
use in microcosm and mesocosm studies is even
rarer and has been highly recommended. Several
plant species like Lemna, Myriophyllum,
Potamogeton have been exhaustively used in
phytotoxicity assessment, but several others have
356
been given less importance as a bioassay tool.
Duckweeds have recieved the greatest attention for
toxicity tests as they are relevant ot many aquatic
environments, including lakes, streams, effluents.
Duckweeds comprise Spirodela, Wolfiella, Lemna
and Wolffia, of which Lemna has been almost
exhaustively studied.
CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS :
The most important role of plants in wetlands
is that they increase the residence time of water,
which means that they reduce the velocity and
thereby increase the sedimentation of particles and
associated pollutants. Thus they are indirect
involved in water cleaning. Plants also add oxygen
providing a physical site of microbial attachment
to the roots generating positive conditions for
microbes and bioremediation. For efficient removal
of pollutants a high biomass per volume of water of
the submerged plants is necessary. Uptake of metals
in emergent plants only accounts for 5% or less of
the total removal capacity in wetlands. Not many
studies have been performed on submerged plants,
however, higher concentration of metals in
submerged than emerged plants has been found and
in microcosm wetland the removal by Elodea
canadensis and Potamogeton natans showed up to
69 % removal of Zn. (Kadlec 1995; Kadlec and
Knight 1996).
Constructed and engineered wetlands for water
treatment (Figures 1-5; Okurut et al 1999).
Natural wetlands
used for wastewater treatment for centuries
uncontrolled discharge irreversible degradation.
Constructed wetlands
effective in treating organic matter, nitrogen,
phosphorus, decrease the concentrations of heavy
metals, organic chemicals, and pathogens.
POTENTIAL ROLE OF AQUATIC PLANTS IN
PHYTOTECHNOLOGY FOR WASTE WATER
TREATMENT :
Phytoremediation is defined as the use of
plants for environmental cleanup. Aquatic
macrophytes have paramount significance in the
monitoring of metals in aquatic ecosystems
(eg: Lemna minor, Eichhornia crassipes, Azolla

pinnata) Aquatic plants are represented by a variety
of macrophytic including algal species that occur
in various habitats. They are important in nutrient
cycling, control of water quality, sediment
stabilization and provision of habitat for aquatic
organisms. The use of aquatic macrophytes in water
quality assessment has been a common practice
employing in-situ biomonitors (Sobolewski 1999)
The submerged aquatic macrophytes have
very thin cuticle and therefore readily take up metals
from water through the entire surface. Hence the
integrated amounts of bioavailable metals in water
and sediment can be indicated to some extent by
using macrophytes. Macrophytes with their ability
to survive adverse conditions and high colonization
rate are excellent tools for phytoremediation.
Further they redistribute metals from sediments to
water and finally take up in the plant tissues and
hence maintain circulation. Benthic rooted
macrophytes (both submerged and emergent) play
an important role in metal bioavailability from
sediments through rhizosphere exchanges and other
carrier chelates. This naturally facilitates metal
uptake by other floating and emergent forms of
macrophytes Macrophytes readily take up metals
in their reduced form from sediments, which exist
in anaerobic situations due to lack of oxygen and
oxidize them in the plant tissues making them
immobile and hence bioconcentrate them to a high
extent Okurut et al 1999)
Constructed wetlands are man-made wetlands
designed to intercept and remove a wide range of
contaminants from water. These wetlands can save
you time and money by using natural mechanisms
to treat non-point source pollution before it reaches
our lakes, rivers, and oceans. oils, nutrients,
suspended solids, and other substances. These
pollutants originate mainly from non-point sources,
which are difficult to control. Conventional
wastewater treatment plants can effectively remove
non-point source pollution, but are expensive to
build and operate.
Treatment mechanisms
Filtration and uptake of contaminants.
Settling of suspended solids due to decreased Water
velocity and trapping action of plants, leaves, and
stems.
Precipitation, adsorption, and sequestration of
357
metals.
Microbial decomposition of petroleum
hydrocarbons and other organics.
Benefits
Cost-effective treatment of non-point source
pollution.
Compliance with water quality goals.
Reduction of operation and maintenance costs
relative to conventional water treatment plants.
Conservation of natural resources.
Reduction of flood hazard and erosion.
Creation of wildlife habitat and aesthetic resource.
Plants may reduce element leakage from
submerged mine tailings by phytostabilisation.
However, high shoot concentrations of elements
might disperse them and could be harmful to grazing
animals. Plants that are tolerant to elements of high
concentrations have been found useful for
reclamation of dry mine tailings containing elevated
levels of metals and other elements. Mine tailings
rich in sulphides, e.g. pyrite, can form acid mine
drainage (AMD) if it reacts with atmospheric
oxygen and water, which may also promote the
release of metals and As. To prevent AMD
formation, mine tailings rich in sulphides may be
saturated with water to reduce the penetration of
atmospheric oxygen. An organic layer with plants
on top of the mine tailings would consume oxygen,
as would plant roots through respiration.
Thus, phytostabilisation on water-covered
mine tailings may further reduce the oxygen
penetration into the mine tailings and prevent the
release of elevated levels of elements into the
surroundings. Metal tolerance can be evolutionarily
developed while some plant species seem to have
an inherent tolerance to heavy metals. . Since, some
wetland plant species have been found with the latter
property, for example Thypha latifolia, Glyceria
fluitans and Phragmites australis, wetland
communities may easily establish on submerged
mine tailings, without prior development of metal
tolerance. The relationships between element
concentrations in plants and concentrations in the
substrate differ between plant species. Some plant
species have mechanisms that make it possible to
cope with high external levels of elements. Lowaccumulators
are plants that can reduce the uptake

when the substrate has high element concentrations,
or have a high net efflux of the element in question,
thus the plant tissue concentration of the element is
low even though the concentration in the substrate
is high (Williams 2002., Wood and Mcatamney
1994, Woulds and Ngwenya 2004, and Ye et al 2001)
CONCLUSIONS :
Surface flow constructed wetlands are being
designed for the treatment of municipal waste waters
in developed nations. Use of constructed wetlands
is spreading rapidly in developed nations how ever,
in tropical nations due to water scarcity and high
surface evapotranspitration the constructed
wetlands for treatment of waste waters is not gaining
significance. Further due to water scarcity wetland
technology is not supported. However, in tropical
contries the mine drainage, agricultural waste waters
and flood water regulation there is considerable
scope due to rich plant diversity.
GLOSSARY FOR SELECTED TERMS
Attenuation
Reduction of peak flow and increased duration of a
flow event.
Balancing pond
A pond designed to attenuate flows by storing runoff
during the peak flow and releasing it at a controlled
rate during and after the peak flow has passed. The
pond always contains water. Also known as wet
detention pond.
Basin
Flow control or water treatment structure that is
normally dry.
Biodegradation
Decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms
and other living things.
Bioretention area
A depressed landscaping area that is allowed to
collect runoff so it percolates through the soil below
the area into an underdrain, thereby promoting
pollutant removal.
Catchment
The area contributing surface water flow to a point
on a drainage or river system. Can be divided into
sub-catchments.
Combined sewer
A sewer designed to carry foul sewage and surface
runoff in the same pipe.
358
Controlled waters
Waters defined and protected under the Water
Resources Act 1991. Any relevant territorial waters
that extend seaward for 3 miles from the baselines,
any coastal waters that extend inland from those
baselines to the limit of the highest tide or the
freshwater limit of any river or watercourse, any
enclosed dock that adjoins coastal waters, inland
freshwaters, including rivers, watercourses, and
ponds and lakes with discharges and groundwaters
(waters contained in underground strata).For the full
definition refer to the Water Resources Act 1991.
Detention basin
A vegetated depression, normally is dry except after
storm events constructed to store water temporarily
to attenuate flows. May allow infiltration of water
to the ground.
Diffuse pollution
Pollution arising from land-use activities (urban and
rural) that are dispersed across a catchment, or subcatchment,
and do not arise as a process effluent,
municipal sewage effluent, or an effluent discharge
from farm buildings.
Environmental management
A management agreement for an area or project set
up to plan and make sure the declared management
objectives for the area or project are met.
Environmental Management Plans are often
undertaken as part of an environmental impact
assessment and are set out in several stages with
responsibilities clearly defined and environmental
monitoring procedures in place to show compliance
with the plan.
Evapotranspiration
The process by which the Earth’s surface or soil
loses moisture by evaporation of water and by
uptake and then transpiration from plants.
Extended detention basin
A detention basin in which the runoff is stored
beyond the time normally required for attenuation.
This provides extra time for natural processes to
remove some of the pollutants in the water.
FEH
Flood estimation handbook, produced by Centre for
Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford (formerly the
Institute of Hydrology)
Filter drain
A linear drain consisting of a trench filled with a
permeable material, often with a perforated pipe in

the base of the trench to assist drainage, to store
and conduct water, but may also be designed to
permit infiltration.
Filter strip
A vegetated area of gently sloping ground designed
to drain water evenly off impermeable areas and
filter out silt and other particulates.
Filtration
The act of removing sediment or other particles from
a fluid by passing it through a filter.
Flood frequency
The probability of a flowrate being equalled or
exceeded in any year.
Greenfield runoff
This is the surface water runoff regime from a site
before development, or the existing site conditions
for brownfield redevelopment sites.
Green roof
A roof with plants growing on its surface, which
contributes to local biodiversity. The vegetated
surface provides a degree of retention, attenuation
and treatment of rainwater, and promotes
evapotranspiration. (Sometimes referred to as an
alternative roof).
Greywater
Wastewater from sinks, baths, showers and domestic
appliances this water before it reaches the sewer
(or septic tank system).
Groundwater
Water that is below the surface of ground in the
saturation zone.
Highway drain
A conduit draining the highway. On a highways
maintainable at the public expense it is vested in
the highway authority.
HOST (Hydrology of Soil Types)
A classification used to indicate the permeability
of the soil and the percentage runoff from a
particular area
Impermeable
Will not allow water to pass through it.
Impermeable surface
An artificial non- porous surface that generates a
surface water runoff after rainfall.
Infiltration - to the ground
The passage of surface water though the surface of
the ground.
Infiltration - to a sewer
The entry of groundwater to a sewer.
359
Infiltration basin
A dry basin designed to promote infiltration of
surface water to the ground.
Infiltration device
A device specifically designed to aid infiltration of
surface water into the ground.
Infiltration potential
The rate at which water flows through a soil (mm/h).
Infiltration trench
A trench, usually filled with stone, designed to
promote infiltration of surface water to the ground.
Interflow
Shallow infiltration to the soil, from where it may
infiltrate vertically to an aquifer, move horizontally
to a watercourse or be stored and subsequently
evaporated.
Interim Code of Practice
An agreed provisional document within the existing
legislative framework that establishes good practice.
Lagoon
A pond designed for the settlement of suspended
solids.
Lateral drain
(a) That part of a drain which runs from the curtilage
of a building (or buildings or yards within the same
curtilage) to the sewer with which the drain
communicates or is to communicate; or
(b) (if different and the context so requires) the part
of a drain identified in a declaration of vesting made
under section 102 or in an agreement made under
section 104.
Offstream
Dry weather flow bypasses the storage area
Onstream
Dry weather flow passes through the storage area.
Permeability
A measure of the ease with which a fluid can flow
through a porous medium. It depends on the physical
properties of the medium, for example grain size,
porosity and pore shape.
Permeable pavement
A paved surface that allows the passage of water
through voids between the paving blocks/slabs. 10
Permeable surface
A surface formed of material that is itself impervious
to water but, by virtue of voids formed through the
surface, allows infiltration of water to the sub-base
through the pattern of voids, eg concrete block
paving.

Pervious surface
A surface that allows inflow of rainwater into the
underlying construction or soil.
Piped system
Conduits generally located below ground to conduct
water to a suitable location for treatment and/or
disposal.
Pollution
A change in the physical, chemical, radiological or
biological quality of a resource (air, water or land)
caused by man or man’s activities that is injurious
to existing, intended or potential uses of the
resource.
Pond
Permanently wet basin designed to retain
stormwater and permit settlement of suspended
solids and biological removal of pollutants.
Porous paving
A permeable surface allowing the passage of water
through voids within, rather than between, the
paving blocks/slabs.
Porous surface
A surface that infiltrates water to the sub-base across
the entire surface of the material forming the
surface, for example grass and gravel surfaces,
porous concrete and porous asphalt.
Prevention
Site design and management to stop or reduce the
occurrence of pollution and to reduce the volume
of runoff by reducing impermeable areas.
Public sewer
A sewer that is vested in and maintained by a
sewerage undertaker.
Rainwater harvesting or rainwater use system
A system that collects rainwater from where it falls
rather than allowing it to drain away. It includes
water that is collected within the boundaries of a
property, from roofs and surrounding surfaces.
Recurrence interval
The average time between runoff events that have
a certain flow rate, e.g. a flow of 2 m/s might have
a recurrence interval of two years in a particular
catchment.
Retention pond
A pond where runoff is detained (e.g. for several
days) to allow settlement and biological treatment
of some pollutants.
Runoff
Water flow over the ground surface to the drainage
360
system. This occurs if the ground is impermeable, is
saturated or if rainfall is particularly intense.
Separate sewer
A sewer for surface water or foul sewage, but not a
combination of both.
Sewer
A pipe or channel taking domestic foul and/or
surface water from buildings and associated paths
and hardstandings from two or more curtilages and
having a proper outfall.
Sewerage undertaker
This is a collective term relating to the statutory
undertaking of water companies that are responsible
for sewerage and sewage disposal including surface
water from roofs and yards of premises.
Sewers for Adoption
A guide agreed between sewerage undertakers and
developers (through the House Builders Federation)
specifying the standards to which private sewers
need to be constructed to facilitate adoption.
Site and regional controls
Manage runoff drained fro several sub-catchments.
The controls deal with runoff on a catchment scale
rather than at source.
Soil
Soil Index Value obtained from the WRAP soil
classification, used in the Wallingford Procedure
to calculate the treatment volume.
Source control
The control of runoff or pollution at or near its
source.
STORM
A computer model based on equations used in the
California Stormwater Best Management Practice
Handbook. Used to assess detention basin
performance.
Sub-base
A layer of material on the sub-grade that provides a
foundation for a pavement surface.
Sub-catchment
A division of a catchment, allowing runoff
management as near to the source as is reasonable.
Sub-grade
The surface of an excavation prepared to support a
pavement.
Subsidiarity
The principle that an issue should be managed as
close as is reasonable to its source.

SUDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems)
Sustainable drainage systems or sustainable (urban)
drainage systems: a sequence of management
practices and control structures designed to drain
surface water in a more sustainable fashion than
some conventional techniques (may also be referred
to as SuDS).
Surface water management
The management of runoff in stages as it drains from
a site.
Suspended solids
Undissolved particles in a liquid.
Swale
A shallow vegetated channel designed to conduct
and retain water, but may also permit infiltration;
the vegetation filters particulate matter.
Treatment
Improving the quality of water by physical, chemical
and/or biological means.
Treatment volume
The volume of surface runoff containing the most
polluted portion of the flow from a rainfall event.
Watercourse
A term including all rivers, streams ditches drains
cuts culverts dykes sluices and passages through
which water flows.
WRAP (Winter Rain Acceptance Potential)
Classification used to calculate the permeability of
soils and the percentage run-off from a particular
area.
Wet
Containing water under dry weather conditions.
Wetland
A pond that has a high proportion of emergent
vegetation in relation to open water.
REFERENCES
APHA. American Public Health Association. (1998).
Standard methods for estimation of water and wastewater.
20 ed. Ed: Eaton, D. D., Clesceri, L. S. and Greenberg,
A. E. Washington D.C.
361
KADLEC, R.H. and KNIGHT, R.L. (Eds.) (1996) Treatment
Wetlands. Lewis Publishers,Boca Raton. 893p.
KADLEC, R.H., 1995. Overview: Surface flow
constructed wetlands. Water Science and Technology 32
(3), 1–12.
KYAMBADDE, J., KANSIIME, F., GUMAELIUS, L.
AND DALHAMMAR, G. (2004). A comparative study
of Cyperus papyrus and Miscanthidium violaceum-based
constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment in a
tropical country. Water Research 38: 475-485.
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A study of activated sludgedewatering in experimental
reed-planted or unplanted sludge drying beds. Wat. Sci.
Techn. 32, 251-261.
LIN, Y.-F., JING, S.-R., LEE, D.-Y. AND WANG, T.-W.
(2002). Nutrient removal from aquaculture wastewater
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169-184.
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HOUSE, M.A. (1995) Anassessment of metal removal
from highway runoff by a natural wetland. Wat. Sci.Tech.,
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J. J. A. (1999). Design and performance of experimental
constructed wetlands in Unganda, planted with Cyperus
papyrus and Phragmites mauritianus. Water Science and
Technology 40 (3): 265-271.
SOBOLEWSKI, A., 1999. A review of processes
responsible for metal removal in wetlands treating
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Phytoremediation 1 (1), 19–51.
WILLIAMS, J.B, 2002. Phytoremediation in wetland
ecosystems: progress, problems, and potential. Critical
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Environmental Quality 30, 1710–1719.

Figure 1 :
Removal of Arsenic from ground water using macrophytes by phytovolatilization
Figure 2 :
Constructed wetland technology for treatment of municipal waste waters using macrophytes.
362

Figure 3 :
Cascade model of constructed Aquaplant with cmmon reed beds or grasses for the removal
of xenobiotics and treatment of saline waste streams. The commonly used grasses for the
treatment of saline waste strems are Spartina alterniflora = Cord grass, Sporolobus virginicus
= Coastal dropseed; Salicornia virginica = Perennial glasswort; Cladium jamaicense =
Sawgrass; Salicornia alterniflora = Vermillon cordgrass; and Scirpus validus = Great bulrush
Figure 4 :
Constructed wtland for removal waste water treatment
(Vertical flow system with macrophytes)
363

Figure 5 :
Constructed wtland for removal waste water treatment
(Horozontal flow with macrophytes)
� � �
364

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
63. Suggested Design Approach for Planning
and Designing Recharge Wells and Systems
� Introduction
It is needless to mention that it is already a
high time that high priority and importance is
assigned to systematically start planning and
executing recharge projects in all the areas to prevent
the ground water depletion and create a systematic
and scientific battery for ground water storage for
use throughout the year. If systematically planned
and executed on coastal belt the recharge wells can
prove to be a very useful barrier to sea water
intrusion.
Lot of efforts are being made and lot of talks
are being done all around in various bodies
connected with ground water about recharge
structures. In many places even regulations are being
made for making it compulsory to make recharge
wells in societies etc. In some of the states like
Karnataka, Kerala much importance is already being
given to rain water harvesting which requires a
recharge well ultimately to percolate the rain water
into the ground to recharge the aquifers.
Hence the recharge well is the core mechanism
of recharging the ground water for all kinds of water
collection methods – check dams, rain/roof water
harvesting, water logging areas etc.
It is also seen that different types of designs of
recharge well is being adopted by different bodies
and there does not seem to be a commonly accepted
design proven to be the optimum for achieving the
maximum efficiency of recharge.
Hence a need was felt to develop a standard
design approach giving clear guidelines for
designing the recharge well. This article attempts to
initiate the process of defining the design criterion
and a general design approach and further work
needs to be done to make it more and more specific.
*Dharmesh Mashru
What is a recharge well
Even at the cost of some repetition of what we
already know let us define clearly what a recharge
well is supposed to do and how it works in very
simple terms. A recharge well is a natural injection
well to inject the water supplied to it by recharge
mechanism into the desired aquifer to be recharged.
The water collected in recharge catchments
mechanism enters the pipe assembly of well and acts
against the already present hydrostatic pressure of
water already available in the aquifer, overcomes
the friction of the well casing, screen slots, gravel
pack and formation and tries to penetrate thru the
formation to start storing more water in the available
voids in an unsaturated aquifer till the time the
aquifer is saturated. Very simple as it sounds but
equally challenging if one wants to give full justice
to the design.
Important considerations for designing a
recharge mechanism
Following are the important aspects for planning
a recharge mechanism project
� The location of recharge mechanism
This is a very important aspect and much study
is required to be done before selecting a recharge
site. It is seen that presently the only consideration
given while selecting the site is the natural collection
of water – either a lake or a pond or a water logging
spot or building check dams across flowing river
etc.
But, to create an efficient and sustainable site for
recharge following approach is recommended –
� Common recharge site shall be planned for a
*Chief Operating Officer, Johnson Screens (India) Ltd.- Ahmedabad
365

particular command area in which the ground water
is to be recharged.
� Conduct a study of pumping wells under use
in the command area and find out total pumping
quantity per day and main aquifers used.
� Study the types of aquifers from the point of
view of their permeability and hydrostatic pressure
and select the aquifers needed to be recharged.
� It is a known fact that the aquifers form long
linkages to longer distances and may have different
elevations at different points. Map the linkages of
selected aquifers around command area.
� It is well known that the ground water
movements in the aquifer occur from a place where
the ground water has higher energy to the places of
low energy. Theoretically as per the Bernoulli
equation the energy contained in ground water
comprises of – Pressure, Velocity and Elevation. But,
practically the pressure remaining more or less same
at various points and the velocity energy being
negligibly small the significant one is the elevation
energy. As per this concept the ground water
movement will be more from a point of higher
elevation to a lower elevation and velocity of
movement is directly proportional to the difference
in elevations of the two points. According to this
argument select a recharge site location having
maximum possible elevation on the aquifer map as
compared to the average elevation of the same
aquifer at the pumping wells in the command area.
While doing this care must be taken not to increase
the distance to be traveled and care shall also to be
taken to avoid any blockage or drainage in the path.
� Basically a trade is to be achieved between the
elevation, distance and possibility of getting enough
rain water while making a final selection. If any dam
if available in the vicinity it may be a good idea to
make a diversion from dam at certain height to an
artificial recharge structure so that when the water
level rises above certain level in the dam during
monsoon the recharge collection pond is filled at
higher elevation.
� Having selected the site make an artificial
catchment for collecting the rain water. The storage
capacity shall be decided based on the data of water
drawal from the selected aquifers by the pumping
wells in the command area and availability of
recharge water.
� The design of the catchment shall be deeper
366
and narrower. We will study the reason later in the
article.
� Design of recharge well
Having selected the site to give optimum
ground water movement from recharge point to the
pumping point the next crucial step is to design a
recharge well to achieve optimum recharging
efficiency and make use of the natural water energy
to the maximum extent possible. To understand the
phenomena taking place let us first understand the
well hydraulics concept. (Please note that only the
concept is highlighted and not the exact calculations
to simplify the topic for ease of understanding the
basic concept before going into the intricacies of
calculations).
� Well hydraulics
The fundamental principle : Simplifying the whole
process the recharge is basically to inject water into
the aquifers by utilizing the static head of the water
above the aquifer level. It is a sort of Injection well
where no positive pumping is used to inject the
water. This means that the possibility and rate at
which the water will be injected into the aquifer is
basically a function of available static head above
the aquifer being recharged. This can be explained
as a short expression as follows –
The Rate of Recharge Q R á Effective Head H eff
………………(1)
The Effective Head H eff : The effective head is the
useful injection pressure available. In a recharge well
condition there is a head of recharge water collected
above the well which is the distance between the
top of the water level in the recharge structure and
the bottom of the aquifer being recharged
(henceforth termed as H R and there is a hydrostatic
pressure of water already available in the aquifer
acting opposite to each other and there are several
points of frictional head losses (henceforth termed
as H f ) which consume the available head. The
hydrostatic pressure of water inside the aquifer is
the distance between the static water level in the
well in absence of recharge water and the bottom of
the aquifer being recharged (henceforth termed as
H aq ). Fig. 1 clarifies the terminology. Accordingly
the effective head can be expressed as follows –

H eff = H R – H aq – H f …….. ……… ….. (2)
A simple guideline can be inferred from this is
“Higher the recharge head, lower the static head of
aquifer and lesser the frictional head losses higher
is the Effective head and higher is the recharge rate”.
The Frictional Head Losses H f : Following are the
points causing frictional loss of head in a recharge
well –
� Filter pit Media
Every recharge well must have a filter pit to reduce
the turbidity of water entering the well to reduce
the chocking of screens, filter pack (i.e. gravel pack)
and formation. The sand media bed used in the filter
pit will cause frictional head loss (henceforth termed
as H fpm ). This is dependent upon the permeability of
the sand media and its grain size and depth of media
bed.
� Filter pit Underdrain system
At the bottom of the sand media there has to be an
underdrain system for collection of percolated water
and direct it inside the well pipe assembly and to
retain the filter pit media. This causes some frictional
head loss (henceforth termed as H fpu ).
� Well casing
When the water flows down the casing friction with
the casing wall will cause frictional head loss
(henceforth termed as H fc ).
� Screens
When the water passes thru the slots of well casing
frictional head loss takes place which is dependent
on the permeability of the screens used (Henceforth
termed as H fs ). Higher the screen permeability
lesser is the frictional head loss.
� Filter pack (Gravel pack)
The gravel packing around the screen will cause
some frictional head loss depending upon its
permeability and grain size. (Henceforth termed as
H fg ).
� The Aquifer formation
The water has to then travel thru the aquifer
formation and there could be significant head loss
367
due to friction of the formation material. This is
dependent upon the permeability of the aquifer
material, the aquifer thickness and aquifer depth
from the well wall which is variable. This is
henceforth termed as H fformation .
• Hydraulic equilibrium and radius of
influence
When the water enters the aquifer it would have
already suffered all the frictional losses as explained
above and will have residual effective head pressure
H effR =H R - H aq – H fpm -H fpu -H fc -H fs -H fg .
The water then will keep penetrating the
aquifer till the time its residual effective head is
completely decayed by the formation friction. In
other words the penetration will continue till the
residual effective head becomes zero. This will be
state of hydraulic equilibrium and recharging beyond
this point in the aquifer will not take place. Hence
this point will be the extreme point of recharge
influence and hence the distance of this point to the
center of the well can be termed as “The Radius of
Influence”.
It can be inferred from this discussion that “the
radius of influence of recharge is the distance
between a point away from the wall of the well (i.e.
outer surface of the gravel pack) at which the total
frictional head of the aquifer formation of thickness
b equals the residual effective head and the center
of the well casing”.
Cone of Recharge, Draw up and radius of
influence
A cone of depression gets formed in a pumping
well and draw down occurs when the pumping is
started. Similarly in a recharge well an inverted cone
is formed and draw up (henceforth termed as H du
takes place whereby the water level rises up above
the static water level and radius of influence is the
radius of the cone or the distance of the point of no
draw up to the center of the well. The formula for
estimating the rate of recharge based on cone of
recharge is as follows:
Q R = KbH du /(528*log(r o /r w ))
Where,
Q R = Rate of recharge in gpm
K = Hydraulic conductivity in gpd/ft 2

= Aquifer thickness in ft.
H du = Draw up in ft.
r o = Radius of influence in ft.
r w = Radius of well in ft.
Diminishing rate of recharge :
Based on above discussion it can be said that
the recharge will stop when the effective head H eff
becomes zero. This will happen due to several
reasons – (1) Increasing aquifer hydrostatic pressure
H aq (2)Falling recharge water level H R (3) Increasing
frictional losses due to choking of filter pit media,
screens, rusting of casing pipes, chocking of gravel
pack and formation.
Assuming all other factors remaining same an
important phenomena takes place continuously is
that with the recharging of aquifer the hydrostatic
pressure of the aquifer keeps increasing if there is
no pumping from that aquifer or if the rate of
transportation of water from the recharge point to
the pumping point in the command area is lesser
than the recharge rate. This will cause diminishing
rate of recharge whereby the rate of recharge will
gradually keep falling upto a point where it equals
the rate of transportation of water from the recharge
point to the pumping point. At this point an
equilibrium state will occur and recharge will
continue at this rate if all other conditions remain
constant.
Therefore for a sustainable recharge rate our
site selection must ensure the rate of transportation
of water from the recharge point to the point of use
as close as possible to the recharge rate.
Upper limit of Recharge pressure on aquifer :
The maximum pressure of recharge water being
injected into the aquifer shall be such that it does
not cause fracturing of the formation of the aquifer.
If fracturing occurs then there is usually a severe
loss in hydraulic conductivity because the bedding
planes are disturbed. On the other hand while
recharging into massive consolidated rock formation
fracturing may increase the rate of recharge (ref.
Howard and Fast,1970). The pressure that will cause
fracturing varies widely depending upon the nature
of formation and the designer must determine this
prior to designing the recharge system.
Fracturing pressure ranges from as low as 11.3
k Pa/Meter for poorly consolidated coastal plain
368
sediments to 27.1 k Pa/Meter for crystalline rock.
(Warner and Lehr,1981).
As a general guideline the for most recharge
wells in unconsolidated sediments the recharge
pressure shall be controlled so that the positive head
does not exceed a value equal to 0.2 times the depth
from the ground level to the top of the screen or
filter pack. (Olsthoorn, 1982).
� Design considerations : Following are the
major elements of a recharge well –
• The Filter pit or collection pit as it is popularly
known.
• Well casing
• Well screens
• Filter/Gravel pack
Now we will discuss important design
considerations while designing these elements-
The Filter pit
FUNCTION OF THE FILTER PIT
• Main function is to reduce turbidity of raw
water to reduce chocking of gravel pack
• Keep feeding filtered water to Recharge well
IMPORTANCE OF FILTER PIT
• To sustain the Recharge process
• To maintain the Recharge rate
DESIGN CONSIDERATION
• Filter media should not get clogged
• The System to collect percolated water should
have following features –
1. Large % open area for minimal frictional head
loss.
2. Facility for cleaning or backwash
3. It is preferred to be made from non-corrosive
material because during the period of no recharge
this will be exposed to atmosphere.
DIFFERENT DESIGN FOR FILTER PIT
1. Vertical flow filter pit
2. Horizontal flow filter
1. VERTICAL FLOW FILTER
DESIGN

• Layers of gravel/media laid horizontally in filter
pit
• Some collection system is at bottom
• Water percolates vertically downwards thru
filter media and goes into the well assembly.
DISADVANTAGE / LIMITATIONS OF
VERTICAL FLOW FILTER
• Highly susceptible to clogging due to vertically
settling impurities in water and floating matters
which reduces permeability of filter media.
• Difficult to clean or back wash.
• No water holding facility
• Lot of manpower and cost required to clean
the media.
• Recharge tubewell cannot be used as a pumping
well during summer
• Monitoring the recharge process is very
difficult.
• The life and effectiveness of such filter pit is
not very long.
2. HORIZONTAL FLOW FILTER
DESIGN
369
• Two cylindrical V-wire screen are fitted
concentric to each other
• Annular space is filled with graded gravel/
coarse sand
• The central screen is fitted directly to the
assembly of well
• The water by its head pressure –flow thru outer
screen via the gravel pack and pass thru the fine
screen and enter the well assembly
ADVANTAGE OF HORIZONTAL FLOW
FILTER
• The floating matter will float on the water and
will not block the screen.
• The heavy matter and silt will be settled at
bottom of the pit not clogging the filter media and
can be easily cleaned.
• The outer screen will not allow clogging of the
filter media
• Easy to clean by back washing or by removing
the gravels
• The filter media can be changed very fast.
• The filter pit has the facility to hold the water.
• The recharge process can be measured very
easily.
• The recharge tube well can be used as a
pumping well during summer.
• The recharge tube well can be used as a monitor
well for getting the details for underground water
quality/quantity.
Well Casing -
The casing shall have smooth inner surface for
minimum friction. The casing diameter shall be
selected based on the targeted recharge rate so as to
keep the down hole velocity within a maximum limit
of 1.5 Meter/Sec.
Well Screens -
This is another important element, which has
great bearing on the frictional loss and sustenance
of recharge well and its mechanical life.
Following are peculiar phenomena in a
recharge well as compared to a pumping well which
puts more responsibility on the well screens –
� In a pumping well the sediment sand that is
smaller than the screen slot is pumped out of the
aquifer and gravel pack and the well is cleaned after

some pumping. Where as in a recharge well the raw
water impurities smaller than screen slot is fed into
the gravel pack and is never pumped out but it
gradually chokes the gravel pack reducing its
permeability over a period of time.
� The raw water collected from rain or river
generally has higher mineral contents and hence
causes more incrustation which causes the blockage
of screen and gravel pack over a period of time.
Hence, it is recommended that double the
length of screen shall be used in a recharge well
as compared to a pumping well of the same size
to have higher cushion in screen length and to
control the entrance velocity to reduce
incrustation. The maximum entrance velocity
recommended for a recharge well is 0.015 Meters/
Sec.
Now, we cannot use length of the screens
higher than the thickness of available aquifer as there
will be no practical meaning of it. Therefore we must
use screen design that offers sufficiently large %
open area to restrict the entrance velocity within the
maximum limit with the available thickness of the
aquifer.
This makes V-Wire screens the ideal choice
for an efficient and long lasting recharge well.
Moreover to restore the permeability of screen
and gravel pack the recharge well shall be
redeveloped after every monsoon. The most
effective method of removing incrustation is acid
treatment. Hence if the material of construction for
screens is such that it allows acid treatment without
any mechanical failure than it significantly helps to
keep restoring the recharge capacity of the well and
ultimately increases the useful life of the recharge
well significantly.
Hence it is recommended that SS 304
Stainless steel, which allows acid treatment, shall
be used for screens.
� � �
370
Fine Gravel/ coarse sand pack-
Fine Gravel/coarse sand pack design can be
done in the same way as for a pumping well. The
particle size distribution for fine gravel/coarse sand
shall be decided based on the sediment size
distribution and screen slot.
� Conclusions :
� It is of utmost importance and priority to plan
systematic artificial recharge projects for identified
command areas and water drawal rates.
� Selection of recharge structure site shall be
carefully done to achieve optimum transport of
recharge water from the recharge point to the point
of usage on a sustainable basis keeping in view the
phenomena of diminishing recharge as explained in
this article.
� Selection of aquifers to be recharged shall be
carefully done based on the usage (high) ,
permeability (high) and hydrostatic pressure (Low).
� The recharge water collection structure shall be
designed to provide required head to achieve the
desired recharge rate.
� Design of all the elements of recharge well shall
be done so as to have optimum frictional losses and
reduction in raw water turbidity for higher recharge
rate for a longer duration.
� SS 304 Stainless steel V-Wire screen technology
be used in filter pit as well screen for minimal
frictional losses, lesser entrance velocity, reduced
incrustation, acid cleaning and longer corrosion life
for a long lasting efficient recharge well.
� This article is an attempt to provide guidelines
and approach in planning a recharge project which
shall be applied judiciously by the planner
depending upon the actual site conditions from case
to case. Further research work remains to be carried
out on the guidelines given in this article to arrive
at exact hydraulic expressions to estimate the
theoretical recharge rate and conduct laboratory
studies to verify the theory.

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
64. Solar Ponds : An Effective Method of Power (Energy) Generation and
Water Conservation
1. Introduction
Water is a wellspring of our lives. Our Earth
seems to be unique among the other known celestial
bodies. With two thirds of the earth’s surface covered
by water and the human body consisting of 75
percent of it, it is evidently clear that water is one of
the prime elements responsible for life on earth.
Water regenerates and is redistributed through
evaporation, making it seem endlessly renewable.
It is a resource, which communities managed with
*Ishan Purohit *M. L. Dewal *V. N. Kala
Abstract
Energy and Electricity generation from water through hydro electric power plants is
an effective, efficient and environmentally renewable energy technology. But power
generation from water through this method is very expansive due to involvement of huge
economical/capital investment, process of migration, construction and infrastructure, high
transmission and distribution losses, etc. In addition, in the mechanism of power generation
using the effect of tides i.e. tidal energy water is the primary resource. Water is also used for
power generation in steam (coal based) and nuclear power plants which contribute a huge
fraction of emissions (Fly ash, SOx, NOx and GHG) and hence create the serious
environmental problems. A large amount of water is needed as a heat transfer media between
boiler and turbine for electricity generation in steam power plants which contributes more
than 70% of installed power generation capacity of India.
Utilizing the energy of sun; electricity can also be generated from water on small
scale using solar ponds. In the present article the electricity generation and generation of
industrial process heat from solar pond has been introduced. The present scenario of the
world primary energy demand, availability and its projection has ben outlined on the basis
of review of the International Energy Outlook 2006. The other domestic and commercial
applications based on solar pond technology have also been highlighted. The design,
development, modern trends and potential along with their present status in the country
with other applications has been discussed in the present study. Generation of heat and
electricity through solar pond technology may effectively contribute to water conservation,
waste water treatment and hence the protection of environment.
Key Words: Solar radiation, solar pond, industrial process heat, convective and nonconvective
solar ponds.
remarkable skill over many generations. About 97%
is salty sea water, and 2% is frozen in glaciers and
polar ice caps. Thus that 1% of the world’s water
supply is a precious commodity necessary for our
survival. Supply of drinking water can be solved
adopting the technologies based on evaporation like
solar distillation and commercial desalination etc.
India is blessed with good water resource availability
as the primary factor for human survival and growth.
The country has a vast costal area and its northern
*G. B. Pant Engineering College Ghurdauri, Pauri, Uttaranchal 246 001, INDIA
Fax: 01368-2280330, Telephone: +91-9411050117 E-mail: purohit_ishan@yahoo.com
371

Himalayan region is the source of a number of rivers
which are the major of sweet and potable water used
for drinking, domestic, industrial, transportation and
agricultural applications. But due to the expansion
of industries, uncontrolled population, huge infractural
development and exponentially increasing
demand energy and resource parameters for
sustainable living, entire world is suffering from
water crisis.
On the other hand energy is also an essential
requirement for human survival and growth.
Electricity is the most utilizable form of energy and
widely used for domestic and industrial applications.
Water is not only used in domestic and agricultural
sectors but more of available fraction is used by
industrial sector. Due to the unutilisability of salty
water in domestic/agriculture and industrial (due to
the corrosion problem by salts gradients in water)
sectors; the demand of potable of pure water is
rapidly increasing. In industries a large amount of
water is required for the applications based on
evaporative cooling in power plants, thermal
industries and buildings, boiler feed water, process
water, irrigation of surrounds of industries etc.
In the power sector of the country more than
70 % of the electricity is generated through steam
power plants where coal is used as the primary fuel
and water is used as the evaporative medium for
heat transfer. Similarly in nuclear and gas based
power plants; water is needed. Electricity generation
from hydro power plants is in the second position
in the country and is accepted to increase gradually.
Water is also an essential requirement of refineries
and manufacturing industries. The remaining
processed water of the power plants, industries and
other sectors creates serious water and hence
environmental problem. Some developed countries
of the world already shifted towards refining of the
waste water to fulfill the water demand; but refining
technologies are quite expansive especially the
developing countries like India; where around 40%
population is still below the poverty line. Only the
proper planning and implacable policies can provide
the solution of water conservation and utilization
of waste water for other application. Solar pond can
be an effective technology towards the electricity
generation, water & energy conservation and hence
the protection of environment.
372
2. International Energy Outlook: World Energy
Scenario
According to the International Energy Outlook
2005 (IEO2005) world primary energy consumption
is projected to increase by 57% from 2002 to 2025.
In its reference case, world marketed energy
consumption is projected to increase on average by
2.0 percent per year over the 23-year forecast
horizon from 2002 to 2025-slightly lower than the
2.2 percent average annual growth rate from 1970
to 2002. Worldwide, total energy use in projected
to grow from 412 quadrillion British Thermal units
(Btu) in 2002 to 553 quadrillion Btu in 2015 and
645 quadrillion Btu in 2025.
2.1 World Primary Energy Resources
Use of all energy sources increases over the
forecast period. Fossil fuels (oil, natural gas and
coal) continue to supply much of the energy used
worldwide, and oil remains the dominant energy
source, given its importance in the transportation
and industrial end-use sectors. World OIL use is
expected to grow from 78 million barrels/day in
2002 to 103 million barrels/day in 2015 and 119
million barrels/day in 2025. The projected increment
in worldwide oil use would require an increment in
world oil production capacity of 42 million barrels/
day over 2002 levels.
Natural GAS is projected to be the fastest
growing component of world primary energy
consumption in IEO2005. Consumption of natural
gas worldwide increases in the forecast by an
average of 2.3 % annually from 2002 to 2025,
compared with projected annual growth rates of 1.9
% for oil consumption and 2.0 % for coal
consumption. From 2002 to 2025, consumption of
natural gas is projected to increase by 69 %, from
92 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) to 156 Tcf, and its share
of total energy consumption is projected to grow
from 23 %to 25%. The electric power sector
accounts for 51 % of the total incremental growth
in worldwide natural gas demand over the forecast
period.
World COAL consumption is projected to
increase from 5,262 million short tons (Mst) in 2002
to 7,245 Mst in 2015, at an average rate of 2.5
percent per year. From 2015 to 2025, the projected
rate of increase in world coal consumption slows to

1.3 % annually, and the total energy consumption in
2025 is projected at 8,226 Mst. Of the coal produced
worldwide in 2002, 65 %was supplied to electric
power producers and 31 % to industrial consumers.
In the industrial sector coal is an important input for
the manufacture of steel and for the production for
the manufacture of steel and for the production of
steam and direct heat for other industrial applications.
Coal is expected to maintain its importance as an
energy source in both the electric power and industrial
sectors, with the two sectors combined accounting
for virtually all the growth in coal use in the midterm
forecast.
World net electricity consumption nearly
doubles in the reference case forecast, 14,275 billion
kilowatt-hours in 2002 to 21,400 billion kilowatthours
in 2015 and 26,018 billion kilowatt-hours in
2025. Coal and natural gas are expected to remain
the most important fuels for electricity generation
throughout the forecast, accounting for 62 percent
of the energy used for electricity production in 2025.
2.2 Environmental Aspects
Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is one of the most
relevant greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Anthropogenic i.e. human caused emissions of
carbon dioxide result primarily from the combustion
of fossil fuels for energy, and as a result world energy
use has emerged at the center of the climate change
debate. The world carbon dioxide emissions are
projected to rise from 24.4 billion metric tons (Bmt)
in 2002 to 30.2 Bmt in 2010 and 38.8 Bmt in 2025.
According to this projection, world CO 2 emissions
in 2025 would exceed 1990 levels by 72 %. Much
of the projected increase in carbon dioxide emissions
occurs among the emerging nations, accompanying
large increase in fossil fuel use. The economics
account for 68 percent of the projected increment
in carbon dioxide emissions between 2002 and 2025.
Combustion of petroleum products contributes 5,733
(Mmt) to the projected increase from 2001, coal
4,120 MmT and natural gas the remaining 3,374
Mmt. As a result, the absolute increment in CO 2
emissions from coal combustion is larger than the
increment in emissions from natural gas
combustion. CO 2 emissions from energy use in the
industrialized countries are expected to increase by
4,009 Mmt, to 15,643 Mmt in 2025, or by about
1.2% per year. Emissions from the combustion of
373
petroleum products account for about 42% of the
total increment expected for the industrialized world,
gas 33 %, and coal 24%.
3. Energy Consumption in India
Owing to population growth and economic
development, India’s energy consumption has been
increasing at one of the fastest rates in the world.
India, the world’s sixth largest energy consumer,
plans major energy infrastructure investments to
keep up with increasing demand-particularly for
electric power. India is the world’s third-largest
producer of coal, and relies on coal for more than
half of its total energy needs. India’s economic
growth is continuing its recovery from a slowdown
that took place in 2002, which was mainly
attributable to weak demand for manufactured
exports and the effects of a drought on agricultural
output. Real growth in the country’s gross domestic
product (GDP) was 4.0% for 2002, surging to 8.2%
in 2003 and a projected 6.4% for 2004 and 6.2% for
2005. Oil accounts for about 30% of India’s total
energy consumption. India’s average oil production
level (total liquids) for 2003 was 819,000 bbl/d, of
which 6, 60, 000 bbl/d was crude oil. India had net
oil imports of over 1.5 million bbl/d in 2004. Indian
consumption of natural gas has risen faster than any
other fuel in recent years. From only 0.6 Tcf per
year in 1995, natural gas use was nearly 0.9 Tcf in
2002 and is projected to reach 1.2 Tcf in 2010 and
1.6 Tcf in 2015. Coal is the dominant commercial
fuel in India, satisfying more than 70% India’s
energy demand. Power generation accounts for
about 70% of India’s coal consumption, followed
by heavy industry. Coal consumption is projected
in the International Energy Annual 2004 to increase
to 430 million short tons in 2010, up from 359 Mst
in 2000.
India is trying to expand electric power
generation capacity, as current generation is
seriously below peak demand. Although about 80%
of the population has access to electricity, power
outages are common, and the unreliability of
electricity supplies is severe enough to constitute a
constraint on the country’s overall economic
development. As of January 2004, total installed
Indian power generating capacity was 126,000 MW.
The country needs 9% of the annual growth in
electricity. This needs a huge economic investment

in power sector which is very difficult in developing
country like India.
It has been concluded by IEO2005 that the
developing countries mainly China and India will
be the major energy consumer in coming 10-15 years
due to the betterment in economy and rapid
infrastructural development. At present, the
changing phase of world economic policy i.e.
globalization, privatization and liberalization the
infrastructural development is going on in a very
rapid speed hence the energy demand is continuously
increasing. In developing countries like India every
sector is strongly being affected by energy policy of
the country. Therefore the gap between demand and
supply side is increasing. The traditional energy
sources also creating huge environmental pollutions
and causing greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion
etc. India being a CDM (bounded by Kyoto Protocol)
country can not go through only coal based power
generation. Therefore alternating and environmental
friendly energy sources are very necessary for
sustainable development in the country like India.
Non-conventional energy resources can play an
important role in this direction.
3. Solar Energy : The Best Renewable Energy
Option for India
The sun is the largest source of renewable
energy and this energy is abundantly available in
all parts of the earth. It is in fact one of the best
alternatives to the non-renewable sources of energy.
One way to tap solar energy is through the use of
solar ponds. Solar ponds are large-scale energy
collectors with integral heat storage for supplying
thermal energy. It can be use for various applications,
such as process heating, water desalination,
refrigeration, drying and power generation.
Renewable energy is considered a suitable
alternative for variety of applications. Efforts are
continuously being stepped up on global basis to
harness renewable energy sources for the benefit of
peoples and also the society as a whole. In view of
this, solar energy technologies have attracted
significant attention of the researchers all over the
world. The sun is the primary source for most forms
of energy found on Earth. Solar energy is clean,
abundant, widespread, and renewable. These include
solar thermal as well as photovoltaic technologies
while the latter represents direct conversion of solar
374
energy into electricity, the former refers to the
applications where solar energy is used as heat. India
being a tropical country is blessed with good
sunshine over most parts, and the number of clear
sunny days in a year also being quite high. India is
in the sunny belt of the world. The country receives
solar energy equivalent to more than 5,000 trillion
kWh per year, which is far more than its total annual
energy consumption. The daily average global
radiation is around 5.0 k Wh/m 2 in northeastern and
hilly areas to about 7.0 kWh/m 2 in western regions
and cold dessert areas with the sunshine hours
ranging between 2300 and 3200 per year.
4. Solar Ponds
A solar pond refers to a segment (except
charging and discharging operations) large body of
water with black bottom and capable of collecting
and storing solar energy. The solar pond combines
solar energy collection and sensible heat storage.
Temperature inversions have been observed in
natural lakes having high concentration gradients
of dissolved salts (i.e. concentrated solution at
bottom and dilute solution at the top). This
phenomenon suggested the possibility of
constructing large-scale horizontal solar collectors
as ponds. Non-convective solar ponds have been
proposed as a simple relatively inexpensive method
of collecting and storing solar energy on a large
scale. The two most fundamental characteristics of
solar energy, namely its diluteness and intermittent
nature, are also the reasons why it is not being
harnessed on a large scale at present. The solar pond
works on a very simple principle. It is well-known
that water or air is heated they become lighter and
rise upward e.g. a hot air balloon. Similarly, in an
ordinary pond, the sun’s rays heat the water and the
heated water from within the pond rises and reaches
the top but loses the heat into the atmosphere. The
net result is that the pond water remains at the
atmospheric temperature. The solar pond restricts
this tendency by dissolving salt in the bottom layer
of the pond making it too heavy to rise.
A solar pond serves the dual purpose of
collection and storage of solar energy. In the solar
ponds, water is the medium for the storage and direct
absorption of solar radiation and solar pond is
categorized generally convective as well as nonconvective
ponds. Natural ponds convert solar

Figure 1a. Schematic diagram of solar pond
Figure 1b. Energy extraction through solar pond
radiation into heat, but the heat is quickly lost through
convection in the pond and evaporation from the
surface. These are large-scale energy collectors with
integral heat storage for supplying thermal energy.
It can be use for various applications, such as process
heating, water desalination, refrigeration, drying and
Figure 2. Various temperature zones of a solar pond
375
power generation.
A solar pond has three zones. The top zone is
the surface zone, or UCZ (Upper Convective Zone),
which is at atmospheric temperature and has little
salt content. The bottom zone is very hot, 70°– 85°
C, and is very salty. It is this zone that collects and
stores solar energy in the form of heat, and is,
therefore, known as the storage zone or LCZ (Lower
Convective Zone). Separating these two zones is the
important gradient zone or NCZ (Non-Convective
Zone). Here the salt content increases as depth
increases, thereby creating a salinity or density
gradient. If we consider a particular layer in this
zone, water of that layer cannot rise, as the layer of
water above has less salt content and is, therefore,
lighter. Similarly, the water from this layer cannot
fall as the water layer below has a higher salt content
and is, therefore, heavier. This gradient zone acts as
a transparent insulator permitting sunlight to reach
the bottom zone but also entrapping it there. The
trapped (solar) energy is then withdrawn from the
pond in the form of hot brine from the storage zone.
4.1 Convective Solar Pond
The convective solar pond reduces heat loss
by being covered by a transparent membrane or
glazing. One type of solar pond uses a plastic tube
filled with water. Each pond module includes a long
narrow plastic bag measuring container water 5-10
cm deep. The bag has a transparent top to allow
transmission of sunlight and to prevent evaporation
losses. The bottom of bag is black to absorb sunlight.
An insulation layer is provided beneath the plastic
bag to minimize heat losses to the ground. One or
two layers may be arched over the bag of water to
suppress convective and radiative losses. In this type

of solar pond, the hot water is removed late in the
afternoon and stored in insulated reservoirs. Glazing
materials for the solar pond may include Polyvinyl
Chloride (PVC) film and clear acrylic panels. The
panels covering the plastic bags screen out
ultraviolet (UV) radiation and greatly increase the
life of the plastic bags.
Figure 2. Cross section of a shallow solar pond
4.2 Non-convective Solar Ponds
These solar ponds prevent heat losses by
inhibiting the convection to forces caused by thermal
buoyancy. In convective solar ponds, solar radiation
is transmitted through the water to the bottom, where
it is absorbed; in turn, the water adjacent to the
bottom is heated. Natural buoyancy forces cause the
heated water to rise, and the heat is ultimately
released to the atmosphere. The collector of pond
will be much more effective if the convective heat
dissipation is impeded. The non convective solar
pond is similar to the convective one but a layer of
still water is used as an insulator rather than the
normal glazing and air space. The three methods to
accomplish the non-convecting mode of the pond
and to maintain its stability.
Figure 3. Schematic of a solar pond with vertical
concentration gradient
4.2.1 Salt Stabilized Pond
It is a non-convecting body of fluid contained
by an impervious bottom liner. An artificial salt
solution density gradient is achieved by
376
superimposing layers of decreasing salinity. Batches
of brine can be mixed in a small evaporation pond,
and than pumped into the solar pond through a
horizontal diffuser floating on the surface, which is
a non-convective zone. The incident solar radiation
penetrates the water surface and a fraction of it
reaches the bottom after crossing the layers of
varying density. This energy is trapped near the
bottom due to opaqueness of water for far-infrared
gradient. The main advantages of salt-stabilized
ponds are; it serves as an efficient storage,
convective heat dissipation is suppressed without
any additives, membrane etc.
Figure 4a. Cross section of a non-convective salt solar
pond (with tedlar cover)
Figure 4b. Cross section of a prototype economic kind
of non-convective salt solar pond
Figure 4
4.2.2 Partitioned Salt stabilized pond
This pond was proposed for space heating
applications. In these ponds the convecting and nonconvecting
zones are separated by a transparent
membrane or partition. The use of partition allows
a fresh water convecting zone which can reduce the
extraction problems and reduces the salt
requirement. The main advantages of these type of
solar ponds are; they are collection-cum-storage type
ponds, bottom and top insulations are not required,
in-pond heat exchanger may be practical.

Figure 5. Cross-section of partitioned
salt-stabilized solar pond
4.2.3 Viscosity Stabilized Pond
This type of pond is based on a similar concept
to that of the partitioned salt-stabilized pond except
that in this case of non-convecting layer contains
thickeners for stabilization rather than a salt gradient.
Polymers and detergents, oil, water gels are
considered to be the required thickeners. The main
advantages of these type of solar ponds are; separate
storage and bottom insulation is not required, it has
reduces diffusion effect and in pond heat exchanger
is practical and energy extraction is simpler.
Figure 6. Cross sectional view of golled solar pond
5. Applications of Solar Pond
5.1 Electricity Generation
A solar pond can effectively be used to generate
electricity by driving a thermo electric device or an
organic Rankine Cycle engine – a turbine powered
by evaporating an organic fluid with a low boiling
point. The concept of solar pond for power
production holds great promise in those areas where
there is sufficient incident solar radiation and terrain
and soil conditions allow for construction and
377
operation of large area solar pond necessary to
generate meaningful quantities of electrical energy.
Even low temperatures heat that is obtained from
solar pond can be converted into electrical power.
5.1 Space Heating
In space heating, salt gradient pond proves to
be cheaper than the conventional collector and
storage system. A pond can carry the entire heat load,
without depending upon supplementary sources. It
is very useful in crop drying; where a large quantity
of heat is required for a short period; and heating
from buildings. Unusually low temperature heat is
required for many of these applications, thus it is
necessary to ensure simple and reliable operation
of the pond by identifying problems and finding the
practical solutions.
5.2 Green House Solar Pond Heating System
In this process heat is taken from the bottom
of solar pond by circulating pond brine through
plastic pipe to the shell and tube heat exchanger.
Brine piping is preferred to an in-pond heat
exchanger, as large in-pond heat exchanger surfaces
would be necessary at low pond temperatures. The
heating system is so designed that when the pond is
between 40 o C to 80 o C, fresh water in the tube of the
shell and tube heat exchanger is circulated to a waterto-air
discharge heat exchanger in the greenhouse.
When the pond is between 5 o C to 40 o C; fresh water
from the tubes of the shell and the tube heat
exchanger is pumped through the evaporator of a
heat pump to keep the temperature of the water,
being delivered to greenhouse, slightly above 40 o C.
In addition to above applications, a nonconvective
solar pond can also be used for salt and
mineral production, solar absorption refrigeration,
Rankine cycle solar engines, heating an outdoor
swimming pools, drying of agricultural products and
produces, hot water production for industries,
distillation, industrial process heat, biomass
conversion, food processing etc.
5.3 Solar Pond at Bhuj (INDIA)
The Bhuj Solar Pond was a research,
development, and demonstration project. The
construction of the 6000 m 2 pond started in 1987 at
Kutch Dairy, Bhuj as a collaborative effort between
Gujarat Energy Development Agency, Gujarat Dairy

Development Corporation Limited, and Tata Energy
Research Institute (TERI) under the National Solar
Pond programme of the Ministry of Non-
Conventional Energy Sources. TERI carried out
execution, operation, and maintenance of the Bhuj
Solar Pond. The solar pond is 100 m long and 60 m
wide and has a depth of 3.5 m. To prevent seepage
of saline water, a specially developed lining scheme,
comprising locally available material, has been
adopted. The pond was then filled with water and
4000 tonnes of common salt was dissolved in it to
make dense brine. A salinity gradient was established
and wave suppression nets, a sampling platform,
diffuses for suction and discharge of hot brine, etc.
were also installed. This pond has been successfully
supplying processed heat to the dairy since
September 1993, and is, at present, the largest
operating solar pond in the world.
6. Conclusions :
Though solar ponds can be constructed
anywhere, it is economical to construct them at
places where there is low cost salt and bittern, good
supply of sea water or water for filling and flushing,
high solar radiation, and availability of land at low
cost. Coastal areas in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh, and Orissa are ideally suited for such solar
ponds. In India a number of solar ponds have been
installed by MNES for the generation of electricity
� � �
378
as well as industrial process heat. The technology is
in initially phase but have a large potential for power
generation as well as other domestic and industrial
applications.
Bibliography
1. Annual Report, Ministry of Non-Conventional
Energy Sources, New Delhi, 2004.
2. Annual Report, Ministry of Non-Conventional
Energy Sources, New Delhi, 2005.
3. Duffie J. A. and Beckman, Solar Engineering of
thermal processes, John Welly and Sons, New York.
4. Garg H. P. and J., Prakash, Solar Energy:
Fundamentals and Applications, Tata McGraw Hill, New
Delhi.
5. IEO, International Energy Outlook: 2005,
Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government,
Washington, 2005.
6. Purohit I., Testing of Solar Thermal Devices and
Systems, Ph. D. Thesis, India.
7. Putting Energy in the Spot Light, BP Statistical
Review of World Energy, June 2005
8. Sukhatme S. P., Solar Energy, Tata McGraw Hill,
New Delhi, 1996.
9. Tiwari G. N., (2002) Solar Energy: Fundamentals,
Design Modeling and Application, Narosa Publishing
House, New Delhi, India.
10. www.mnes.nic.in
11. www.teri.res.in
www.tripod.lycos.com

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
65. An Overview of Electronic Probes for Water-Level Measurements
and Recording for Agricultural and Environmental Studies
Preamble
Hydrologic soil examination, such as
determination of the groundwater level, direction
of the current of groundwater, porosity of soils, for
agricultural and environmental studies needs waterlevel
measurements. While various devices are
available for measuring and recording water-levels
in open waters, water wells, tanks, boreholes, etc.,
recent probes [ 1, 2 ] based on electronically
measuring and registering water-levels with data
logging facility are the state-of-the-art devices. Such
probes are based on pressure measurements. By
attaching additional sensors, these probes also
measure and record temperature and electrical
conductivity of water. An overview of commercially
available water-level probes and some of their
properties are presented.
Water-Level Measurements by Sounding Probes
Sounding probes are provided with a measuring
tape with graduation in centimeters. The probe is
*Prof. ( Mrs.) Vijaya Agarwal
ABSTRACT
State-of-the-art electronic probes for water-level measurements and recording are
presented. By providing additional sensors, the probes can measure temperature and
conductivity of water besides the levels. The readings can be data logged. The probes are
self-contained with built-in battery, sensors and data logger encased in a hermetically
sealed casing. The data logging function is software programmed and the readings are
downloadable to a computer. Very low battery drain gives the battery life of 8 to10 years.
Commercial availability of the probes facilitates their easy adoption for agricultural and
environmental studies.
Key words : Water level measurements and recording, sounding probes, electronic probes,
data logging.
lowered in a well or a borehole. When the probe
touches the water, an audible or light signal is
produced. If the cable it lifted a little, the signal
disappears. At this point the depth can be directly
read from the measuring tape. Accuracy is of the
order of +/- 0.5 cm and depends on the quality of
the tape used.. The probes are available with
measuring tape in several lengths mounted on a reel.
Such probes are manually operated and normally
non-recoding type. A few water-level sounding
probes are depicted in Fig. 1.
Electronic Probes
Developments in microelectronics have lead
to commercial availability of probes with advanced
features. Electronic probes’ working is based on
pressure measurement with the help of a precision
pressure sensor. The pressure sensor is provided with
dynamic compensation for ambient temperature and
barometric pressure changes. Additional features,
measurements of water conductivity and
temperature, and data logging function can be
*Selection Grade Assistant Professor ( Electrical Engineering ), Department of Agricultural Structures and
Environmental Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University
Krishi Nagar, Adhartal P.O., Jabalpur 482 004 E-mail : vijaya.agarwal @ gmail.com Ph. : 0761 – 2681820
379

incorporated in a single probe.
The probe is provided with a hermetically
sealed casing for protection against moisture. The
casing also serves as a Faraday cage to make the
probe insensitive to external electrical disturbances.
It is installed in a monitoring well by suspending it
by a steel wire. The probe automatically measures
and registers the level, temperature and conductivity
of water and stores readings in the internal memory
of the data logger. As current drain is very low, the
built-in battery has a lifespan of 8 to 10 years.
Technical specifications of a typical probe [ 2 ] are
given in Table 1. Fig. 2 depicts a typical electronic
probe and Fig. 3 its field installation.
Advantages of Electronic Probes
The electronic probes have the following
advantages:
• Small diameter, the probes can be installed in
small boreholes.
• Hermetically sealed casing for protection
against moisture and
external electrical disturbances.
• Accurate measurements for level, temperature
and conductivity
TABLE 1 : Technical Specifications
380
• Internal battery life 8 - 10 years.
• Dynamic compensation for ambient
temperature and barometric
pressure changes.
• Logging function programmed by a software,
readings downloadable
to a computer.
References
[1] Global Water Instrumentation (2005). WL-16
Water level logger. Global Water Instrumentation
Inc., Gold River, California, USA <
www.globalw.com >
[2] Eijkelkamp (2006). Divers – minidiver,
microdiver, ceradiver and CTD diver, Product
Specification Sheet, Eijkelkamp Agrisearch
Equipment, Giesbeek, Netherlands.
< www.eijelkamp.com >
Note : Photographs of the probes from websites /
product literature. Disclaimer: No preference to any
particular firm by the author.
With Table 1, Fig. 1 (a) – (d), Fig. 2, & Fig. 3.
Physical dimensions & weight :
18 to 22 mm (dia) x 90 to 183 mm (length), 55 to 150 gm (size and weight varies
with model). Pressure sensor, temperature sensor, conductivity sensor, data logger
and battery are encapsulated in a hermetically sealed stainless steel/ceramic housing.
Power supply :
Built-in battery (very low drain), typical life 8 - 10 years.
Measuring ranges & accuracies :
Water-level (depth) : 10 / 30 / 100 meters, +/- 0.1% of full scale.
Temperature : minus 20 to plus 80 deg C, +/- 0.1 deg C.
Conductivity : upto 80 mS/cm, +/- 1% of measured value.
Data logging :
16,000 to 48,000 measurements, at measurement frequency of 0.5 sec to 99 hours
(software programmed).

Fig. 1 (a) – (d) : Water Level Sounding Probes
( a ) (b ) ( c )
( d )
Fig. 2 : A typical Electronic Probe Fig. 3 : Installation of Electronic Probe in
boreholes and in field for automatic measurement and
logging of the readings
� � �
381

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
66. New Drinking Water Resources with Fiber Plastic Bed Rainwater
Harvesting Plants to Solve Water Scarcity Problem
INTRODUCTION
Not only for human beings but for all living
beings the basic requirements are food, shelter and
clothing. A nation, that satisfies all these basic needs,
is a developed nation. But many countries are not
able to develop due to the scarcity of water and the
problems of flood.
Today, the water received through rain is stored
in dams, ponds, wells, lakes, rivers and also in the
form of underground water table. Water satisfies
all the needs such as agricultural, industrial and
drinking. But because of the red, brown, or milky
color of water in ponds and lakes, it is unfit for
drinking. Even though the ground water is colorless,
it may be tasty, tasteless or salty. Only in very few
places the groundwater is fit for drinking purpose.
Day by day, depletion of water level occurs because
huge quantity of water is sucked forth from
underground water table.
Besides lakes, wells, ponds and underground
water, water from dams are also used by a large
number of people for the purpose of drinking,
*Veerappan. J
Abstract
Today tremendous development has taken place in different disciplines such as
medicine, arts, literature, science, electricity, transport, computers and
telecommunications etc. But one of the major unsolved problems in many countries is
‘the water scarcity and flooding problem’. At this juncture, a Project is developed to
give solution to this water scarcity problem. In this project, each fiber plastic bed
plant can be extended to any extent and any type of land as required. So, through
these plants sufficient drinking water can be derived in small villages, big towns and
cities. This paper reports the constructed model of a Rainwater Collection Plant of
this project and its performance. This paper also reports multipurpose applications of
this project such as drinking, irrigation, as well as for benefit of animals. Finally, this
paper sums up that all living beings essentially require water for sustenance and to a
great extent this project would help in harnessing the enormous amount of rainwater
and thereby ensuring good storage of surface water and ground water perennially.
agricultural and industrial purposes. But these dams
do not have enough water to be supplied to the
regions which are far away from the dams. Also the
population near the dam area has increased rapidly
due to migration of people from water scarce regions.
Hence people belonging to dam region are not able
to meet their annual water requirements. A famous
Tamil Idiom says ‘Give only when you have excess’.
Thus people of dam region cannot supply water to
dry region even though they are very closer to them,
as they themselves do not have enough water. This
may be one of the reasons that the National River
Interlinking Project is delayed.
These water crises are partly solved in villages
of very low population with the help of Government
subsidiary funds through various beneficial projects.
(In India, ‘Swajaladhara’, ‘Rajiv Gandhi Drinking
Water Mission’, ‘Power pump scheme’, etc.) [1].
But the towns and big cities suffer due to severe
water shortage, as they are located far away from
the dams. In these places, water is not available
even for drinking, then how hospitals, agricultural
*Asst.Professor, Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engineering, K.L.N College of Engineering
(Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai), Pottapalayam, Tamil Nadu State- 630611, INDIA.
Phone No. 0452-2698971, Fax: 0452-2698280, E.mail:veerappanna@yahoo.co.in
382

farms and industries hope to get adequate water.
The same situation prevails in many other countries
as well. Even though these towns and cities suffer
from water shortage, they are well-advanced in
various fields such as medicine, art, literature,
electricity, telecommunications, transports, and
computers etc. But these improvements lose their
significance when these places are confronted with
inadequate water availability.
Even though nature provides sufficient water
through rain, People and Governments of many
countries are not able to utilize water efficiently to
solve the water crises. If the same situation continues,
this water crisis all over the world may lead to world
war for the cause of water in future. [2].
Therefore a project is developed and named
as ‘ new drinking water resources with fiber plastic
bed rainwater collection plants to solve water scarcity
problem’. This project envisages through the
construction of many artificial water resources to
collect and store water from rain, considering
people’s water requirements. Each plant of this
project involves collecting rainwater from forests
and lands using Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP)
sheets and saving water in modern lakes, which have
very low water evaporation. Here rainwater is
collected carefully avoiding contact with the soil. So
the collected water is colorless and odorless.
Therefore it is fit for drinking after simple filtrations.
Each plant of this project can be extended over
a large extent of land easily and quickly with low
capital investments. Therefore this project is very
useful in hot/poor countries, deserts, islands,
seashores etc. Through this project, millions and
millions of people can get water for their annual
water requirements.
This plant can withstand heavy solar radiations
and high velocity winds. They can resist the damages
caused by small animals like rodents and rats.
Therefore, lifetime of this plant will be comparatively
longer. This project is cheaper, cost effective and
viable to implement, when compared with other
projects like National River Interlinking Project,
Seawater Desalination Project etc.
This paper reports the constructed model of a new
drinking water resource with land Rainwater
Collection Plant of this project and its performance.
The research paper also reports the future works
and developments of this plant such as a successful
modern lake design, which reduces the rate of water
evaporation, even though it is open. It also reports
on the multipurpose applications of this project such
as drinking, irrigation, as well as for the benefit of
animals.
383
1. RAINWATER COLLECTION PLANT
MODEL
The ‘Rainwater Collection Plant’ helps in
collecting rainwater from forest and land using fiber
plastic sheets and storing water in modern lakes,
which has very low water evaporation rate. The
fig.1(a & b) shows a model of this Plant, which has
been implemented at K.L.N. College of Engineering,
Pottapalayam, Sivagangai (Dist), Tamilnadu, India.
It consists of three sections namely
· Rainwater collection bed
· Water reservoir
· Protection valley.
1. a. Rainwater collection bed
This rainwater collection bed (fig.1) has been
constructed (6.1*6.5m 2 ) using sand, stones, fiber
plastic sheets, plastic gutters etc. For this bed
construction, initially the land with the required slope
was prepared (76.2mm deep) and 50 to 100mm of
sand is filled on that lands. Then fiber plastic sheets
were spread on the sand. The rainwater falling on
this fiber plastic sheets was collected into water
reservoir (lake) through plastic gutters. In order to
protect the fiber plastic sheets from wind, Stones
(38.1mm) were spread evenly on the fiber plastic
sheets. These stones also act as the filtration layer,
i.e., stones, filtering the water from dust, which falls
on the fiber plastic sheets.
1. b. Water Storage Reservoir (lake)
The rainwater collected from the collection bed
is stored in this water reservoir [lake]. Table.1 shows
the Quality of the water stored in this reservoir
(1.5*2.4*1.96m 3 ), and Table.2 shows the period
during which rainwater was collected & stored.
Table.3 shows the Quantity of water collected in
one year.
· To prevent the water from evaporation and
dust, the reservoir is covered by a roof made of fiber
plastic sheets and wooden reapers. The water falling
on reservoir roof is also collected. But this type of
roofing is not possible for lake. The depth of the
reservoir can be maintained between 20ft to 30ft so
as to save 80% of water from evaporation when it
is open.
1. c. Protection valley
To protect the rainwater collection bed and
water reservoir from animals, they should be covered
by protection valley (7.6*9.1m 2 ) (fig1&2).
2. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
A model of Rainwater Collection Plant (fig 1a
& 1b) of this project is constructed at K.L.N. College

of Engineering, Pottapalayam, Sivagangai (Dist),
Tamilnadu, India. Table.1 shows the Quality of the
water stored in this reservoir, and Table.2 shows
period during which rainwater was saved. Table.3
shows the Quantity of water collected in one year.
The observation reports that in this plant almost all
the rainwater falling on the fiber plastic sheets is
collected. This is one way to collect rainwater
without wastage. So this plant collects huge quantity
of water even during small rain. Here rainwater is
collected without bringing it in contact with the soil.
So the collected water is colorless and odorless
(table1). Therefore it is fit for drinking after simple
filtrations.
The observation reports that in this reservoir
the average depth of evaporation per month is
0.152m (without roof) and 0.108m (with roof).
During the observation period (one year) the
collection bed and reservoir roof plastic fiber sheets
withstand heavy solar radiation, high velocity winds
and are also not damaged by any small animals like
rats and rodents. So this project can withstand all
kinds of natural disasters like lightning, fire and
earthquakes. Therefore, lifetime of this project will
be more. Since the proposed drinking water plant
has longer operational lifetime, it is not only beneficial
now but also for the posterity.
As seen in this water plant model, Table.4&5
shows the quantity of water collected and supplied
from this water plant, constructed from one acre to
one thousand acres. From the observation, more
water could be stored near small villages, big towns
and cities using many plants of this project. Also this
project can be implemented in any type of
demographic region, be it arid, watershed or any other
type. This project is easier to implement when
compared with other projects like National River
Interlink Project, Seawater Desalination Project etc.
3. OTHER APPLICATIONS
• The water plant of this project can be used as
one of the drinking water resources at villages and
towns of dry countries.
• The plastic fiber collection bed of this plant
alone can increase the quantity of water and enhance
the existing water resources.
• This water plant, with some modifications, can
provide copious water for agricultural and animal
husbandry requirements.
• The Water Plant could be constructed near
forest areas for benefits of wild animals too.
• All types of heavy industries can solve their
water requirements with the help of water plants of
this project. Same can be implemented at University,
� � �
384
College, School, Hospital, Hostel and other
Organizations as well.
4. OTHER FEATURES
• While normal rainwater structures are meant
to recharge ground water, this helps to collect water
for immediate use.
• The fiber plastic sheets have longer life as they
are temperature resistant and even rodents could
not damage them.
• The depth of the reservoir can be maintained
between 20ft to 30ft so as to save 80% of water
from evaporation.
• The usual tasteless rainwater is made tasty by
the mixing of saline water in appropriate ratio.
• Further, it could be protected from being polluted
by animals through simple fencing.
• Last but not the least, due to its techno-free
working mechanism it is so called the “layman’s
method”.
CONCLUSIONS
This paper projects that water scarcity related
problems would be minimized with the installation of
new water resources with fiber plastic bed land
rainwater harvesting plants of this project. This
project can be implemented in every country to meet
its own water scarcity problems. It would give long
term solutions too by enhancing both surface and
ground water reserve table. This paper ensures that
this project collects huge quantity of water and also
the lifetime of this project will be more. The
knowledge and the expertise available from the
technical know-how of the project would help
mankind live a life of plenty enjoying copious water
availability.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author acknowledges his debt of immense
gratitude to the Principal and the Management of
KLN College of Engineering, Pottapalayam,
Madurai, India, who supported and offered the funds
required for implementation of this project and
offering sustained moral encouragement and
inspiration in making the dream project not only a
reality but as a success as well.
REFERENCES
[1] “Review of 2004-05 “Water Resources
Development” (India), Annual Report.
[2] “Rainwater Roof Catchment Systems”, Information
and Training for low-cost water supply and sanitation,
E.J.Schiller and B.G.Lwatham, editor:D.Trattles, etc.

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
67. Approach to Rainwater Harvesting & Artificial Recharge using
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System
A Case Study of Naini Watershed, Mahasamund District,
Chhattisgarh State
Introduction
The natural resources like land and water are
under tremendous pressure to meet the requirement
of ever increasing population, which results in
degradation of land as well as depletion of water
table. The problem gets further aggravated due to
vagaries of monsoon. Under this situation water
conservation measures assumes great importance to
achieve the objective of sustainable source of
drinking water even in the event of persistent
drought. Realising this situation the Government of
Chhattisgarh, Public Health Engineering
Department, conceptualized a project for statewide
implementation of “Rainwater harvesting and
*Shekhar D. Bhole **Anand P. Pradhan
Abstract
Realising the importance of watershed development for providing the sustainable source
of drinking water, various state governments are implementing this programme on large scale.
However in order to have realistic development plan a systematic study based on resources
database is necessary. The situation calls for integration of database in GIS environment,
which, facilitate identification of priority area as well as appropriate sites for construction of
water conservation structures. The Govt. of Chhattisgarh has also taken up construction of
water recharging structures on a large scale. Under the project ADCC Infocad has carried out
studies in Mahasamund district. A case study of Naini watershed in Mahasamund district is
presented in detail in the following papers.
A sound resources database using remote sensing and GIS technique has been generated
to understand the resources situation which was then followed by critical analysis of ground
water scenario to arrive at identification of appropriate site for construction of water
conservation structure. A detailed Engineering survey was carried out for preparation of cost
estimate of recommended measures. Based on the study water conservation structures for
Naini watershed has been suggested. The paper deals with study carried out for Naini watershed.
385
artificial recharge on watershed basis”. The Public
Heath Engineering Department, Govt. of
Chhattisgarh awarded a project of preparation of
Draft Project Report of construction of water
conservation measures in Mahasamund district. In
accordance with the objectives of the project Naini
watershed of Mahasamund Assembly Constituency
from Mahasamund district has been identified for
preparation of implement able action plan for
rainwater Harvesting and Artificial Recharge.
Study Area
The Naini watershed is located in the east
bank of River Mahanadi and stretched between
*Director (Technical) **Manager
ADCC Infocad Pvt. Ltd., 10/5, IT Park, Opp. VNIT, Nagpur - 440 022
Telefax : 0712-2249605 / 358 / 033 / 930 E-mail : infocad_ngp@sancharnet.in

Latitudes 21º12’39": 21º23’20" North and Longitudes
82º11’22": 82º22’00" East. The district HQ
Mahasamund is situated on S-W boundary of the
watershed. Mahasamund town is located at 65
Kilometers East of the state capital, Raipur. The area
is well connected with National Highway and
Railway with Raipur.
The location and spatial extent of the
Watershed is taken from Toposheet 63K/3 & 63 K/
4. The Naini watershed is a part of National level
Watershed category (as per the Watershed Atlas of
India) 4G2F4. The watershed covers an area of
125.82 sq. km. comprising of 29 villages.
Methodology
The success of the water conservation
measures depends on critical analysis of natural
resources vis-a-vis requirement o water for the
population of the watershed. Therefore a sound
resources database on natural resources such as
Landuse, Hydro-geomorphology, has been prepared
Remote Sensing Data
by using remote sensing technique in which Multi
date satellite imagery of IRS-1C for the years of
2002-2003 on 1:50,000 scale was used for the
preparation of resources maps for watershed area.
False Colour Composite (FCC) of the imagery was
generated and used for better identification of
categories through visual interpretation. Date of
pass, path/row of satellite image data used for the
resources mapping is given in the table.
Landuse Landcover of Study Area
LISS-III standard FCC on 1:50,000 scale for
the identification of different land use / land cover
classes based on image interpretation characteristics.
Using a minimum mappable unit of 3x3 mm and a
broad image interpretation key, which was
developed by Dr. N.C. Gautam, was followed for
mapping. The classification system used for the same
was also a standard one, a 22-fold classification
developed by NRSA. Refer map 1.1
No. Satellite Data Path / Row Date of Pass Toposheet Coverage Mapping Scale
1 IRS-1C. LISS-III 103-57 2 nd Oct 2002 & 64K/3, 64K/4 1:50,000
(20%SAT) 4 th Feb 03
Resources Scenario in Naini Watershed
8%
24%
40%
7%
4%
1%
3%
8%
Kharif
Landwithout scrub
Waterbody
Close forest
1%
4%
Double crop
Landwith scrub
Degrated Forest
Current fellow
Settlement
Open forest
Fig. 1 : Landuse Landcover Details of Naini Watershed
386

Geology of Area
The area is a part of Chhattisgarh Meta
Sediments and thus, is a part of Chhattisgarh Super
Group, which belongs to Proterozoic formation of
Pre-Cambrian age. The area shows presence of
mainly three Geological formations viz, Bundeli
Table-1 : Geology of Study Area
Granitoid the oldest overlaid by Chandarpur
Sandstone and Charmuria Limestone. The major part
of watershed is covered by Bundeli granitoid. The
Central part by Chandarpur Sandstone and NW part
by Charmuria Limestone. Geological succession as
observed is shown in the below given table-1.
No. Age Stage Lithology Locality
1 Pre-Cambrian Charmuria Cream pinkish grey, fine to Covers NW part of
(Chhattisgarh Formation medium grained, bedded hard watershed area.
Super Group) and compact limestone with
Upper Proterozoic intercalation of shale, dolomite,
cherty and phosphatic
Chandarpur Fine Grained quartztic and Exposed in Central
Sandstone ferruginous Sandstone. part of watershed.
Bundeli Fine to medium grained rocks Major SW part of
Granitoid with quartz and feldspar and watershed.
varients like hornblende and
biotite.
Map-1 : Landuse Landcover Map of Naini Watershed
387

Geomorphology of Area
Landform can be described as a geomorphic
unit that is produced on the surface of the earth by
the action of various geological agencies working
on it. The resultant form is also the representative
of geological agencies by which it has been produced
in the geological past. Geomorphological features
influence the occurrence, storage and movement of
groundwater and therefore the study of
geomorphology is eminent in groundwater
prospecting. In view of this a geomorphological map
of the area has been prepared using an IRS 1c, LISS-
III Satellite Image. Since the area is covered with
older geological formations it exhibits mostly
denudational landforms along with depositional
landforms of fluvial origin and residual landforms
of recent age. Refer map 1.2
Groundwater Potential
The aquifer characteristics such as yield,
specific capacity, and transmissivity and storage
coefficient have been assessed through well
Map-2 : Geomorphology Map of Naini
388
inventory and aquifer performance tests. During this
process it has been observed that the yield of the
wells ranges from 18 to 54 kiloliters/day during
winters while the same is as low as 15 to 25 kiloliters/
day during summers. Two major geological
formations of the area, viz., limestone, sandstone is
acting as prominent aquifers. The limestone with
its fractured and jointed nature has rendered it as
prominent aquifer. The sandstone because of its
porosity is acting as a prominent aquifer. Eight
aquifer performance tests were conducted on dug
wells in the watershed and the results of the aquifer
performance tests are given. (Aquifer Performance
of Naini Watershed) which shows that the specific
capacity of the well is from 1.57 to 519.8 liters/
minute/meter of drawdown. The transmmisivity is
3.94 to 94.45 sq meter/meter of aquifer width per
day. The storage coefficient is 0.01 to 0.05
Analytical Study
The resources situation described above has
been critically analysed with factors controlling the

ground water recharge, which includes analysis of
rainfall data for 12 years to assess recurrence and
magnitude of drought then, water requirement for
irrigation and drinking water, surface runoff, surplus
and deficit situation has also been analysed. The
findings are presented below.
Rainfall Details
The area receives rainfall from southwest
monsoon and to some extent eastern depressions
bring rainfall to the district. Average annual rainfall
in the district is 1363mm. However, the rainfall data
of last 12 years (1992-2004) indicates a low average
rainfall of 1063.21 mm. The average rainfall of
Mahasamund Tehsil is lowest i.e., 750.8 mm
followed by Basna 1142.1 mm and Saraipali 1296.65
mm. Twelve years average annual rainfall in
Mahasamund Tehsil of the district is shown in
Table - 2
The rainfall data of last 12 years are already
presented Table-1, which indicates that the average
rainfall in the watershed is 750.8 mm during the last
decade. The analysis of the above data indicates that
the area is drought prone as there are 8 years in the
last decade, wherein, the rainfall was lower than the
decadal average of 750.8 mm, in which the rainfall
in 1999 was 378.3 mm. However, in the 4 years the
rainfall was above average and in the year 2003 the
rainfall was as high as 1841.2 mm. Thus, there are
three distinct situations, i.e., year of very low rainfall,
moderate rainfall and high rainfall.
Ground Water Recharge Assessment
In view of this the ground water recharge in
the study area has been worked out based on aquifer
characters.
[A] Recharge in mcm
(Through Rainfall) = Area of the watershed (in
sq km) x Aquifer thickness (in meters) x
Storage coefficient
= 125.82 x 3 x 0.03
= 11.32 mcm
[B] Recharge in mcm
(Through Water Bodies) = Water spread Area
(in sq km) x Recharge factor (in meters)
= 1.77 x 0.60
= 1.06 mcm
[C] Total Recharge
(in mcm) = A +B
= 12.38 mcm
Table-2
Tehsil Mahasamund Twelve Years Monthly Rainfall
Tehsil Mahasamund Years
Since the recharge is directly related with the
amount of rainfall, there exists 3 distinct recharge
situations also, in which the recharge in drought year
is expected to be very low, in view of this it is
essential to asses the annual recharge for all the three
rainfall situations. In accordance with this annual
recharge for three situations has been worked out as
under. The recharge is calculated by rainfall method
using recharge coefficient factor as 15%. (As per
the recommendation of groundwater estimation
committee of GOI 1997).
Month 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Jun 63.9 88 322.4 149.7 20.9 33.7 87.3 129.2 107.7 438.3 117.6 250.2
Jul 217 155.1 341.2 342.4 258.6 211.6 158.2 143.1 217.4 69.1 379.9 371.9
Aug 175 199.7 259.6 201.9 142 290 63.4 92.7 107.8 235.8 680.3 218
Sept 53.9 96.8 82.6 42 29.1 67.6 67.4 108.4 38 159.4 571 124.3
Oct 7 2 51.1 38.7 92.4 38.2
510 539.6 1005.8 736 457.6 602.9 378.3 524.5 470.9 941.3 1841.2 1002.6
389

(1) Recharge in low = Area of the watershed
(in sq Km) x Average Rainfall in meters
Rainfall Year x Recharge Coefficient
= 125.82 X .400 X .15
= 7.54 mcm
(2) Recharge in Normal = Area of the watershed
(in sq Km) x Average Rainfall in Rainfall Year
Mtrs X Recharge Coefficient
= 125.82 X .700 X .15
= 13.21 mcm
(3) Recharge in Good = Area of the watershed
(in sq Km) x Average Rainfall in Rainfall Year
meters X Recharge Coefficient
= 125.82 X 1.0 X .15
= 18.87 mcm
Runoff Estimation
Before recommending water conservation
measures it is necessary to evaluate runoff potential
of the watershed and it is the main input for
recharging the ground water. Therefore micro
watershed based run-off potential of the watershed
corresponding to normal rainfall of the area. The
runoff is assessed for each micro-watershed based
on its geomorphic character. In a process a weighted
average value for runoff coefficient has been
considered, and based on that entire calculation was
done. The total run-off is 8.46 mcm, (calculated for
616mm (10 years Average since 2003-04 rainfall
were exceptionally high) of rainfall using Strangers
Table), which is available for harnessing to meet
the future demand. It is essential to arrest runoff by
constructing suitable recharge structures at
appropriate locations.
Assessment of water availability Situation
Since the project is aimed at preparation of
action plan for rain water harvesting and artificial
recharge it is eminent to assess the water requirement
visa vis water availability to identify the priority
areas for implementation. Considering this the
drinking water requirement for human and cattle
population, based on projected population of 2011
and also water requirement for irrigation has been
assessed and the findings of the same are as under.
390
Water Requirement
A] Drinking Water
The total drinking water requirement of the
watershed as per 2011 population has been worked
out where in it is observed that the water requirement
is 0.713 mcm for a population of 19818 souls and
drinking water demand for cattle is 0.356 mcm
(considering 50% of the human requirement) The
total drinking water requirement is 1.069 mcm
B] Irrigation
The area is predominantly rice growing, which
is a rainfed and grown in Kharif season, however,
with the availability of power supply the farmers
are inclined to raise double crop as a result rice is
also grown in Rabi and summer through irrigation
dug wells and bore wells. The land Use statistics of
the area indicates that the area under Rabi and
summer cultivation is around 136 ha. Considering
the above figures the water requirement for irrigation
would be @ 0.010 mcm per hectare i.e.1.36 mcm.
The demand for irrigation is also expected to go
higher as currently only 1.08% of the cultivable land
is under irrigation. The expected future irrigated area
would be around 10% of the cultivable land.
Considering this the future demand for irrigation
would be 6.22 mcm.
Thus, the total future water demand of the
watershed would be 7.28 mcm.
Result and Discussion
In view of the above situation, the drainage
lines have been thoroughly explored in which, it is
observed that the 1 st and 2 nd order streams are very
shallow and have been explored for paddy
cultivation leaving no scope for construction of any
structure. However, 3 rd and 4 th orders of the streams
were found to be suitable for construction of water
harvesting structures. To this, at favorable locations
Masonry Stop Dams, Boulder Check Dams,
Desiltation tanks, Rooftop Rain water harvesting
structures, Sub-Surface Dykes and Percolation Tank
have been suggested. Refer Map 2.1
Considering the local needs only maintenance
free permanent structures have been suggested. The
detailed engineering design and cost estimates have
been prepared for each site. Based on this following
structures have been suggested at appropriate
locations.

Table - 3 : Salient features of the recommended structures
No Type of Structure/Practice Total Structures Total Cost Estimated Storage
(in Lac. Rupees) (in mcm)
1 Boulder Check Dam cum 04 15.24 0.06
2 Masonry Stop Dam 02 68.13 0.06
3. Sub Surface Dykes 04 12.18 0.048
4. Desiltation of Tanks 04 0.78 0.002
5. Roof Top Structures 01 0.18 —
6. Percolation Tank 01 0.015
7 Silt Traps 02 —
Total 18 104.02 0.185
Thus, in all 07 different types of structures have been suggested and the estimated cost of these structures
in Rs.1.05 Crore The cost will ensure an additional surface storage of 0.185 mcm, over and above recharge
through existing tank (1.06 mcm) will be added. Thus total water availability will be 1.24 mcm.
Map-3 : Final Structure Map of Naini Watershed
391

Publishing House, Mathura.
• NRSA Ground Water Prospect Maps of District
Conclusions
1] It is observed that the resources mapping has
Mahasamund on 1:50,000 scale, prepared by National
Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad.
a great role in preparation of development plan,
which helps in identification of appropriate location
NRSA (1991): Technical Guidelines, Integrated
mission for sustainable development.
of particular structure. The plan so prepared is
therefore cost effective and realistic.
• Schedule of Rates for Works of Water Resources
Department, Government of Chhattisgarh (2003): In force
2] The generation of spatial and non-spatial
database in GIS environment is prerequisite for
from 01-12-2003, Engineer In Chief, Water Resources
Department, and Raipur.
preparation of developmental plans. This approach
facilitates integration of database.
• Singh, A.K. & Rathore P.S. (1995): Space Ship
Earth and Remote Sensing- A catastrophic View, pub.
Paper in the proceeding of the NAGI, Udaipur.
• Rathore, N.S. & Rathore P.S. (1996): Land Use
3] Assessment of water requirement as well as
surface runoff is very essential for achieving the
change in Udaipur Basin, pub. Paper in the proceeding
of the NAGI, Shillong.
objective of sustainable development of watershed.
• Rathore, P S (2002), Application of Remote
Sensing and Geographic Information System for District
References
• Alan, B. & Carlos R. V. (1991): Remote Sensing
Level Planning -A Case Study of Rajsamand District
(Raj.), unpublished PhD Thesis,
and GIS for Resource Management in Developing
Countries, Kluwer Academic Publisher, and London.
• Verma, J R (2003), Management of Water through
Conservation and Artificial Recharge in Gajara Sub
• AIS&LUS, (1971): Soil Survey Manual,
Publication, All India Soil and Land Use Survey,
Watershed of Kharun Watershed, Durg District,
Chhattisgarh – A Case Study, Proceedings of the
I.A.R.I., New Delhi.
• Behera, G., Balakrishnan P., Nageswara Rao, P.P.,
Workshop on Emerging Challenges in Water Resources
before Chhattisgarh state, held on Dec.12th 2003.
Dutt, C.B.S., Ganesh Raj, Brian Goodall and Andrew
Kirby (1979): Resources and Planning, Pergamon
• Soil Information Source: SYS Sea Land
Evaluation, University of Ghent, and Beljium
Press Limited, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford, England.
• Gautam N.C & Narayanan, L.R.A. (1985):
• Soil Source : Land Resource Atlas of Nagpur,
District Publication No –22 Internet Sources; Planning
Comission.nic.in Ecological Feature of Chhattisgarh.
Suggested Land Use/land Cover Classification System
for India Using Remote Sensing Techniques, Pink
� � �
392

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
68. Experimental Hydro-Geochemical Reactions In Shallow Water Table
Brackish ASR Well With Successive Number Of Cycles
*Y. S. Saharawat *R. S. Malik *B. S. Jhorar *N. Chaudhary *T. Streck
Abstract
Better understanding of mixing and geo-chemical reactions would help
in installation, operation and sustaining in aquifer storage recovery ASR system.
Four successive cycles of 2000 m3 recharge and 2000 m3 recovery in each cycle
were conducted in a cavity type brackish ASR well. Simple mixing as represented
by chloride cumulative native water percentage in the recovered water at 100 %
recovery M*(Cl- ) increased with recovery percentage (I) for all the quality
parameters. It decreased linearly with successive number of cycles (SC) [M*(Cl- ) = -1.58 SC + 21.95; r2 = 0.99]. Calcite dissolution also
decreased with successive number of cycles. Groundwater quality of the
recovered water was better than that of native water. Potassium concentration
of the recovered water was more than that of recharged water in all cycles.
Potassium and borate released from Illite and Tourmaline mineral respectively
were 1653 and 231 moles in 2000 m3 of recovered water during first ASR cycle.
The study would find its application in conserving and better utilization of the
scarce water resources in semi arid regions.
Key words : Hydro geochemistry, Cavity ASR well, Interactions, successive ASR
cycles
� � �
* Dr. Yashpal Singh Saharawat, IRRI-India office, 1 st floor CG block, NASC complex DPS Marg Pusa New Delhi
India-110012, Ph: +91 11 25843802 FAX = +91 11 2584180 e-mail: ysaharawat@cgiar.org
* Prof. R.S. Malik, Chief Scientist water Management, deptt of Soil Science, CCS HAU Hisar Haryana India
Ph: +91 1662 227538 e-mail: malikrs1@rediffmail.com
* Prof. B.S. Jhorar, Deptt. of Soil Science, CCS HAU Hisar Haryana India Ph: +91 1662 227538
e-mail: cswm@hau.ernet.in
* Dr. Neelam Chaudhary, Deptt. of Zoology, CCS HAU Hisar Haryana India Ph: +91 9891007818
e-mail: n.chaudhary@rediffmail.com
* Prof. Thilo Streckm, Biogeophysics Section, Universitat Hohenheim, Stuttgart Germany
e-mail: tstreck@uni-hohenheim.de
393

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
69. Design and Development of a Roof-Top Rainwater Harvesting
Structure for Drinking Water Supply
*Lala I. P. Ray **S. Senthilvel
Abstract
In the present era of virtually ‘mining’ of the ‘liquid gold – WATER’ in rural
areas for increased agricultural production and meeting the acute water shortage
in urban areas for drinking and industrial water needs, rainwater harvesting seems
to be a feasible solution. The present study focuses on the role of rooftop rainwater
harvesting (RTWH) to supplement the local water demands of Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University (TNAU) campus, as a representative unit of evaluation.
The micro level experimentation conducted on a 624 m 2 projected area resulted in
encouraging results, indicating a good potential for harvesting rainwater. The
workshop complex, selected as the study plot, could effectively generate 8.6 m 3 of
water per annum from its rooftop during the rainy season and the volume of water
collected was found to cater to the water requirement of the hydraulics laboratory,
drinking water needs, washing water needs and the consumptive water use
requirement of the Theme park. A harvesting structure consisting of a collecting
unit, a filtering unit and a storage tank was designed to store the rain water for
drinking purpose. The designed structure works well to supply the drinking water
demand of the workshop complex.
Key Words: Roof-top rainwater harvesting, Collecting unit, Filtering unit, Storage
structures.
� � �
*Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur - 721302
**Professor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641003
Research Scholar, Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur-721 302. West Bengal
Email: lalaipray@agfe.iitkgp.ernet.in
394

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
70. Rainwater Harvesting System
– A glance at Operation & Maintenance
*Dr. A. I. Wasif **Mr. M. B. Chougule ***Mr. B. R. Kulkarni
Abstract
The application of an appropriate rainwater harvesting technology can
make possible the utilization of rainwater as a valuable and in many cases,
necessary water resources. Rainwater harvesting is necessary in areas having
significant rainfall but lacking any kind of conventional, centralized government
supply system and also in areas where good quality fresh surface water or ground
water is lacking.
Rainwater harvesting systems require few skills and supervision to operate.
Major concerns are the prevention of contamination of tank during construction
and while it is being replenished during a rainfall. Contamination of water supply
as a result of contact with some material can be avoided by the use of proper
material during construction of system.
The main sources of external contamination are pollution from air, bird
and animal droppings and insects. Bacterial contamination may be minimized by
keeping roof surfaces and drains clean but can not be completely eliminated. If
the water is to be used for drinking purposes, filtration, chlorination or disinfection
by other means is necessary. This paper focuses on various ways of operation
and maintenance of rainwater harvesting system so that water can be stored safely
and can be utilized for drinking purpose.
� � �
*Dr.A.I.Wasif, Dy.Director, T.E.I. Ichalkaranji Email: aiwasif@gmail.com
**Mr. M.B. Chougule, Sr.Lecturer, T.E.I. Ichalkaranji Email: mbcdkte@gmail.com
***Mr.B.R.Kulkarni, Lecturer, T.E.I. Ichalkaranji, Email: bhupesh.kulkarni@gmail.com
395

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
71. A Simulation Model To Quantify The Impacts Of Rainwater Harvesting
In A Catchment
* C. Glendenning W. Vervoort
Abstract :
A framework for examining the hydrological impact of rural community based
rainwater harvesting structures at a catchment scale is proposed. In India investment
in rainwater harvesting for groundwater recharge is increasing. However literature
is extremely limited on the hydrological impacts of rainwater harvesting at a river
basin scale. This is important to know because, although rainwater harvesting is a
small-scale operation, when implemented across a catchment the impact on
downstream flow could be significant. However there is currently no study that has
comprehensively quantified the impact of rainwater harvesting on local groundwater
and at a catchment scale. This paper therefore proposes a conceptual model using
a simple water balance approach to explore groundwater recharge from rainwater
harvesting. This will be expanded into a model of a real catchment in future
research. Modelling provides a quick way to predict catchment hydrology behaviour,
where field studies for the same objective would be data intensive, expensive and
take more time. The model divides a catchment into subcatchments and is based on
the concept of hydrological response units (HRUs). Within each subcatchment,
HRUs are identified on the basis of landuse and soil characteristics. Hydraulic soil
properties are determined using pedotransfer functions based on texture classes;
runoff is calculated using the USDA-SCS curve number method. For each HRU a
lumped water balance is completed on a daily time step for ten years. A daily time
step will more accurately represent the process of recharge which is episodic in
nature. The water balance for rainwater harvesting structures are calculated
assuming no runoff, but with overflow and no irrigation. The recharge and runoff
for each HRU is divided by its area within the subcatchment. The values for each
HRU are then added to give the total recharge, and runoff estimates for the
subcatchment. The final output is streamflow which includes baseflow, runoff
reaching the stream and overflow from rainwater harvesting structures. Different
scenarios of land use and levels of rainwater harvesting are explored to quantify
the hydrological impact on the catchment. Using the conceptual model, a case
study of the sustainability and resilience of rainwater harvesting will be
demonstrated.
� � �
Hydrology Research Laboratory,
Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, The University of Sydney
396

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
72. Physico-Chemical Investigation of Waste Water from Electroplating
Industry at Agra and Technologies for Metal Removal
and Recovery of Water
Introduction
Present era of industrialization and
development also brings some fall backs, which
needs immediate attention to overcome their effects
on living beings and the ecosystems. One of these
is release of toxic metals bearing industrial effluents
which has become a primary challenge for last few
decades(Dahiya et al, 2003).These metals can be
introduced in to aquatic system through effluent
discharges from various industrial operations
including mining, chemical manufacture and
electroplating (Gupta et al., 2001) and their
increased concentration in aqueous environment
is capable of causing phytotoxicity,
*Monika Singh *Susan Verghese
Abstract
Industrialization and urbanization have led to discharge of industrial effluents, which
in turn pollute the ecosystem. The disposal of effluents has become a serious technoeconomic
problem particularly due to rising cost of disposal and growing awareness of
pollution hazards. Out of all waste water discharges, effluents from industries such as
electroplating, textiles, oil paints etc pose a threat as these waste water are usually dumped
into natural water resources like river, lakes and make the same unfit for human, plant and
animal consumption as well as for industrial use.
The present paper focuses on the waste water management of effluents from
electroplating industry which is a great water consumer and as a consequence, one of the
biggest producers of liquid effluent. This industry presents one of the most critical industrial
waste problems. Paper deals with the analysis of waste water quality from electroplating
units of Agra city , by determining parameters such as pH by digital pH meter, BOD by
titration method and COD by dichromate reflux method. Heavy metal analysis was done
on an Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (Perkin- Elmer A. Analyst 100). Analysis was done
for a period of one year and highest BOD (118 ppm), COD(424 ppm), certain toxic metals
Ni (27 ppm ) and (24 ppm) concentrations clearly indicate towards the seriousness and
immediate action towards developing methods for reclaiming metals from plating waste
stream. The paper also discusses different membrane technology for recovery of water
and different natural and cheap adsorbents for removal of toxic heavy metals.
bioconcentration and biomagnification by
organisms (Joshi, 2000).
In India there are over 50,000 large, medium
and small electroplating units mostly scattered in
the urban areas (Upadhyay, et al. 1992). Plating
waste water contains heavy metal, oil, grease and
suspended solids at levels that might be considered
hazardous to the environment and could pose risk
to public health. Because of the high toxicity and
corrosiveness of plating waste streams, plating
facilities are required to pretreat waste water prior
to discharge in accordance with national pollutant
discharge elimination system (NPDES) permits as
required by clean water act (CWA).
*School of Chemical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, St John’s College, Agra, India
397

The plating process typically involves, alkaline
cleaning, acid pickling, plating and rinsing. Copious
amounts of waste water are generated through these
steps, especially during rinsing. Additionally, batch
dumping, spent acid and cleaning solutions
contributes to the complexity of waste treatment.
With greater quantities of waste water produced and
discharge standards becoming more stringent, there
is a need for more efficient and cost effective
methods for removing heavy metals.
Membrane processes are capable of removing
many materials from water that are typically treated
using unit processes ranging from sand filtration to
carbon adsorption to ion exchange. Membrane
technology is one option for a nonpolluting process.
In order to increase the removal efficiency and
reduce the operating cost, membrane technology can
also be used together with other treatment processes
(Srisuwan, G. et al., 2002). Studying the heavy
metals removal from water using membrane,
Kosarek found that efficiencies of removal of As,
Cd, Cu, Pb, Hg, Ni, Se and Zn were 75-98%. The
results also showed that for water treatment with
polymer prior to chemical treatment, the percentage
removal increased to 90-99 %( Kosarek, L.J. 1981).
For the fractional separation of heavy metals from
electroplating waste streams, the coupling of two
or more techniques may result in better performance
than using either unit operation individually. By
combining the membrane techniques with other
physical and chemical processes the effectiveness
of the operation can be improved. Precipitation of
sparingly soluble metal compounds and micro-or
ultra filtration is the suitable and economical hybrid
operation for the removal and recovery of heavy
metals from waste streams. For selective removal
and recovery of the metals like Cd, Cu, Fe in
cadmium electroplating bath (containing high
amounts of Cd, Zn, Cu, Fe and small amounts of
Ni, Co, Mn), hybrid precipitation- polymer
enhanced ultra filtration based separation scheme
was developed and effective separation of heavy
metals from industrial wastes was achieved (Sezin
Islamoglu et al., 2001).
The present paper draws attention towards
effective technologies involved and of use in
successfully removing heavy metal in waste water,
recommends natural, cheap adsorbents for removing
each of heavy metal (Cu, Fe, Ni and Zn) analyzed
398
in waste water from four electroplating sites (AB 1 ,
AB 2 , AB 3 and AB 4 ) of Agra city, apart from
determination of pH, BOD, COD and heavy metal
concentration for analyzing the waste water quality
discharged from such units.
Material and Method
Waste water from four electroplating sites AB 1 ,
AB 2 , AB 3 and AB 4 of Agra city were assessed for
heavy metals Cu (II), Fe (II), Ni (II), Zn (II)
concentrations and other physico-chemical
parameters (pH, BOD& COD). One major
electroplating industry was also among the sampling
site, which is believed to contribute largely in
electroplating waste of Agra. Two sites were small
electroplating shops in main city and one
electroplating site was medium scale industry in the
exterior of the city. pH was measured within two
hours from collection on laboratory arrival.
Chemical and physical analysis of sample
water was done following the procedure
recommended by APHA, pH is measured with the
help of pH meter after calibration of the respective
instrument. BOD (biological oxygen demand), COD
(chemical oxygen demand) is determined by
titration method.
The metal analysis was performed on an
Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (Perkin-Elmer A.
Analyst 100), following the condition of operation
for the instrument. For the metals analysis Atomic
Absorption Spectrometer uses acetylene and air as
fuel and oxidant respectively. The standard solution
of each metal (Cu, Fe, Ni and Zn) was made using
analytical grade reagents for calibration purpose,
samples were filtered and digested with nitric acid
before determination of the metal concentration.
Wavelengths used for particular metals were as
follows: Copper (324.8 nm), Iron (248.3 nm), Nickel
(232.0 nm) and Zinc (213.9 nm).
Result and Discussion
Physico-chemical characteristics (pH, BOD
and COD) of waste water collected from different
electroplating sites are given in Table 1. pH, varies
differently in all the four sites. Waste water sample
of site AB 1 has the pH value of 12.02, and was the
most alkaline sample water, pH above 7 is due to
presence of sufficient quantity of carbonates. Site
AB 2 waste water was acidic among value of pH

eing 6.08, pH value of AB 3 and AB 4 site were close
to each other values being 5.02 and 4.15
respectively. Thus pH values in decreasing order
were as follows: AB 1 > AB 2 >AB 3 >AB 4 . Digital pH
meter NIG 333 was used for the determination of
pH of sample water. Tolerance limits of pH for
industrial effluents discharge in to inland surface
waters (IS: 2490-1974) is 5.5 - 9.0. AB 1 pH value is
above 9.0 and two site AB 3 and AB 4 pH value is
below 5.5.
Biological oxygen demand (BOD) is an index
of organic pollution in water, it is the rate of removal
of oxygen by microorganisms in aerobic degradation
of dissolved or even particulate organic matter in
water. All the four site’s waste water sample, have
different BOD values. Site AB 1 has the highest
BOD, value being 118 mg/l. Site AB 2 BOD value
being 104 mg/l, AB 3 and AB 4 site sample BOD
values were 46 mg/l and 54 mg/l respectively. BOD
values in decreasing order were as follows:
AB 1 >AB 2 >AB 4 > AB 3. Tolerance limit of BOD for
industrial effluents discharged in to inland surface
waters (IS:2490-1974) is 30 mg/l and in all the site
samples BOD value crosses this value of 30 mg/l
prescribed by Indian standard for discharge in to
inland surface waters.
Chemical oxygen demand (COD), the measure
of oxygen required in oxidizing the organic
compounds present in water by means of chemical
reactions involving oxidizing substances such as
potassium dichromate and potassium permanganate
showed different values in all the waste water
samples, site AB 2 COD value was the highest among
the four site its value being 225 mg/l which crossed
the tolerance limit for industrial effluents discharged
in to inland surface waters (IS: 2490-1974) which
is 250 mg/l , site AB 1 COD value(85 mg/l) was
second highest, AB 3 and AB 4 COD values were 92
mg/l and 80 mg/l respectively. All Site average COD
values were below the ISI standards for discharge
of industrial effluents in to inland surface waters.
COD values in decreasing order were as follows:
AB 2 >AB 1 >AB 3 >AB 4. All metals copper, iron, nickel
and zinc analyzed are present at different level of
concentrations in all the sites samples, Table3.
Copper is industrial health hazard, excess of
copper in human body is toxic and causes
hypertension, sporadic fever, uremia, coma and even
death. Copper also produces pathological changes
399
in brain tissue, copper concentration was highest in
site AB 3 value being 12.04 mg/l , least in site AB 1
4.24 mg/l , 7.2 mg/l and 9.4 mg/l in site AB 2 and
AB 4 respectively, copper in decreasing order of
concentration was as follows: AB 3 >AB 4 >AB 2 >AB 1 .
All site samples value exceeded the tolerance limit
for industrial effluents discharged in to inland
surface waters (IS: 2490-1974) which is 3.0 mg/l .
Membrane technology by which copper is removed
efficiently up to 98 % is reverse osmosis and by
nano filtration removal achieved is 90%. Suggested
natural and cheap adsorbent for copper removal are
fly ash, china clay, saw dust, jute, cow dung and
coconut coir dust.
More than 10 mg/kg level of iron causes rapid
increase in pulse rates, congestion of blood vessels,
hyper tension and drowsiness. 3.0 mg/l is the waste
water discharge standard for iron prescribed by IS:
2490-1974 and EPA. Highest concentration of iron
was found in site AB 3 (8.82 mg/l), least in site AB 1
(2.82 mg/l) .Concentration in site AB 2 and AB 4 was
3.6 mg/l and 5.24 mg/l respectively. Concentration
in decreasing order of concentration was as follows:
AB 3 >AB 4 >AB 2 >AB 1 . Application of ultrafiltration
membranes for treating waste water laden with iron
concentration is effective, it does not require pretreatment,
by using a combined treatment process
and also provide a positive barrier to pathogens,
such as cryptosporidium and giardia, and both
organic and inorganic solids. Suggested natural and
cheap adsorbent for iron removal are modified
acacia bark, raw rice husk, and fly ash.
Nickel concentration more than 30 mg causes
change in muscle, lung, liver, brain and kidney and
also can result in cancer. It also causes tremor,
paralysis and even death. Nickel concentration was
highest in site AB 3 (27 mg/l) and concentration in
site AB 1 , AB2 and AB 4 was 5.64 mg/l , 12.2 mg/l
and 18.6 mg/l respectively. Nickel in decreasing
order of concentration was as follows:
AB 3 >AB 4 >AB 2 >AB 1 . The nickel concentration in
all the sites exceeded the tolerance limits for
industrial effluent discharge in to inland surface
waters which is 3.0 mg/l (IS: 2490-1974) and EPA.
Surfactant-added powdered activated carbon/
microfiltration (PAC/MF) hybrid process in the
removal of nickel from water and wastewater is the
latest, efficient, promising technology. Suggested
natural and cheap adsorbent for nickel removal are

granular amorphous peat, fly ash, peanut skin, and
coconut husk hull.
Zinc salts heavy doses (165 mg) in
continuation causes vomiting, renal damage, and
cramps. Discharge standard as per EPA and I:S for
zinc is 5.0 mg/l. Zinc concentration was highest in
site AB 4 (24 mg/l), least in site AB 1 (2.08 mg/l).
Concentration in site AB 2 and AB 3 was 6.52mg/l and
14.2 mg/l respectively. Zinc in decreasing order of
concentration was as follows: AB 4 >AB 3 >AB 2 >AB 1 .
Nano filtration is effective membrane technology
for the removal or separation of zinc in solution or
waste waters. Suggested natural adsorbent for zinc
adsorption are blast furnace slag, china clay waste
tea leaves and cement matrix.
Conclusion
It is thus concluded that AB 1 waste water was
alkaline , highly organically polluted indicated by
high BOD and COD values and low in metal
pollution, AB 2 site waste water was slightly acidic ,
highest in organic pollution, second lowest in metal
pollution, AB 3 waste water sample was acidic , with
highest metal pollution and low organic pollution.
AB 4 site waste water was highly acidic, lowest in
organic pollution, and second highest in metal
pollution. In all these electroplating units, certainly
there is a need to treat the waste water for certain
heavy metals and for chemical and organic pollution
before it discharges in to open drains. As these
effluents from electroplating units are highly
corrosive due to the presence of acids and toxic
metals, there discharge directly in to rivers (Yamuna
river in case of Agra) without neutralization
decreases the pH of river water and results in mass
mortality of aquatic culture. Certainly there is a need
for scientific disposal of effluents, which to certain
extent can be achieved by membrane technologies
and adsorbents referred in the present paper. Beside
* All values except pH are in mg/l
this sincere execution of policies which restrict the
effluent discharge exceeding the tolerance limits
prescribed by IS: Standards, CPCB and EPA for
discharge of industrial effluents is urgently needed
in case of present industry.
References
• APHA, AWWA and WEF. 1992. Standard
Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater.
18th ed. New York: American Public Health
Association.
• Dahiya, Sudhir Mishra D.G, Karpe Rupali and
Gurg R.P 2003 Removal of lead and copper from
aqueous solution using chemically activated
sugarcane bagasse carbon. Proc.xii Natinal
symposium on environment 400-406.
• Gupta, K.V., Gupta , M., and Sharma, S. 2001.
Process development for the removal of lead and
chromiu- m from aqueous solutions using red mud
an aluminium industry waste. Water Res 35, 1125-
1134.
• Joshi, Sandeep. 2000. Ecotechnological
treatment for the industrial waste water containing
heavy metals. J. IAEM 27: 98-102.
• Kosarek, L.J. 1981. Removal of Various Toxic
Heavy Metals and Cyanide from Water by
Membrane Processes. J.Chemistry in Water Reuse
, 261-280.
• Sezin Islamoglu and levent yilmaz 2001.
Removal and recovery of heavy metals from
industrial waste streams by means of a hybrid
precipitation and polymer enhanced ultrafiltration.
Desalination. 105-110.
• Srisuwan, G. and Thongchai, P. 2002. Removal
of heavy metals from electroplating wastewater by
membrane. J. Sci. Technol. 24(Suppl.) 965-976.
• Upadhyay,Y.D., Upadhyay, S.N., Haribabu, E.
1992. Removal of chromium (VI) by fly ash. Chem.
Environ.Res1 (3): 289.
Table 1. Indian Standards and average of readings observed for period from January-December
for pH, BOD and COD *
400

Table 2 : Tolerance limit for metals in industrial effluents discharged in to inland surface waters
[IS: 2490-1974: EPA 1987: EPA 1989]*
Table 3. Average metal concentration of heavy metal in electroplating waste water for a period
from January - December *
* Metal concentration is in mg/l
Graphs 1-4 Representing metal concentration at each site in waste water from electroplating units
� � �
401

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
73. A Case Study on Wastewater Treatment and
Reuse of Waste Water
INTRODUCTION
Water is the nature’s gift and is available in
various forms. Its use is universal. Pure water is
never found in nature. Water available in the earth
surface contains number of impurities such as
organic, inorganic and various gases which may be
harmful to the health of the public. Therefore it is
very essential to remove such impurities so that
water will be potable.
Waste is anything discarded, rejected,
surplused, abandoned or otherwise released into the
environment that could have an impact on the
environment. Waste affects our world’s
environment, everything that surrounds us including
air, water, land, plants and man made things. The
waste, created has to be carefully controlled so that
it does not harm our environment. Hence the effect
of waste onto the environment can be controlled by
practicing three R’s viz. Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.
REDUCE
Reduce or reduction is to make something
smaller or useless, resulting in a smaller amount of
waste. Source reduction is reducing waste which
indicates conservation of natural resources wisely
and using less than usual in order to avoid waste.
RECYCLE
Recycling denotes the process that would
make waste into resource. Water can be recycled
well. Water recycling is reusing the treated
wastewater for beneficial purpose such as
agriculture, landscape irrigation, industrial
processes, toilet flushing and replenishing a ground
*Mr. V. Karthikeyan **Mr. P. Venugopal
water basin ( ground water recharge )
BENEFITS OF RECYCLING
• Water recycling can decrease diversion of fresh
water from sensitive ecosystems.
• Water recycling decreases discharge to sensitive
water bodies.
• Recycled water may be used to create or
enhance wetlands and riparian habitats.
• Water recycling can reduce and prevent
pollution.
REUSE
Reuse is the process of repairing or giving
it to someone who can repair. Reusing product, when
possible, is even better than recycling because the
item does not need to be reprocessed before it can
be reused.
BENEFITS OF RECYCLED WATER
Recycled water can satisfy most water
demands, as long as it is adequately to ensure water
quality appropriate for use. Recycled water is most
commonly used for the purposes such as agriculture,
landscape, public parks and golf course irrigation.
Also it includes cooling water for power plants and
oil refineries, industrial process water for such
facilities as paper mill and carpet dyers, toilet
flushing, dust control, construction activities,
concrete mixing and artificial lakes. In ground water
recharge projects, recycled water can be spread or
injected into ground water aquifers to augment
ground water supplies, and to prevent water
intrusion in coastal areas.
* Head of Civil Engg. Dept., Thiagarajar Polytechnic College, Salem & Hon. Secretary,
Institutions of Engineers (India), Salem Local Centre
**Lecturer in Civil Engg. Dept., Thiagarajar Polytechnic College, Salem
402

CASE STUDY
The Salem Municipality in Tamilnadu was
upgraded into the Corporation from the year 1994
with an extents over an area of 100 sq.km. The
Salem Corporation is divided into 4 zones with
60 divisions and having the present population of
10 lakhs. The Corporation is supplying drinking
water to the community from Stanley Dam at Mettur
in twice a week. But for domestic, commercial,
industrial and other purpose, public depends upon
subsurface water and thus resulting in fast depletion
of ground water.
Sona group of institutions such as
Thiagarajar Polytechnic College and Sona College
of Technology situated in the heart of city with
sprawling campus of 50 acres. It is well equipped
with all facilities like building, laboratories, sports
complex, swimming pool, hostels, beautiful lawn
and garden. At present, the campus habitated with
about 3000 non-residential students pursuing their
studies. In order to meet their demands of other than
drinking purposes, water is being drawn from open
well and bore wells. Daily a quantum of 75 kld of
water is being drawn from the ground to meet
various demands for kitchen, toilets, maintaining
lawn and gardens. This huge amount of water will
tends to bring down the water table in the ground to
lower the level further and further. Hence our
institution is thought of treating wastewater
discharged from kitchen, bathroom and reuse the
treated water for maintaining lawn and garden.
METHODOLOGY
WASTE WATER TREATMENT
Wastewaters, whether domestic or
industrial have several undesirable components –
organic and inorganic pollutants that are potentially
harmful to the environment and the human health.
The treatment of wastewater and its management
has become a necessity in order to conserve this
vital resource. The main aim of waste water
treatment is removal of contaminants from water
so that the treated water can be reused for beneficial
purposes. The waste water treatment is carried out
in three stages – Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
or Advanced Waste treatment.
(I) PRIMARY TREATMENT
The primary treatment is of general use and
403
is used for removing suspended solids, odour, colour
and to neutralize the high or low P H . This stage
exploits the physical or chemical properties of the
contaminants and removes the suspended and
floating matter by screening, sedimentation,
floatation, filtration, precipitation.
(II) SECONDARY TREATMENT
The secondary treatment or biological
process of sewage involving, stabilizing and
rendering harmless very fine suspended matter and
solids of the waste water that remain after the
primary treatment has been done. In biological
treatment, organic matter is stabilized by bacteria
under controlled conditions so that maximum
amount of BOD is reduced in the treatment plant
rather than in the water course. The biological waster
treatment are commonly carried out by activated
sludge system and biological film system.
(III) TERTIARY OR ADVANCED
WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Usually the primary and the secondary
treatment sufficient is to meet wastewater effluent
standards. However advanced wastewater treatment
is to be carried out when water after produced from
primary and secondary treatment units is required
to be of higher water quality standards ( in case the
water to be put to some direct reuse ). This includes
the further removal of suspended solids, dissolved
solids, toxic substances, BOD, plant nutrients etc,.
GENERATION OF WASTE WATER
In our Institution, 3000 non-residential
students are pursuing their Diploma and Degree
programmes in Engineering. Daily, a huge amount
of water is drawn from sub-surface and is being
utilized for various purposes such as kitchen,
washing, toilets, lawn and gardening etc,. (except
drinking). The total amount of water is being
supplied to the students community is given below.
3000 students x 25 litres/day = 75000 litres/day (or)
75 kld.
Daily a quantum of 75 kld of water is being
drawn from bore well or open well thus depleting
the ground water very fast. The total quantity of
water consumed is discharged as waste water from
various points. Here it is assumed that, the total
quantity of water supplied is taken as total quantity

of waste water generated. Hence the waste water
treatment plant is designed for a capacity of
treating 75 kld per day.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
• At the first step, the waste water discharged
from the various points are collected and
transported to the common collecting tank.
• The floating material and foreign particles in
the raw water are removed by means of
installing bar screens before the collecting tank.
• The raw water is collected in the equalization
tank after regular screening is over.
• The homogenous effluents is pumped into the
aeration tank, where surface fixed aerator is
provided for aeration purpose.
• The outlet from the aeration tank is fed into
the settling tank by gravity.
• The settled biomass is again recirculated back
into the aeration tank to maintain the mixed
liquor suspended solids. If the biomass is
excess, it is sent to the sludge drying beds for
dewatering.
• The dewatered effluent is again collected in the
collection cum equalization tank for further
treatment.
• The supernatant clear effluent from settling
tank flows by gravity and collected in the semi
treated effluent collection tank.
• From the semi treated effluent tank, the effluent
is pumped through the Pressure Sand Filter
followed by Activated Carbon Filter for
removal of fine suspended particles and colour
present in the treated effluent.
• The outlet from the activated carbon filter is
found to meet the standard limits and let out
for collecting in the storage tank.
• The collected water is pumped for utilizing
gardening purpose.
The method of treatment of effluent is shown
in flow chart.
404
WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT
FLOW CHART
BAR SCREEN
COLLECTION TANK
AERATION TANK
SETTLING TANK
TREATED EFFLUENT SUMP
PRESSURE SAND FILTER
ACTIVATED CARBON FILTER
TREATED EFFLUENT
GARDENING
Re-cycle
SLUDGE
DRYING
BED
LABORATORY ANALYSIS
The sample of raw water was collected from
the collecting tank to analyze the basic characteristic
of sewage. The sample of water collected was given
to the Tamilnadu Water Supply and Drainage Board
testing laboratory for analysis. The results are given
in the Table 1.
Table 1 : CHARACTERISTIC OF RAW
WATER
No. Parameter
Characteristics
Raw Sewage
1 PH 7.40
2 Total suspended solids 86
3 Total dissolved solids 1722
4 COD 184
5 BOD 75

After analyzing the characteristic of raw
waste water, the treatment system was so designed
and layout of effluent treatment plant is shown
below.
LAYOUT OF EFFLUENT TREATMENT
PLANT
1
6 6
2
1. Inlet Chamber 6. Sludge drying bed
2. Collection cum 7. Pressure sand filter
equalization tank 8. Activated Carbon
3. Aeration tank Filter
4. Settling tank 9. Storage sump
5. Treated effluent sump
The sample of treated effluent was collected
from the outlet of Activated Carbon Filter to analyze
the characteristics of treated effluent. The tests are
carried out and the results are given in Table 2.
Table 2 CHARACTERISTIC OF
TREATED WATER EFFLUENT
No. Parameter Result TNPCB
Standards
1 PH 7.2 6.5-7.5
2 Total suspended solids 26 < 30 mg/l
3 Total dissolved solids 1505 2100 mg/l
4 COD 108 250 mg/l
5 BOD 25 30 mg/l
3
9
4
5
7
8
� � �
405
CONCLUSION
Comparing the actual results of treated
effluent with Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board
Standards, the treated effluent is meeting the
standards of TNPCB and hence it is not harmful to
the environment. The treated water can be used for
gardening purpose and this will save the ground
water from depletion and thus resulting effective
usage of waste water.
As water demands and environmental needs
grow, water recycling play a greater role in our
overall water supply. Water recycling has proven to
be effective and successful in creating a new and
reliable water supply. By working together to
overcome obstacles, water recycling along with
water conservation, can help us to conserve and
sustainably manage our vital water resources
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are thankful to the Sona group
of Institutions ( Thiagarajar Polytechnic College &
Soan College of Technology ), Salem, Tamilnadu
and Tamilnadu Water Supply and Drainage Board,
water testing lab for their kind support for carrying
out this case study.
REFERENCES
1. Suresh.K. Dhameja, Environmental
Engineering and Management, Published by
S.K.Kataria and Sons, New Delhi.-pp110.
2. Ronald L. Droste, Theory and practice of water
and wastewater treatment, John Wiley & sons
publications- pp 219-234
3. Howard S. Peary, Donald R. Rowe, George
Tehobanoglous, Environmental Enginneering,
Mc Graw Hill Book Company- pp 302-314
4. Santhosh Kumar Garg- Sewage disposal and Air
Pollution Engg. – Khanna publisher, New
Delhi-pp 275-287

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
74. Managing Water Resources - Experience at Captive Power Plant
of M/s NALCO
Horse and carriage, love and marriage,
water and energy are as intimately linked in all
phases of their existence as any other couple.
Separately, water and energy have much in
common. Each is an essential input for
productive, comfortable and healthy human
societies. Both are also derived from natural
resources, and their uses by humans create a
series of impacts on the sustainability of
ecosystems. Together, water and energy are also
closely connected, based on two fundamental
truths: Energy is Required to Make Use of Water
& Water is Needed to Make Use of Energy. In
many places, it is clear that vicious cycle of
inefficiency in the management of either water
or energy resources exacerbate shortages, waste
and unsustainable patterns of use in the other.
In the consumption of water to generate electrical
power, power plant inefficiencies or lack of
mitigation measures result in wasted water and
greater degradation of water and other
environmental resources. NALCO, which has
always stood by sustainable development,
envisages water as a precious gift of nature. In
the power stations of NALCO at CPP, systematic
steps have been taken through ISO9000,1400
and OHSAS-18000 to preserve & conserve water
by minimising wastage of water. Depending on
the nature of requirement, water has been graded
i.e. DM water, clarified water, ash slurry makeup
water, service water etc .and the consumption
is benchmarked. Stringent measures were also
taken in each system to avoid leakages and
wastages. The ethos thus has been to manage
and optimize the utility of this precious natural
resource – water.
*P. K. Pattanaik **A. K. Mohapatra
Introduction
National Aluminum Company Limited
(NALCO) is a 3.45 Million Tonne per annum
aluminum producer. To produce such a huge quantity
of aluminum, the power requirement is in the tune of
720 MW. The Captive Power plant, installed at
Angul, Orissa has an installed capacity of 960 MW
to supply uninterrupted power to smelter. For this
purpose, water is taken from river The Brahmani,
which is located at a distance of 11 KM. The water
intake requirements for the power plant is 6900 -
7000 M 3 / Hr with 7 units running. Typical one time
water requirement is as follows:-
3075 - 3100 M 3 /hr………Ash disposal to ash pond
2225- 2250 M 3 /hr………Cooling tower make up
780 - 800 M 3 /hr…………Smelter and township
445 - 450 M 3 /hr………Service water
65 - 70 M 3 /hr…………Drinking water
55 - 60 M 3 /hr…………DM water
60 - 65 M 3 /hr…………Rural Water Supply to
near by village
50 - 55 M 3 / hr…………Coal yard Management
quenching
145 - 150 M 3 /hr…………Transit, production &
other system loss
NALCO, CPP has taken initiative for reduction
of water consumption and to avoid environmental
pollution. For the same, comprehensive water
management strategies were taken to recycle back
the effluents after proper treatment for use in areas
of less importance and thus reducing the
requirement of raw water consumption by 44%.
Total 3090 M 3 /hr water is recycled back. The
*Dy General Manager ( Mech) **Chief Manager ( Mech)
Captive Power plant ,National Aluminum Company limited,Angul
406

1. Ash Pond water recycling System - 80.90 % - 2500cum/hr
2. Industrial drain recycling System - 18.23 % - 560 cum/hr
3. Sewage water recycling system - 0.22 % - 8 cum/hr
4. Sludge water recycling System - 0.22 % - 7 cum/hr
5. Coal Dust Extraction Recycling System - 0.43 % - 13 cum/hr
Recycling
Water
Transit &
Other losses
145-150 cub
M/hr
Smelter &
Township
780-820 cub M/hr
Now - 3900 cub
M/hr
Cooling
Tower
Make-Up
2225-2250 cub
M/hr
RIVER
BRAHMANI
Dm Water
Make-Up
55-60 cub
M/hr
Systems installed for this purposes and the
percentage of water recycled by each system with
respect to total recycled water is given below.
1. Ash Pond water Recycling System
Through experience gained over the years,
various concepts for ash water management have
been evolved and are being applied in NALCO,CPP.
The quality of effluent discharged from ash pond is
controlled by multi-lagooning system, garlanding
of ash pond with ash slurry discharge lines &
effluents cascading before final effluent discharge
etc.
NALCO,CPP is consuming 672 T/hr of coal,
thus generating 270 T/h ash. For transporting this
amount of ash to the ash pond, installed at a distance
of 7 km, 3000-3100 M 3 /hr of water is consumed.
NALCO CPP has now adopted the concept of “Near
Zero Effluent Discharge” wherein around 2500 M 3 /
hr water is recycled back to the ash water pump
house. For this purpose NALCO, CPP have installed
Before - 7000 cub M/hr
407
RWSS
60 - 65 cub M/hr
Drinking
Water In
CPP
65- 70 cub M/hr
Service
Water
445-450 cub
M/hr
Coal Yard Fire
Quenching
50 – 55 cub M/hr
a Pollution Control Unit at the Ash Pond.
The slurry water mixture is pumped from the
plant premises by ash slurry pumps to the Ash pond.
The slurry is allowed to settle in the ash pond which
acts as a sedimentary pond. The ash from the slurry
is settled in the ash pond and the effluent
overflowing from the ash pond carries some amount
of suspended solids are transported by gravity to
the Pollution Control Unit installed near the ash
pond. The water enters the turbo circulators where
alum, soda and polyelectrolyte are added to
coagulate and flocculate the suspended solids, which
ultimately settle in the floculator and scooped from
the bottom part of the clarifloculator. The sludge
generated is drawn periodically and sent back to
the ash pond. Clear water overflows through the
clarifloculator and goes to the treated water tank
from where it is pumped out through vertical turbine
recycling pumps to the ash water sump installed
inside the plant @ 2500 M 3 /hr.

ASH
ALURRY
SLUDGE
PUMP
HOUSE
ASH POND
ASH POND-1 SPILL WAY
ASH POND-2
Salient feature of the PCU are as below :
1. Capacity of P.C.U. = 65 MLD.
2. Inlet water quality
a) pH of water = 6.5 – 7.6.
b) TSS = Up to 320 ppm.
c) Turbidity = Up to 225 NTU.
3. Outlet water quality
a) PH of water = 6.5 – 8.5.
b) TSS = Less than 30 ppm.
c) Turbidity = Less than 50 NTU.
3. Turbo circulator features
a) Diameter of the turbo circulator = 43 m.
b) Depth of the turbo circulator = 5 m.
c) Detention Time = 2.7 hrs.
d) Capacity of turbo circulator = 2708 M 3 / hr.
e) Type of chemical dosing = Alum dosing,
Polyelectrolyte dosing and Lime / Soda dosing.
f) Scrapper / Bridge rotation time = 1.25 Rph.
4. Chemical solution tanks
a) Lime Tank –03 8.12 cub M RCC with tiles.
INLET CHAMBER
COLLECTION
CHAMBER
LIME
DOSING
MIXING TANK
ALUM DOSING
TURBO CIRCULATOR POLYELECTROLYTE
DOSING
SLUDGE PIT CLEAR
WATER PIT
408
ASH
ALURRY
ASH WATER
RECYCLING
PUMP HOUSE
ASH WATER
FOREBAY IN CPP
2500 cub M/hr
b) Alum Tank – 03 32.5 cub M RCC with tiles.
c) Poly Tank – 03 6.5 cub M HDPE.
5. Recycle Pump House Features:
a) Number of Recycle Pumps = 3.
b) Type of Recycle Pump = Vertical Turbine
Type.
c) Rated Capacity = 1350 cub M / hr.
d) Maximum Head = 30 m.
2 Industrial Drain Water recycling System :
The water from various drains of the plant
including surface drains plus the cooling water
overflow and neutralization pit discharge constitute
the industrial drain. NALCO CPP has now installed
Industrial Drain Water Recycling System. The
insoluble solids and oil present in the industrial drain
water is reduced to allowable limit and the treated
water is used for controlling the coal yard fire and
also as a make up for Ash Water. The salient points
of the system are as below:-

Poly
Electrolyte
Dosing
RAIN WATER
DRAIN
FOR ASH WATER
MAKE UP
S.n Description Input Value Output Value
1 Flow (M3 /Hr) 600 560
2 Total Suspended
Solid ( PPM)
1000 Max 30 Max
3 pH 6.5 – 8.5 6.5 -8.5
4 Oil ( PPM ) 50-100 5
The whole plant can be divided into following
Sub sections
1. Pre-treatment Section
2. Settling Basin section
3. Dosing System
The pretreatment section comprises of a coarse
bar screen, fine bar screen, a concrete inlet channel
& settling chamber and diffuser baffle. Effluent after
passing through the coarse & fine bar screens will
be free from larger particles/debris.
Settling basin is a concrete underground water
COLLECTION SUMP
SETTLING
BASIN
INDUSTRIAL
RECYCLED WATER
SUMP
IRW PUMP
HOUSE
409
TO COAL HANDLING
PLANT
FOR QUENCHING
FIRE
INDUSTRIAL
DRAIN
OIL SKIMMER
Oil
Transported
To Barrel
retaining structure. The same has been designed with
twin objective of removal of suspended solids and
oil. The Settling basin is provided with traveling
scrapper mechanism to sweep the floor and push
the settled solids to the end of the compartment from
where it can be drawn by sludge pumps. The
scrapper during the return stroke in raised position
skims the surface of water and pushes the oil/grease
to the other end from where it is removed by a
floating disc oil skimmer. The skimmer collects the
oils and transfers the same to oil drums by an on–
board pump. The treated effluent from the settling
basin flows to the sump by three no of overflow
pipes.
The purpose of the dosing system is to dose
the required polyelectrolyte to the settling basin at
required concentration, which will settle the
insoluble solid particles to the base of the Settling
Basin, herby reducing the suspended solid
concentration from 1000Max PPM to 30 Max PPM

3. Sewage Water Recycling System
The objective of industrial liquid Sewage
treatment plant (STP) is to treat the canteen waste
and sewage from the power plants to meet
environmental regulations and use the treated water
for horticulture, thus reducing the load on the raw
water from the river and the residue for land filling
as a manure.
In NALCO CPP, for an employee strength of
3000 (including Contract worker) and for nearly 100
quarters in the Vidyut Nagar Township around 18
M 3 /hr sewage water is generated. The internal
canteen and kiosks are generating around 3 M 3 /hr
of canteen waste. The sewage Water recycling
system is installed to recycle back 8 M 3 /hr of water
from this area .
After primary treatment at the source of their
generation of the canteen waste by Garbodrain ,
the effluents are sent to the STP for further treatment
along with the sewage. The composite liquid effluent
treatment plant has been designed to treat all liquid
effluents, which originate within the power station
and re-circulation of the treated effluent for various
plant uses mainly for coal yard fire quenching and
Horticulture purpose. The Capacity of the system
is as below -
a) FLOW :
i) Canteen Waste - 3 M3 / hr
ii) Sewage Flow - 18 M3 / hr
Total - 21 M3 / hr
b) RAW EFFLUENT CHARACTERISTICS :
i) Canteen Waste Water
BOD 500 mg/lit
SS 600 mg/lit
Oil & Grease 50 – 100 mg / lit
ii) Combined Waste Water
BOD 600 mg/lit
SS 1000 - 1500 mg/lit
Oil & Grease 600 mg / lit
410
c)TREATED EFFLENT CHARACTERISTICS:
pH 7 – 7.5
BOD < 30 mg/lit
COD < 250 mg /Lit
SS 100 mg/lit
Oil & Grease < 10 mg / lit
DO 0.20 mg/ Lit
Residual Free Chlorine 1 mg/ Lit
Process Description
The canteen waste is processed through a
GARBODRAIN, where the screened solids, grits
and other kitchen waste are ground and then led to
the BAR SCREEN –I. There, the Canteen
wastewater is screened off and the floating matter
is collected in a channel fitted with fine bar screen.
The bar Screen consists of equispaced parallel bars
inclined to horizontal. The screenings arrested on
Bar Screens are raked manually at intervals. The
raked screenings are collected on perforated
platform to allow effluent to drip in to the channels.
The semi-dried screenings are then carted out for
land filling or incinerated. The canteen waste water
is then conveyed to the GRIT REMOVAL
CHANNEL, designed to remove grit consisting of
sand, gravel or other heavy solids. The GRIT
REMOVAL CHANNEL constructed in RCC is
designed to maintain horizontal velocity close to
0.6 m/sec. so as to settle the grit particles to bottom
of the channel. Settled grits are scooped manually
from bottom and collected in a wheel barrow and
disposed off as land filling. The degrited canteen
waste water is then passed to OIL REMOVAL
UNIT for removal of oil. It consists of baffles and
an Oil skimming pipe to skim off the floating oil
into an oil drum.
The raw sewage along with preliminary treated
canteen waste water is screened Off in the BAR
SCREEN-II .As in BAR SCREEN -1,,the
screenings are arrested on bar screen and raked
manually at interval depending on clogging frequency.
The raked screenings are collected on perforated
platform to allow sewage to drip in to the channels.
The semidried screenings are then carted out for
land filing or incinerated. The waste water is then

Canteen
Waste
Garbo-drain
Bar Screen -1
Grit Removal
Channel-1
Chemical
Dozing (Chlorine)
Oil
Removal
unit
V
NOTCH
Treated
Water
8 cub M/hr
conveyed to the GRIT REMOVAL CHANNEL-
II, where grit consisting of sand, gravel, cinder or
heavy solids are allowed to settle and are scooped
out manually and used for land filling. Waste water
is then led by gravity to the underground equalization
Tank, where the contents are equalized by mixing
action of FLOATING AERATOR and then led to
AERATION TANK. In the Aeration tank, the
microbes, biodegrades, the organic matter collected
thus populating themselves and partly converting it
Sewage
From Toilets
Sewage Collection
Chamber
BAR SCREEN - II
GRIT REMOVAL CHANNEL _II
Equalization Tank
Raw Sewage Pump
Aeration tank
Secondary
Clarifier
411
Sludge Pump
SDB
to end products like CO 2 , H 2 O etc, thus reducing
BOD of the settled waste water. The Floating aerator
spurge the water in air, there by producing droplets,
which absorb the oxygen from atmosphere. The
contents of the aeration tank is lead to the
SECONDARY CLARIFIER for removal of
suspended solids (MLSS).The underflow of the
secondary clarifier is recycled back to aeration tank
by SLUDGE RECYCLE PUMPS

1. Sludge Pond water Management
During the process of clarifloculation &
separation and filtration at the Clarifloculators &
Gravity filters at the Pre treatment plant of CPP
sludge and Backwash waters are generated. During
June-Sept around 300 M 3 /day waste water is
generated. During the lean period this comes to 100
M 3 /day. This water along with the fine silts and
sludge are transported to the Sludge Pond located
at the side of the Raw water reservoir. In the sludge
pond, sludge, grit consisting of sand, gravel, or
heavy solids are allowed to settle and around 270 -
90 M 3 /day of water is recycled to the raw water
reservoir, depending upon the prevailing season.
412
SLUDGES WITH WATER
FROM
CLARIFLOCULATOR
SERVICE ATER
FOR SCOURING
SLUDGE PITS
1. Coal dust extraction water recycling
System :
During the process of grinding of the Coal at
the Coal Crusher ( capacity 750 T/hr ) in the Coal
Handling plant lot of fine dusts are generated. These
dusts are sucked through two no of dust extractor
SLUDGE PUMPS
SLUDGE POND
fans ( Capacity 4700 SETTLING M POND
3 /hr)In the Cyclone separator
13 M3 /hr of water is sprayed on to it and a slurry is
made.
The slurry are then taken to the settling tank
and passed through zigzag path, thus allowing
SLUDGE POND
OVERFLOW
PIT
settling the coal dust. Clean water is then allowed
to pass through open channels and are guided to the
ash slurry sump no-1.
RAW
WATER
RESOIRVOIR
11.2 – 3.75 cub
M/hr
BACK WAS
FRO
GRAVITY

SERVICE
WATER FOR
SPAYING
COAL
CRUSHER
ROOM
DUST SUCKED
BY TWO NO OF
BLOWERS
MIXING TANK
SETTLING TANK
OVERLOW OF
SETTLING TANK
Other Measures taken in Water Conservations
Various measureare already taken and some
are in the pipeline for effective conservation of
Water. NALCO, CPP is continually putting its effort
to bring down the resource consumption by adopting
new technology and retrofitting new system in place
of old one. Some of them are
1. In order to further reduce the water requirement
in ash transportation NALCO, CPP is shifting
towards dry evacuation of ash from the present wet
type and already installed have taken the dry system
in their Unit no-7 & 8. For Unit 1 to 6 dry disposals
road map prepared and will be completed by 2011.
Efforts are being taken to use the ash as cash, by
selling it to cement plants and other end users.
2. In the future project of Unit-9 & 10, NALCO,
CPP is going for high concentration slurry disposal
system (HCSD) to the ash pond where the water
requirement will be substantially reduced.
ASH SLURRY SUMP
OF
ASH SLURRY PH-1
13 cub M/hr
� � �
413
3. MAGALDI bottom ash disposal will be done
for the forthcoming units no-9 & 10.
4. In the present system for transportation of ash
slurry from ESP, hydro sluicing system is provided.
Jet cone measurement and quick action for replacing
the defecting jets are done so as to optimize the water
requirement in that area.
Conclusion :
Well designed measures, therefore have saved
CPP, NALCO to conserve water to the tune of 3100
M 3 /hr thus reducing the intake water flow from 7000
to 3900 M 3 /hr. Apart from conserving this natural
resources it also helps us directly to save energy
which otherwise is required to pump from river
Brahmani. The bountiful gift of nature in this part
of the world notwithstanding, NALCONIANS
understand life without water & therefore take all
possible recourses to optimize the use of this
precious gift of nature- Water.

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
75. Innovative and Conventional Rain Water Harvesting Measures:
A part of ongoing Integrated Water Resources Management Program
by Gujarat Ambuja Cements Limited and Ambuja Cement Foundation
Introduction
A United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP) estimate indicates that by the year 2025
two third of the humanity will face shortage of fresh
water. At present one third of the world population
is already facing water stress. Another UNEP study
states that nearly 40% of world’s population lives
near the coastal regions, mostly within 60 kms. from
the sea coast and it predicts that by the year 2010,
*S. C. Parik **H. R. Mori
Abstract
Availability of fresh water is decreasing in most of the areas of our country on a
perennial basis, despite experiencing fairly good average rainfall. As a result, fresh water
has become a precious resource. Rain is the predominant source of all the fresh water and
as such rain water harvesting measures provide the easiest and cheapest mode of collecting
and conserving the fresh water. A variety of such measures are already known for their
effective implementation, suiting to the requirements of any particular area, depending on
the average rainfall, geographic location, land use pattern etc.
Gujarat Ambuja Cements Limited, Ambujanagar, operating cement plants in coastal
belt of Saurashtra region in Gujarat had realized the importance of fresh water more than
a decade back and started taking initiatives to harvest rain water since then. A visionary
initiative started more than a decade back on a small scale has today assumed the shape of
major “Integrated Water Resource Management Program” in the Kodinar and Sutrapada
Taluka of Junagadh district. It has yielded appreciable positive results in the form of
increased water table, easy availability of quality fresh water, reduction in the salinity,
increase of the crop yield etc.
Through this paper, an effort has been made to provide a brief overview of the various
measures taken by Gujarat Ambuja Cements Limited to innovatively harvest rain water in
the mined out pits of its various mining areas. Also, the activities of Ambuja Cement
Foundation (NGO), working in the areas surround the mines and plants on a very large
scale, pertaining to rain water harvesting for community development and social upliftment
have been included. Together, both the above organizations have made the difference and
have established an example of how the industry can fulfill its Corporate Social
Responsibilities.
almost 80% of the world population will within 100
kms. from the seacoast. The rural population in
general faces water shortage for agriculture and
other allied activities including drinking water. In
the coastal regions, this problem gets further
compounded because of salinity ingress,
characterized by mixing of the fresh water and
vertical saline water aquifers.
*General Manager (Mines), Gujarat Ambuja Cements Limited, Ambujanagar (Gujarat)
**Sr. Programme Manager, Ambuja Cement Foundation, Ambujanagar (Gujarat)
414

In coastal areas of Gujarat, the villages located
within 15-20 kms. from the seacoast are suffering
severely from the problem of salinity ingress. In
Kodinar taluka of Junagadh district (the area under
reference), most of the rivulets like Goma, Somat,
Sangavadi etc. are seasonal in nature and the water
in these rivulets do not last beyond winters. Other
water bodies like ponds that get water from these
rivers also dries up by the month of October-
November. As a result, over the years the problem
of water shortage in the region has worsened.
Participatory Rural Appraisals carried out
confirm that the problem of salinity ingress actually
started in the late seventies, basically due to the
following reasons:
� Over-exploitation of ground water to meet the
increasing needs of the growing population.
� Breaking up of joint family system into nuclear
families has resulted in fragmentation of land, which
lead to rampant increase of wells and extensive use
of diesel and electrical pumps.
� Cultivation of high water intensive crops like
sugarcane, banana, betel nut, coconut etc. has
resulted in lowering of water table and ingress of
saline water into the groundwater.
� Inefficient use and wastage of water by
farmers.
� Mismanagement of ground water due to overirrigation
and water loss through high run-off.
� Recurrent and worst droughts over the last few
years in the region have further worsened situation
in aquifers.
This phenomenon is having long-term
implications for both households and agriculture on
which about 60% people are depended for their
livelihoods. This has also meant an increased
dependence on outside agencies like the state and
other civil society organizations for basic needs such
as drinking water and food. Since 1980s, conflicts
have arisen over access to limited fresh water
resources available in this region.
With the objectives of contributing for the
cause of Rain Water Harvesting in the region and
provide the much needed succor to the society
surround the mines and plants, Gujarat Ambuja
Cements Limited, started formulating and
implementing the Rain Water Harvesting Schemes
through its community development wing Ambuja
415
Cement Foundation (NGO) since the year 1996.
Having realized the success and positive social
impact of the above ongoing measures, the company
simultaneously formulated innovative schemes to
utilize the exhausted mining pits to store rain water
for the large scale benefits to the community and
farmers surround the plant and mining areas.
A. Water Harvesting in mined out pits by Gujarat
Ambuja Cements Ltd :
The company operates captive mechanized
opencast mines to meet the prime raw material
(Limestone and Marl) requirements for cement
making from the areas adjoining the plants.
Subsequent to the mining, wide pits, ranging in
depth from 12-15 meters are created. These pits are
to be put back in some useful land use form i.e.
reclamation. The generally adopted practices are
back filling the mined out area, afforestation,
development of pastureland, creation of water
bodies etc. The company has also implemented these
techniques for various areas in suitable area.
However, considering the location of the mines in
coastal region, the importance of fresh water and
rainwater harvesting, more emphasis has been
accorded to converting the mined out pits into
artificial lakes and reservoirs by diverting the
surface run off. Over the years, these efforts have
translated in successful harvesting of rainwater. As
a matter of fact the quantum of water harvested each
year in the mined out pits has been on the rise on a
perennial basis. These efforts have been briefly
described here, added with suitable schematic/
photographic illustration, wherever possible.
01. Diversion of the plant run off:
Some of the mined out pits were located in
close vicinity of the two plants of GACL. Taking
advantage of the same, it was planned to divert the
plant surface run-off, which was hitherto going
waste, to one of such pit, way back in the year 1995.
To enable the flow of water from plants, a 1000-m.
long trench of 4 m width was excavated and
connected to the pit. Apart from this, to increase to
quantum of water collected, one of the nearby small
nallah and the village run-off drain was also
modified and connected to the pit. The schematic
plan given below indicates the location and the
arrangement of the above.

As a result, during the rainy season, both the
plant and village run off could be diverted and
collected in the selected mined out pit. The results
have been over-whelming and resulted into creation
of an artificial lake on the outskirts of the plant and
nearby village. Over the years, the water collected
in this lake, on a perennial basis, has helped in
recharging the local aquifer, without much of the
recurring expenses. The only care to be taken is premonsoon
cleaning of the diversion channels to the
pit. The pit has got a storage capacity of 0.50 mcm
and except few of the draught years, rain water
measuring 80-90% of the capacity has been
collected in the said pit each year. The immediate
beneficiaries have been the farmers within one km.
radius of the pit, with water level in their wells going
up and the wells yielding water even during the
summer months.
02. Diversion of water from seasonal nallah:
The success of the scheme above motivated
the company to create more such reservoirs/lakes.
By the year 2004, more space was available to store
large quantum of rainwater in the form of mined
416
Surface Flow Direction
out pits at Ambujanagar. However, the only problem
was “how to get rainwater in these pits and from
where”? No such source was available in the close
vicinity and the rains directly falling in the mined
out areas was grossly inadequate to fill up the pits
to desirable levels.
Brainstorming sessions, survey of the nearby
areas and suggestions from the elderly locals
revealed the possibility of diverting water from a
seasonal nallah flowing around 3.25 kms. north of
these mined out pit. Fortunately, the local surface
topography also favored the flow of water from the
nallah to the pit.
Encourage by the feasibility, a scheme was
drawn to construct a diversion channel from the said
nallah to enable the rainwater to flow to the
designated mined out pit. The scheme and the
resulting benefits were explained to the local
villagers to solicit their views, suggestions and
needful assistance. Simultaneously, needful and
relevant permissions were obtained from the various
govt. authorities for the same. The plan given below
explains the schematic diagram of the arrangement.

Water diversion
Channel
The work for constructing the channel started
in the month of January 2005 and with the cooperation
of the local villagers, the 3.25 kms. long
channel (lined canal) was completed before the
onset of monsoon at a total cost of over Rs. 20 Lacs.
Come rains and the results were there to be
seen by every one. The mined out pits witnessed a
continuous flow of surface runoff from the nallah
for more than a week and two of the pits could get
filled up to brim. A total of around 4 million cubic
meters of water, which otherwise would have gone
as waste to sea, could be collected in different pits.
The collection of water had a positive impact of the
surrounding water levels. The surrounding wells,
which used to run dry by the months of March –
April every year, yielded adequate water even during
the peak summer.
Considering the above success, one more pit
417
was inter-linked with the main water-receiving pit
so as to transfer excess water in case of heavy rains.
During this monsoon (2006), the scheme proved
very successful and the excess water could be
transferred to the above pit, which used to get very
little water previously. This year over 5.50 million
cubic meters of water could be collected through
the above diversion canal.
The farmers, having their fields within 2-3 kms.
radius of the said pits are extremely happy. They
are confident of getting water not only this year but
on a perennial basis. Explains one of the farmers “
now even one or two years of poor rain would not
really bother us.”
03. Connecting nearby nallah to the pit through
pipe culvert:
At Rampara mine of the company, one of the

seasonal nallah flows in close proximity of the pits.
When the pit close to the nallah was completely
mined out in the year 2005, it was considered to
divert part of the water from the nallah to the pit to
store surface run off and recharge the local aquifer.
However, a peculiar problem was faced in this plan.
What would happen if the pit gets filled up to the
capacity and water starts overflowing to the adjacent
fields? Any such possibility would have resulted in
large-scale damage to the adjacent fields and
problem for the company. Many options to control
the inflow or implementing any other scheme were
discussed but a foolproof method could not be
arrived at. During the monsoon of 2005, a lot of
water flowed through the nallah and the mining team
at Rampara stood helplessly high and dry and felt
dejected as all the water went to the sea as waste.
However, the dejection led to few more
brainstorming sessions and ultimately an idea of
providing a outflow channel at the extreme end of
the pit to carry away excess water from the pit to
the same nallah down-stream caught the fancy of
the mining team. The option was evaluated several
times on various parameters and was found
foolproof from all the angles.
Excess Water
Outflow Channel
418
Once again a scheme was drawn to provide
inflow as well outflow channel for the pit, with the
outflow channel having the capacity to carry water
to the tune of three to four times that of the inflow
channel. The scheme was explained to the local
villagers and their doubts and apprehensions were
clarified. Once everything was settled, 500 m long
outflow channel was completed first. Subsequently
the inflow channel, in the form of pipe culvert
consisting of two nos. of 1 feet dia RCC pipes was
constructed to divert the part of nallah water to the
designated pit. The entire scheme around Rs. 5 lacs.
The scheme is explained in the plan given below.
During the recent monsoon, the pit could store
around 0.75 million cubic meter of water in just
around 20 days. A lot of percolation of the water
also took place, recharging the local aquifer.
However, the inflow continued and the excess water
started flowing back to the nallah, perfectly as per
the planned scheme. Once again a perennial water
harvesting structure created with practically no
recurring expenditure. Once again happy
community nearby the mine, free of woes of ground
water.
Water inflow
to the pit

04. Natural Water harvesting at Solaj Mine:
The Solaj mine of the company is a very
interesting example of natural water harvesting in
the active mining pits. At Solaj, almost over 30 m.
thick layer of impervious marl underlies the top
capping of limestone (two to six meters thick).
During the rainy season, once the limestone layer
is saturated with water, the marl layer doesn’t allow
percolation of the water below. Consequently, the
water starts oozing out of the limestone, water
logging the fields, damaging the crop and ultimately
flowing away in the natural drains.
Subsequent to the mining activities of the
company at Solaj, the water started flowing from
the opened up limestone mining faces into the active
pits, eliminating water logging of the adjacent fields.
As the pits advanced, both laterally & vertically,
more amount of water started accumulating in the
pits. The company planned the working in such a
fashion that both limestone & marl could be
excavated without resorting to any dewatering of
the pits.
Large amount of water started accumulating
in the various pits at Solaj every year. Lateron, the
villagers approached the company to allow them to
draw water from the pits, using their own diesel
pumps. This resulted in better crop yield to the
adjacent farmers due to availability of water almost
round the year. This year (2006), almost 1.50 million
cubic meter of water could be collected in various
pits at Solaj. Once again a perennial water
harvesting system with no revenue expenditure. The
villagers now consider the Solaj mine as less of a
mine and more of a reservoir, contributing positive
impacts to their lives.
B. Water Resources Management by Ambuja
Cement Foundation :
Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF), a Non-
Government Foundation and community
development wing of Gujarat Ambuja Cements
Limited, formulates and implements various
community development activities. Its mission is
“to energize, involve and enable the communities
to realize their potential.” It addresses the
community land, water, forest and other issues
through a large number of interventions such as
water resources development including prevention
of salinity ingress, watershed management,
wasteland and pasture land development, farmer
419
friendly agricultural techniques, health and education
needs etc. through various innovative programs
managed by well qualified and trained dedicated and
committed staff. Amongst all the above programs,
water resources development, watershed
management and prevention of salinity ingress are
accorded highest priority.
01. Recharging BARDA BHANDARA from
Singoda river through underground pipe line :
Near the company’s port facilities at
Muldwarka, there exists a large Bhandara (tidal
regulator), meant to store huge quantity of surface
run off (capacity 4.67 MCM). However,
unfortunately there was no large source of surface
run off to this bhandara and the available facility
could not be used fully for the desired gains. In the
year 2001, ACF evaluated the possibility of bringing
in water from the only source available nearby, the
river Singoda. But the river was flowing at a distance
of 1 km. from the bhandara and apparently no way
seemed feasible to connect the river with the
bhandara as the area in between was private
agricultural lands. One of the possibilities that
emerged was to lay an underground pipeline from
the riverbank. However, it required digging up of
the agricultural land and hence, consent and
willingness of the farmers was critical. The detail
scheme was formulated and explained to the nearby
farmers of four villages, & specially to the ones
whose fields would be required to be dug up for
laying the pipeline. The perennial and long-term
advantages of the scheme were also explained. After
deliberating the issue for long, the villagers
ultimately agreed for the implementation of the
scheme.
The 600 meters long underground pipeline of
900 mm dia RCC pipe was laid from the river bank
to the bhandara through the private agricultural
fields and the line was again covered up with soil
to repair the agricultural fields. Simultaneously, a
checkdam was made across the river Singoda to
enable transfer of water from the river to the
bhandara under pressure. The entire work was
completed in less than six month’s time at a cost of
around Rs. 6 lacs. In the rainy season, the river water
filled up the bhandara, like never before. It resulted
in collection of around 4.67 MCM million cubic
meters of rainwater in the bhandara for the first time
in the monsoon of year 2002.

Work Done Storage No. of Area No. of Avg. Avg. Depth
Cap.(MCM) wells benefited Farmers Depth of of water in
benefited (Ha.) benefited water in wells (m)
wells (m)
Before After
Water Diversion by
Underground Pipeline 4.67 180 900 180 14.63 2.44
The above arrangement also does not require
any revenue expenditure on a perennial basis, except
the checking and cleaning of the pipeline for any
blockage. The schematic diagram of the
arrangement and the photograph of the BARDA
BHANDARA are given below. This project created
an example of how the joint efforts of the
community and NGO can make the positive
difference. The adjoining farmers are now
cultivating Rabi crops, which was distant dream for
them previously.
02. Inter-linking of waterbodies through link
water channels :
Taking a cue from the traditional wisdom and
the much hyped “inter-linking of rivers” project,
ACF initiated an innovative project called “interlinking
of local rivers through open canals.” The
basic concept behind the scheme is diverting water
from surplus area to water deficit/scarce area.
In Kodinar taluka, a lot of water from the rivers
flows every year into the sea. These rivers drain the
local watershed area and most of the water is lost to
the sea. ACF studied the problem and a plan was
conceptualized and formulated to divert water from
excess zone to deficit zones and thereby minimize
the outflow to the sea. Due care was taken in the
scheme to include the network of existing water
harvesting structures and water bodies like tidal
regulators, ponds etc. At the same time, it was
planned to help the water to remain within the area
for a much longer period than the past for facilitating
maximum recharge of the local aquifers.
Studying the watershed dynamics and excess
capacity in the existing rivers during monsoons, the
potential sinks (rivulets, ponds, percolation tanks
etc.) and the shortest possible route to these sinks
were identified with the help of villagers by ACF.
The direction and route the overflowing water
420
acquires was taken up for inter-linking with the water
bodies. The local know how was utilized to the
maximum extent to ensure that the local farmers
benefit maximum from the proposed network and
least amount of water is lost through run-off.
The following steps have been undertaken for interlinking:
� Inter-linking of existing tidal regulators
through pipelines.
� Construction of radial canals from existing
tidal regulators.
� Construction of canals from river to village
ponds.
� Deepening of ponds and rivers to increase the
water holding capacity.
� Building of check dams, waste-weirs or
percolation tanks to increase the water recharging
capacity in the watershed.
� Linking up of water bodies like percolation
tanks and ponds by constructing link water
channels.
Case of village Mitiaz, Devli, Kadodara, Damli and
Pipli
The above inter-linking project was started in
1999-2000 involving above five adjacent villages
to benefit from the excess water of river Goma. The
village ponds in all these five villages were first
deepened to increase the water holding capacity. An
inter-linking canal was simultaneously constructed
to connect these ponds.
During monsoon, the Goma stream over flew
and the water got collected in the Mitiaz pond. After
the water level in this pond crossed the stipulated
level, it automatically got diverted to the
downstream village ponds one by one. The table
below gives the details of the work done and their
impacts:

Work Done Storage No. of Area No. of Avg. Depth Avg. Depth
Cap. wells benefited Farmers of water in of water in
(MCM)# benefited (Ha.) $ benefited wells (m) wells (m)
Before After
River widening & Pond
deepening Pipli 0.06 40 140 40 12.20 6.70
Percolation Tank Mitiaz 0.07 132 462 121 16.75 2.40
Well Recharging Mitiaz
Percolation Tank &
— 20 64 20 8.80 2.75
Waste-weir Mitiaz 0.06 30 105 25 9.75 3.65
Percolation Tank Kadodara 0.06 18 63 18 11.60 3.35
Percolation Tank Damli 0.11 35 122 28 12.80 1.50
Checkdam Renovation Pipli 0.01 32 93 32 9.75 6.10
Percolation Tank Pipli 0.05 32 112 32 10.35 5.50
TOTAL 0.42 339 1161 316
# The figures represent the area benefited and not the increase of area under irrigation.
$ The figures represent the storage capacity created. However, ground water recharge is more because of multiple
filling of the structures, which further improves the water quality.
During the year 2000-01 and 2002-03, deepening and widening of river Goma was undertaken in village
Pipli. After the completion of the project, the salinity in the area has reduced, the ground water level has come
up and the farmers benefit from three crops a year. Also due to reduction in the salinity, the farmers now
require less quantity of seeds for sowing as compared with salinity-affected scenario.
Panch Piplwa – Jantrakhadi Radial Canal
The Government had constructed a tidal regulator near Panch Pipalwa village to act as a barrier between
the agricultural land and salinity. During the good monsoon, excess water used to flow to the sea. To utilize
this excess water, a 1.50 kms. long link canal was excavated through ACF in the year 2002 from Panch
Pipalwa bhandara to Jantrakhadi village. The ponds at the village Pipalwa were also deepened in the year
2000-01and 2002-03. The benefits of the project are illustrated in table below :
Work Done Storage No. of Area No. of Avg. Depth Avg. Depth
Cap. wells benefited Farmers of water in of water in
(MCM)# benefited (Ha.) $ benefited wells (m) wells (m)
Before After
Reverse Water Channel 0.05 30 105 30 8.84 4.27
Interlinking of Tidal regulators and Bhandaras (Water Bodice)
Government of Gujarat has constructed Tidal Regulators and Bhandaras on fringe of coastline for
preventing salinity ingress as well as create a fresh water buffer and fresh-saline water interface. Considering
the positive impact of the interlinking of ponds described above, ACF planned and implemented a similar
project to interlink three major rivers of Kodinar region by constructing spreading channel, parallel to
seacoast. The details of the project are given below :
421

Project Storage Cap. No. of wells Area No. of Farmers
(MCM) benefited benefited (Ha.) benefited
Spreading Channel
Panch Pipalva Tidal 11.72 40 270 162
Regulator to Sodam
Bhandara
Spreading Channel
Muldwarka Tidal 1.84 126 655 398
Regulator to
Sodam Bhandara
Radial Canals
from Panch 1.32 67 410 244
Pipalva Tidal
Regulator Scheme
Advantages
The above inter-linking has meant that the water bodies contain water for a much longer period than in
the past and also results in less wastage of available rainwater. Percolation of water has contributed to bring
up the hitherto falling ground water levels. As a result the problem of salinity ingress has also been controlled
to a fair extent in the region. Water quality has definitely improved considerably as a result of perennial
recharging of the aquifer. Elderly farmers of the region happily explain that the present water table has
reached the level that was seen three decades back only.
Availability of drinking water has increased considerably, especially during the summers and drudgery
of women and girls has come down significantly. Since women and girls are generally responsible for
taking care of the animals as well, the increased availability of water and fodder has further helped their
cause. In fact, the hygiene standards have also gone up in the area due to availability of the water.
Details of Water Resources Management Activities by ACF, Ambujanagar
Sr. Activities Unit Cumulative till 05-06
1 Construction / Renovation of
Checkdam & Causeway Nos. 128
2 Recharging of Wells Nos. 783
3 Percolation Tanks & Wells Nos. 98
4 Construction of Wasteweirs Nos. 16
5 Construction of Culverts Nos. 6
6 Construction of Farm Ponds Nos. 717
7 Construction of Link Channels Kms 52
8 Construction of Nalaplugs Nos. 25
9 Earthen Bunding Ha. 45
10 Construction of RRWHS Nos. 1172
11 Saline Well Renovation Nos. 26
12 Drinking Water Wells Nos. 21
422

Conclusions
The process of rainwater harvesting through
inter-linking is very cost effective, if implemented
in a systematic and planned manner, as compared
with other projects. It assists in maximizing the
utilization of available structures since these are able
to buffer the excess water flow. No land acquisition
is generally required and hence it helps in people’s
active participation that eliminates unwarranted
conflicts. However, these type of projects could be
possible only in limited geographical context where
the inter-linking distances are small, surface
topography is favorable and the possible impacts
of such projects do not adversely affect large number
of people.
Similarly, the conversion of mined out pits into
water reservoirs is one of the best ways to reclaim
the area. The availability of large quantity of water
not only improves the aesthetics of the area; it has a
positive impact on the earning potential of the
nearby farmers. As such it fits well into the objective
� � �
423
of sustainable mine closure, need of the hour.
These kind of micro-level interventions are
proving viable, feasible and cost effective
alternatives for macro-level replication for larger
benefits. As a matter fact, the Government of Gujarat
has recognized these efforts and ACF is now
considered as nodal agency by the government to
help replicate such models elsewhere in the state
on a large scale.
Acknowledgements
The authors express their sincere thanks to the
management of GACL and ACF for kindly allowing
to use the various informations, documents and
references for inclusion this paper. Special thanks
are due to Shri H S Patel, President; Gujarat Ambuja
Cements Limited for his guidance and
encouragement on the subject matter. The views
expressed herein belong to authors and not
necessarily that of their organizations.

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
76. The Public Awareness on Rainwater Harvesting
Voltaire has said, ‘necessity is the mother
of invention’. In the face of fast depleting water
resources re-inventing conservation techniques is
no longer only a likely option but an essential
imperative. Of all the options available for renewing
water resources, rain water harvesting (RWH) is
clearly the most ancient and viable option for India
both in terms of implementation and cost-benefit
analysis. The government, both at the centre and
the state levels, has introduced policies to promote
and even enforce RWH but unless the public is aware
and consciously recognizes the need for RWH,
implementation will pose problems. This paper
explores various measures for creating public
awareness about RWH both at the micro and the
macro level in an attempt to inspire and motivate
various urban citizen groups to undertake the same.
This paper will restrict itself to the need as well as
the benefits and viability of RWH in urban areas
and the role that educational institutions and other
organizations can play in spreading the awareness.
Fr. Agnel Technical Education Complex will
serve as a case study for RWH on the micro level.The
Vashi unit of Agnel Seva Ashram(ASA)which is the
social wing of this organization has already geared
itself up to promote the concept of water
conservation. Its impressive week-long programme,
‘Save Electricity and Water Abhiyan’ (SEWA), which
was launched as a multi-pronged attempt to impress
upon our students the need to use these scarce
resources judiciously, is fast gathering momentum.
A seminar on Rain Water Harvesting and a pilot
RWH project for the staff quarters of the complex
are next on the anvil. The long term goal is to extend
RWH to meet the water requirements of the entire
complex and subsequently to other Fr. Agnel
Complexes in the country. Through net-working
*Bertha Fernandes **Sandip H. Deshmukh
with other organizations(private and government
as well as NGOs) each Fr. Agnel Complex could
serve as a model and a centre of informative
action for other institutions and organizations
in their respective zones. As the old saying goes,
example is always far more effective than precept.
“Unutilized or underutilized plant capacity is
the costliest form of waste in developing countries.
Under developed countries are always under
managed countries”, said a management guru. I
think this statement very apt in the context of water
because under utilized or unutilized water capacity
is the costliest form of waste in any country. Most
of the developed world has taken cognizance of this
and has already got its water management systems
in place but developing countries like ours have a
long way to go in harnessing this waste. Despite
being in a monsoon region, availability of water is
already a serious problem in most Indian states
irrespective of their physical terrain and other
geographical features. Infact, Cherapunji which
receives the highest rainfall in the country (1100mm
annually) has serious drinking water shortages. This
is a clear indication of mismanagement of natural
water resources and this mismanagement is evident
through the length and breadth of the country barring
a few geographical pockets where communities have
worked to put their resources to good use. We have
heard of the recent farmer suicides in Vidharba
because of drought related debt burdens. The
Government finally took note of the situation and
offered monetary assistance. But is this the real
solution to the problem? “Give a man a fish and
you give him a meal , Teach him to fish and you
give him a living” , goes the familiar axiom. The
need for and the techniques of rainwater harvesting
are the ‘lessons’ that will give our farmers a living.
*Sr.Lecturer ** Asst.Professor
Fr.Agnel Technical Education Complex, Sector 9A, Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400703
E-mail: berthaf@gmail.com, sandiphk@rediffmail.com
424

Infact, these are ‘lessons’ that cannot and must not
be confined only to farmers but to all communities
in all parts of the country – rural and urban because
the availability of potable water is becoming
increasingly scarce. In urban areas where people
depend mainly on the municipal supply, residents
of housing complexes shell out up to Rs. 1000/- per
tanker to meet their hygiene and sanitation needs
while educational institutions are often not able to
maintain desirable standards of hygiene because of
the lack of water. These are costly temporary
solutions to permanent problems. Hence the need
for Rain Water Harvesting which is not only much
cheaper but also far more effective . Infact, it is I
think, the only solution to present and future water
problems – a solution that has its roots in our
historical past. And this solution will not catch on
unless a concentrated effort is made to create
awareness of the benefits of the solution. Thus arises
the need for a nation-wide collaborative effort to
spread Public Awareness about Rain Water
Harvesting. “Change”, it is said “is inevitable. The
great question is whether it is by consent or by
coercion”. Through Public Awareness we can
ensure that it is by consent.
Having touched on the general need for Public
Awareness, the paper will focus on the modalities
of Public Awareness campaigning at the macro and
micro level. In an attempt to answer basic questions
like what about rainwater harvesting needs to be
publicized; to whom and how do we publicize, we
have divided this paper into the following segments:
a) The importance of public awareness.
b) A brief historical perspective of rainwater
harvesting from our ancient past to our present.
c) The causes of water depletion.
d) Methods of creating public awareness.
e) Public awareness measures adopted by Agnel
Seva Ashram (ASA) through its Save Electricity
and Water Abhiyan (SEWA) at the Agnel Technical
Education Complex, Vashi.
The importance of public awareness :
The Key component of rainwater harvesting
is storage. In a Monsoon country like India “where
on an average we get 100 hours of rain and then
nothing for the remaining 8660 hours in a year 1 ,
water has to be captured and stored in large
catchments using tanks and ponds or as groundwater
425
by facilitating percolation. The centre for Science
and Engineering (CSE) in its intensive study of
rainwater harvesting has gathered strong scientific
evidence to show “that village scale rainwater
harvesting will yield much water than big or medium
dams” 2. Due to loss through transmission for
instance, Michael Evenari has conclusively proved
that water collected from small watersheds per
hectare of watershed area was much more in
quantity than that collected from large watersheds.
A study conducted by the Central Soil and Water
Conservation Research Institute (CSWSRI) in
Dehradun shows that just increasing the size of the
catchment area from one hectare to two hectares
reduces the water yield per hectare by as much as
20%. Thus it is clear that rainwater harvesting in
small catchments is the effective solution to our
water problems. Such water structures call for a
social process of self-management in village
communities or co-operative housing societies and
individual organizations in urban areas. This
naturally implies social mobilization- creating
awareness and confidence among all sections of
the community that rainwater harvesting works.
Another reason for creating public awareness
is that the concerned community-rural or urban –
must be closely involved at every stage of the
decision making process regarding their rainwater
harvesting system , right from the choice of the site
and the technical and financial parameters of the
construction to the equitable distribution of the
collected water. This could go a long way not only
in ensuring adequate water supply but also in
generating a community spirit (- very essential in
these strife–ridden times) and building up what
economists call “ Social capital”.
Measures to create public awareness must
include Government bodies and political leaders.
Apart from funds which the concerned communities
can, by and large, generate for themselves as, for
example, they did in Jamnagar, Rajkot and Aizawal
in Chennai, Government support is essential in the
form of incentives for implementation of rainwater
harvesting schemes (The Municipal Corporation of
Thane, for instance, gives property tax deductions).
Even more significantly, Government assistance is
required in the form of flexible Government rules
that facilitate social mobilization. The Government
will have to “review and revise old British-time laws

like the Indian Easement act which prevent public
participation in water management” 3 . This means
the Government should be vital link in the process
of social mobilization and public awareness. For
instance, the level of Government commitment to
this cause rose significantly in the wake of the fourth
convention on rainwater harvesting organized by
the CSE. The Government must encourage not only
the construction of new water storage systems but
the revival and reuse of the rich legacy of water
storage systems left to us by our leaders of yore. As
Thomas Munro, British Governor of Madras (1820),
said “to attempt the construction of new tanks is
perhaps a more hopeless experiment than the repair
of those which have been filled up (through
siltation). For there is scarcely any place where a
tank can be made to advantage that has not been
applied to this purpose by the inhabitants 4 .
A brief historical perspective of rainwater
harvesting :
Rainwater harvesting is an ancient tradition
that in India dates back to a period even before the
Harappan Civilization to as far back as 4500 B.C.
in the Thar and Rajasthan deserts. It is an integral
part of Indian identity and cultural history and
helped define India. Wells known as ‘Kirs and Beris’
were first built by caravans traveling when they
traversed the desert. These still stand as testimony
to their creative ways of collecting and storing
rainwater not only for household needs but also for
farm and irrigation purposes. The more developed
versions of these-”Kundis” or “Kunds” are used for
drinking water storage, as in Jaisalmer district, even
today, while “Bundela” and “Chandela” with steps
leading down into them were surrounded by gardens
and orchards to glorify the King. There were systems
for harvesting rain from rooftops and courtyards,
for collecting monsoon run-off from the water of
swollen streams or flooded rivers. Rainwater
harvesting managers called “pallars” who inherited
their knowledge and skills, and added to this body
of experience based on careful day-to-day
observation, introduced innovative solutions to
water problems. In 1987 when the modern town of
Chittor ran out of water, the fort of Chittor, equipped
with our efficient water harvesting system, faced
no problems.
In the Moghul era various “Baolis” and
426
reservoirs were constructed, especially in Delhi.
Most of these “Baolis” have since dried up 5 because
of neglect and depleted ground water levels.
Causes of Rainwater Depletion:
In the wake of the Industrial Revolution and
modern technological advancement, two major
shifts took place in the management of water:
a. The state replaced communities and
households as the primary agents for the provision
and management of water.
b. A growing reliance on the use of surface and
groundwater instead of the abundantly available
rainwater and flood water.
Gradually drinking water became very scarce
and the number of villages with drinking water
problems rose significantly. Though the ministry of
rural development sanctioned money to alleviate the
situation, the number of problem villages rose
obviously because of the lack of sustainable use of
land-water-vegetation resources. The causes range
from the political to the social. Anil Agarwal, of
CSE sums up, “ Corruption, lack of people’s interest
in maintaining the Government schemes, land
degradation leading to heavy runoff, heavy
groundwater exploitation leading to lowering of
groundwater levels, neglect of traditional water
harvesting system and growing pollution 5 . The
construction of large dams has augmented the
problem by contributing to human displacement and
forest degradation. Dependence on the state for
water has resulted in complacency among people
who squander state-subsidized water. Traditional
water harvesting systems necessitated responsible
involvement of people – the communities that
managed the systems. Hence the need to restore
those harvesting structures and revive those
management systems through the sustained, perhaps
even aggressive, publicity campaigns.
Methods of Creating Public Awareness
Seminars such as those conducted by the
Institution of Engineers is testimony to the fact that
a considerable degree of awareness about the need
for Rainwater harvesting does exist. We have heard
apparently pessimistic prophecies of the Third
World war breaking out because of scarcity of water
resources but this dismal scenario can be averted if

we get our act together and make water ever body’s
business. This means redefining the role of the state,
of households and of communities in the provision
of water and the protection of water resources.
Therefore nationwide awareness campaigns that aim
at the entire spectrum of involved parties from the
central and state governments to the rural and urban
communities, is a must.
How then does one conduct effective
awareness campaigns?
In our consideration of the various strategies and
methods we will move from the macro to the micro
levels.
1) Government Participation and support : It
is essential to keep the Government aware of the
activities related to rainwater harvesting so that their
support and assistance, if required , can be solicited
. Government officials like District Collectors, Chief
Ministers and even the President and The Prime
Minister must be invited to seminars and workshops
that aim at changing the political mind-set from a
top-down bureaucratic form of governance to a
participatory form of governance where rural and
urban communities are empowered to manage their
own water resources. The government can push for
community based water management policies and
develop legislation.
2) Government Awards : The Government in
different states could set up awards to encourage
the implementation of rainwater harvesting
schemes. The Delhi Government, for instance, has
already announced two lakh rupees for institutions
and housing societies and one lakh rupees for
individuals who have set up effective rainwater
harvesting systems. (No wonder rainwater
harvesting has taken off in such a big way in
educational institutions and housing societies in
Delhi).
3) Model rainwater harvesting projects :
Efforts must be made with government assistance
to establish rainwater harvesting projects which can
serve as models worthy of emulation. Trips must be
arranged for neighboring communities to these
project sites. This can be a very effective and
convincing way of educating people.
427
4) Rainwater Centers : Every region must set
up rainwater harvesting centers to provide
information to interested individuals and
communities interested in setting up rainwater
harvesting systems. The rainwater harvesting center
at Chennai, in collaboration with Akash Ganga
Trust, sets up exhibitions that seek to spread water
literacy among urban Indians.
5) Networking with other N.G.O.s: Several
N.G.O.s have done a lot of work on rainwater
harvesting. Pooling the efforts and information
resources of these organizations would go a long
way in making rainwater harvesting a nationwide
movement. For example CSE has made some good
film advertisements like, “The Rain catchers” and
“Jal Yodha”, which have been made available to
interested parties. CSE and Manav Adhikar Seva
Samiti (MASS) organized a traveling film festival
from 30 th Nov. – 1 st Dec. in 2005. On our own level,
ASA plans on collaborating with Enviro Vigil to
set up an exhibition on our campus.
6) Print and Television Media: The Media is a
powerful tool for public awareness.
a) Establish web-based discussion groups with
a FAQ section (Frequently Asked Questions) and a
forum for network partners to share their
experiences on local water harvesting practices.
There is already an Orkut RWH group for online
committees.
b) Newsletters can also be an effective platform
for dissemination of information. CSE newsletters
(Jalvibadri in Hindi and Catchwater in English )
are mouthpieces of the National Water Harvesting
Network.
c) Educational Institutions at the school and
college levels can organize awareness campaigns
in the form of poster competitions, elocution
competitions and processions where pamphlets of
RWH are distributed.
d) Street Plays organized by N.G.O.s and
educational institutions can also serve as a powerful
medium.
7) Individual Effort On the individual level we
who are committed to this cause of rainwater
harvesting, can encourage can encourage those
within our sphere of influence to implement such

projects. Shri A.B. Patil, scientific officer in BARC,
encouraged his brother, Shri Muralidhar B. Patil, to
implement rain water harvesting to irrigate his
cotton fields. As a teacher I encouraged a group of
students to write a report on rainwater harvesting.
Public Awareness measures adopted by ASA
Through SEWA
Agnel Seva Ashram, an interfaith association
committed to social and environmental harmony
organized a national seminar on “Responsible
Citizenship for National Regeneration” in
collaboration with the Dharma Bharathi National
Foundation. As an action oriented follow-up to this
seminar, SEWA was established at Vashi. Saving
electricity and Water is one way of exhibiting
responsible citizenship.
SEWA organized a week-long save water
campaign with thoughts for the day that provoked
reflection on the judicious use of the vital resource.
In addition several competitions, which attracted not
only students but also staff, were organized in the
campus at Vashi.
A Jingle composed and performed by a
committed student was sung on several days of the
week.
A Poster Competition was held.
A Caption Competition in which pictures
were displayed and participants were asked to give
stimulating captions was held.
A Problem-Solving Competition was also
held. Here real-life water related problems were
given to participants for viable concrete solutions.
This week long onslaught of messages and activities
had a significant impact on staff and students. There
was a noticeable difference in staff-student approach
to these valuable resources. We hope this translated
into significant savings in the bills and a plan to
actually monitor and measure these savings is
underway.
SEWA also organized a seminar on rain water
harvesting with Mr. Walawalkar from Enviro-Vigil,
giving us very valuable inputs. ASA encourages
participation in seminars organized by others.
A rainwater harvesting project has been
proposed and planned for the Technical Education
� � �
428
Complex at Vashi. We hope this will be the model
for other educational institutions in and around
Vashi as also for other ASA centers in the country.
Conclusions
Mihir Shah of the Samaj Pragati (M.P) said,
“To be the vehicles of a fundamental social
transformation, development programs must be
conceptualized as part of a process of community
Empowerment…. The aim must be to gradually
move towards what has been recently described as
the post-bureaucratic or interactive mode of
implementation in which everyone takes
responsibility for the whole” 6 . But for everyone to
take responsibility all must know what they are
taking responsibility for, why they are taking
responsibility and how they can fulfill their
responsibility. In other words, a high degree of
conscientization is required. As our former President
K.R. Narayanan said, “ For a people’s movement
for good water management we will need a massive
program to promote water literacy” 7 . Rain Water
Harvesting must become a nation-wide movement
through a multi-pronged public awareness campaign
using different systems and methods of reaching the
public.
List of References
• www.google.com.cpreec.org/04-pamphlets
• Anil Agarwal, Sunita Narain and Indira
Khurana Making Water Everybody’s Business;
Practice and Policy of Rainwater Harvesting.
• Making Water Everybody’s Business;
Practice and Policy of Rainwater Harvesting.
• Making Water Everybody’s Business;
Practice and Policy of Rainwater Harvesting.
Pg.5
• Anil Agarwal, “Water Harvesting in a new
age” Making Water Everybody’s Business; Pg.2
• Mihir Shah, “Participatory watershed
Development: An Institutional Framework”
Making Water Everybody’s Business; Pg.219
• Hon. President K R Narayanan in his inaugural
speech at C.S.E.’s National Conference on the
potential of water Harvesting(1998)

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
77. Rain Water Harvesting to Improve Socio-economic conditions
in Hilly Areas of Maharashtra
INTRODUCTION
The importance of water to the sustainable
habitat is enormous. It can be best emphasized by
acknowledging the fact that it is the prime mover
for the existence of living being on our planet Earth.
Realizing this importance, a large-scale
development of surface water resources through
major and minor projects has been taken up by the
government to ensure water supply for drinking as
well as for irrigation. The government has accorded
highest priority to rural drinking water supply as a
part of policy framework for ensuring universal
access to all and to achieve the goal of reaching the
unreached. For effective implementation of this
policy, a number of hand pumps and water supply
schemes are installed in villages, lacking water
source. Despite of all these initiatives, the water
supply system fails to sustain, thereby, leaving the
inhabitants to reel under acute water shortage. Their
life is full of poverty, deprivation and other miseries.
*Sourabh Gupta
Abstrct
Poverty, disease, low agriculture productivity and poor moral, exacerbated by lack of
water, are the common features of the hilly areas, which lead to hardship, deprivation for the
habitants. A large part of hilly areas
are generally found to be lacking suitable land for cultivation and adequate irrigation facilities,
thus remain denied of high cropping intensity. Although, at places they experience heavy rains
during monsoon but rainwater quickly runs away due to steep gradient & poor infiltration of
the under lying rock. However, the quick replenishment of wells has normally been observed
with the onset of monsoon but they start depleting quickly soon after the monsoon season, as the
significant movement of water occurs from higher level to lower level due to high water table
gradient which is well evident from the ground water monitoring structures such as dug wells
and bore wells. As a result, the acute water shortage becomes imminent during summer.
The diverse hydrogeological and rainfall conditions of these areas necessitate developing
varied measures to tackle the water scarcity situation. Site specific Rainwater harvesting schemes
like Tanks/ponds, Gully plugging, Contour bunding, bench terracing, Sub surface dams meant
for water and soil conservation have quite successfully produced the desired results.
There are many villages, which have remained either
with scarce water supply or without any source of
water. Some of these villages are categorized as
problem villages as the source of potable water is
beyond 1.0 kilometre.. The women have to walk a
distance of about 1.0 kms to reach up to the source
of water. The virtually dry and dead water resources
of hilly areas have led to acute water scarcity,
affecting the socio -economic conditions of these
villages. Such water scarcity conditions leads to
poor agriculture productivity and thereby poor
economic condition, which inevitably compels the
villagers to migrate to cities in search of livelihood.
Area Under Reference
The hilly areas of Maharashtra referred in the
context of above problem are (i) Western margin of
Maharashtra Deccan plateau, which is bordered by
elevated Sahyadri ranges (elevation from 600 to
1600m.amsl), extending from north to south. The
*Scientist “D”, CGWB, MSU, 247/11, Deccan College Road, Yerwada, Pune - 6
E-mail : archsaugupta@yahoo.com
429

high peaks in the Ghat region are in elevation from
1646m.amsl, Kasuli (Nasik) in the north through
1438m.amsl at Mahabaleshwar (Satara) in the
central portion, 1024m amsl Panhala (Kolhapur)
in the south. The elevation of drainage line varies
between 600 to 900m.a.msl. at places. The other
elevated ridges of the Deccan plateau are (ii) Satpura
hill ranges at the northern bounder of the state
(elevation 450-700m.amsl), (iii) Ajantha-Satmala-
Buldhana ranges,located south of Purna –Tapi valley
( elevation range 900-450m.amsl), (iv) Balaghat
range ( elevation600-900.m.amsl ) extends through
higher elevation of Harishchandra and Maneghat
through Ahemadnagar to Manjhira plateau in Beed
and Latur district, (v) Mahadev Range extends from
higher Plateau around Mahabaleshwar towards hill
range of Sangli –Satara district.
Hydrogeology:
These hilly areas are predominantly
underlained by rocks belonging to Deccan Trap
430
basalts & laterites except the southern part of
Sahyadhri range which is underlained by Archeans
and Kaladgis. The Archeans are represented by
Dharwarian metasediments and granite gneisses
with mafic and ultra-mafic intrusives. The Kaladgis
rest unconformabily over the Archeans and are
comprised of conglomerate, grits, orthoquartzites
and shales.
The metasediment and intrusives do not
possess any primary intra granular opening and thus
practically have no primary porosity and
permeability .The major aquifers are granitic
gnessies having secondary porosity developed by
weathering and presence of joints/fractures. The
Kaladgis are jointed in diverse directions and
jointing along with weathered impart the water
bearing property. The Deccan basalts are massive
in nature and occupy higher elevations. They do
not form good aquifers except when they are
weathered, jointed and fractured. These are capped
by laterite at several places. The joints, fractures

and weathering also control the water bearing
capacity of laterites. Numerous voids and joints/
fractures present in laterites provide free flow of
ground water whereas lithomargic clay acts as
effective aquiclude.
Perspective of the area
These areas are characterized by inherently
heterogeneous and low yielding formations either
exposed on surface or under moderately thin cover
of soil. The soil is generally fragile and prone to
severe erosion from hill slopes. The soil is deep
black having low permeability that can hold only a
fraction of water that falls on it. The ground water
recharge is mainly through fissures and joints in
exposed rocky strata. Although some of the areas
coincide with high rainfall (2000-3000mm), yet the
high topographic gradient and massive nature of
underlying formations generate a high runoff and
less of ground water recharge. Thus, development
of water table is not very pronounced. Water occurs
only as a small under ground pool in the form of
perched water table along the elevated regions.
However, in moderately sloping areas, the
development of water table is common, but of steep
gradient. The steep gradient leads to outflow of
significant quantity of ground water from higher
level to lower level as effluent base flow into rivers.
Thus, depletion of water level is very quick in dug
wells as well as in bore wells, which results into
water scarcity soon after the monsoon season. These
adverse topographic and hydrogeological conditions
are inconducive for ground water development.
Hence, construction of dug wells and bore wells is
not techno- economically viable.
Measures to Tackle Water Scarcity
The techniques and methods used to
overcome water scarcity vary from region to region
depending upon their specific problems, nature of
terrain, climate, hydrogeological conditions etc.
Some of the appropriate techniques in such areas
are enumerated below;
Rain Water Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is old concept as far as
India is concerned. Our ancestors had been doing it
according to the means available then. Nevertheless,
slowly with the advent of tap water supply the
431
rainwater harvesting has lost its importance. As in
areas where water scarcity has become a common
feature due to inadequate availability of source
water, rainwater harvesting has become most viable
option. It is necessary to resort to long-term
measures in harvesting the rainwater to meet the
daily demand. Though the objective of water
harvesting in most cases is to store water for lean
part of the year it also imparts indirect benefits such
as recharging drinking water wells and hand pumps.
In hilly areas, where water harvesting has been
practiced together with afforestation and other
methods of watershed development and land
improvement, desaturated aquifers have also been
recharged and water is available in abundance from
ground water sources. For the hilltop villages,
especially those included in the list of tanker
villages, the water harvesting system could be the
best solution for meeting the water demand during
the dry months by impounding water in reservoirs.
The other alternatives, such as drilling or digging
wells, are not appropriate. Various methods of water
harvesting are feasible in hilly terrain are as
discussed below.
Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting
This system is useful mainly for drinking
water purposes. The system consists of three
components i.e. collection of rainwater, conveyance
and storage. In this system, rainwater falling on
roof of houses and other buildings is collected and
conveyed through a system of pipes and semicircular
channels of galvanized iron or PVC and is
stored in tanks suitably located on the ground or
underground. The practice is in vogue at the
individual household level in remote hilly areas with
high rainfall and also in some areas of moderate to
low rainfall. This type of tank storage is common
in areas where under ground storage in aquifer is
not feasible. Roof catchments have the advantage
that they can be constructed directly near the users,
if the roof is suitable for this purpose. The amount
of harvested water depends on roof area and its
nature, and rainfall regime.
Masnory Storage Tank
In hilly areas where rainfall is high and
number of rainy days widely spread over long
period, Masonry storage tank structures of various

shapes and sizes are built underground or over
ground to collect rainwater for drinking purposes.
These are constructed in a variety of places like
court yards, in front of houses and temples, in open
agricultural fields, barren lands etc. These are built
both for individual households as well as for village
communities using locally available materials.
While some structures are built in stone masonry
with stone slab coverings, others are built with only
rudimentary plastering of bare soil surfaces of the
tank with cement or lime and covering with
Zizyphus Numularia thorns. Some Kuccha
structures have a convex covering of local wood
with mud plaster. Inlet holes are provided in the
convex covering at the ground level to facilitate
entry of rainwater into the tank. In case of Pacca
structures the wall of the tank is kept projecting
above the ground to provide inlet hole below :
Roof catchments, for instance, are not suitable
in small adivasi villages, as their huts have
roofs, which are not suitable for collecting water.
For these villages, the most appropriate solution is
to construct paved ground catchments connected
with underground storage tanks. Other rainwater
harvesting technologies such as rock catchments and
paved catchments could be appropriate in water
scarcity villages. The catchments are connected with
a storage tank as illustrated in the picture.
432
In constructing ground catchments, it will
be necessary to take into consideration a number of
factors, such as the rainfall regime, the number of
days in a year that rain harvested water is required,
number of users, appropriate catchments and
reservoir design, operation and maintenance.
Ground catchments are costly to install and require
a careful maintenance. They provide fairly good
quality water and satisfy the water needs of the
entire community. To construct a ground catchments
require, relatively large plots of land that may not
always be available in hilltop villages. The size of
the area to be cleared depends on the factors
mentioned for the roof catchments. The cleared area
should be graded to reduce losses due to evaporation
and infiltration, to avoid soil erosion and to prevent
silt content in the water. The type of paving and its
cost depends on the type of material used (concrete,
tiles, plastered flat stones, etc.) and its local
availability. In USA chemicals are used for this
purpose, such paraffin wax shredded and spread on
the ground surface. Wax is melted by sunlight and
seals soil pores, making a water repellent surface.
Reinforced asphalt membranes are also used where
this material is cheap. In Arizona, USA, the ground
catchment is made impervious by lying polyethylene
sheets covered with gravel for protection against
damage and sunlight. Catchments are generally
fenced.
Ponds / Tanks
This is by far the most commonly used
method to collect and store rain water in dug ponds
or tanks. Most ponds have their own catchments,
which provide the requisite amount of water during
the rainy season. Where the catchments are too small
to provide enough water, water from nearby streams
is diverted through open channels to fill the ponds.
Spring Water Harvesting System
Spring water is a highly desirable source
of community water supply. Since the water emerges
at the ground surface through cracks and loose joints
in rocks under internal pressure of the ground water
system, no pumping is required. More over the water
is fresh and free from pollution obviating the need
for artificial purification. However, such sources are
available mostly in hilly terrain, foothill areas or
intermontane valleys.

One relatively easy means of storing and
distributing spring water is through a device known
as a spring box. Built usually into a hillside and
deep enough to access the spring-water source, this
device allows water to enter from the bottom and
fill up to a level established by an overflow or vent
pipe. Hydraulic pressure then maintains the level
in the spring box. The outflow pipe near the base of
the device may be connected via pipe to a larger
storage system (such as a tank) closer to the point
of use or tapped directly at the location of the box.
This device can be constructed using local materials,
and if built carefully and protected can provide
many years of reliable operation. Depending on local
water requirements and conditions, a number of
these spring boxes may be constructed to provide
year-round supply or used to recharge other community
water storage systems. Alternatively, a variation
on the spring box concept may also be employed
known generally as an infiltration gallery. A long
perforated pipe or box (3 to 6 inches or more in
diameter) may be placed across the water-bearing
433
layer of the hillside to gather spring water. Backfilled
with gravel or another sufficiently porous
medium, the pipe or box is connected to an outflow
pipe(s).
Hill Slope Collection
In this system, which is in vogue in many hilly areas
with good rainfall, lined channels are built across
the hill slopes to intercept rainwater. These channels
convey water for irrigating terraced agricultural
fields. The water is also used to fill small ponds for
domestic use and the cattle.
Diversion Dams
Water from hill streams are diverted through
small excavated channels for domestic use and
irrigation. The Springs are merely in the form of
water trickling through layers and joints in
rocks,discharge copiously can used both for drinking
water supply and irrigation. Split bamboo channels
are used to trap and convey water upto the village/
hamlet for drinking purposes.

Modern Structures
During the last 100 years there has been
considerable technological development, interalia,
in the design and construction of water harvesting
structures for various purposes. In areas where
source of water is only rainfall, entire efforts of water
conservation are to be concentrated on insitu
rainfall.. Gully plugging , Contour bunding, Bench
terracing and Gabbion structures are the common
water conservation structures applicable in run off
zone. They are also part of watershed improvement
works. These measures are multipurpose, mutually
complementary and conducive to soil and water
conservation. They help to increase forestation and
agriculture productivity.
Gully Plugging : These are the smallest soil and
water conservation structures built across gullies in
hilly areas carrying drainage of tiny catchments
during rainy season. These are built with locally
available materials like stone boulders, earth,
weathered rock brushwood etc. Sand bags or
brickwork may also be used to strengthen the bund.
Gully plugs may be chosen wherever there is local
break in slope to permit accumulation of adequate
water behind the bund. The height of individual plug
depend upon land slope may be between 2 to 3 m
above nala bed and progressively taper off on side
slope. A number of gully plugs may be provided on
the same gully or nala, one below the other at every
hundred-meter separation.
Contour Bunding :
These are small structures earthen bunds
built horizontally in parallel rows across the hill
slope. These help in augmenting soil moisture and
prevent erosion of topsoil. This technique is suitable
in low rainfall area where monsoon runoff can be
impounded by constructing bunds on the slopping
ground all along the contour of equal elevation. The
434
flowing water is intercepted before it attains the
erosive velocity by keeping suitable spacing
between the bunds. The Spacing of between two
contour bunds depends on the slope of the area and
the permeability of the soil. Contour bunding is
suitable on land with moderate slope without
involving terracing..
Bench Terracing :
Sloping land with surface gradient up to 8%
having adequate soil cover can be leveled through
bench terracing for bringing under cultivation. It
helps in soil conservation and holding runoff water
on terraced area for longer duration giving rise to
increased infiltration recharge. The width of
individual terrace should be fixed depending upon
the slope of the land. The upland slope between two
terraces should not be more than 1;10 and the terrace
should be leveled.
Gabbion Structure
This kind of check dam commonly
constructed across small streams to conserve stream
flow with practically no submergence beyond
stream course. Small bund across the stream is made
by putting locally available boulder in a steel of
mesh wires and anchored to the stream banks. The
height of such structures is around 0.5 m and is
normally used in the stream with width of less than
10.0 m. The excess water overflows this structure
storing some water to serve as source at recharge.
The silt content of stream water in due course and
with growth of vegetation, the bund becomes quite
impermeable and helps in retaining surface water
runoff for sufficient time affect rain to recharge the
ground water body.

Ground Water Conservation Techniques
The water recharged into aquifer is
immediately governed by natural ground water flow
regime. It start seeping away due the steep water
table gradient and transmissivity 0f the aquifer.As
a result the water is not available for exploitation
during the summer season.The aim is to conserve
water for later use.The under ground bhandara has
proved to be the most successful technique for
improvement of sustenance of water supply source
Ground Water Dams
It is a sub-surface barrier across stream, which
retards the base flow and stores water upstream
below ground surface. The water level in upstream
part of ground water dam rises saturating otherwise
dry part of aquifer site where sub-surface dyke is
proposed should have shallow impervious layer with
wide valley and narrow outlet. After selection of
site, a trench of 1-2 m wide is dug across the breadth
of the stream down to impermeable bed. The trench
may be filled with clay or brick / concrete wall up
to 0.5 m below the ground level. These structures
are preferred down stream of existing water supply
structure to sustain availability during the summer.
� � �
435
Sum Up
The poor accessibility, adverse
hydrogeological condition, higher cost of
development and thin size of population etc are the
factors not suiting to the state government norms,
and also the ignorant attitude towards thinly
populated poor people, are certain inhibiting factors
for long term solutions to this problem. As a result
these hilly areas remain perpetually under water
scarcity for most part of the year. . In such situation,
water scarcity can only be tackled by supply oriented
management practices. While other measures of
development of ground water are not found technoeconomic
viable, the conservation of both surface
water and ground water are the most appropriate
option. The cost of construction of these structures
is quite low as they can be built using the local
materials and also not much scientific skill is
required to execute them.
References
Hydrogeology of Maharashtra(1994), Central
Ground Water Board,Ministry of water
Resources,Faridabad
PP 4-7
Jain,S.K.& Jain,P.K.(2001) Possibilities of Rain
water Harvesting and Ground water Augmentation
in Rajpura parliamentary constituency,
MaharashtraPP 36-41
Manual of Artificial Recharge of Ground Water
(1994),Central Ground Water Board,Ministry of
water Resources,Faridabad PP112-117
Rain water Harvesting Techniques to Augment
Ground water,(2003) Central Ground Water
Board,Ministry of water Resources, Faridabad
pp14-18

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
78. Socio- Economic Upliftment of Farmers through Rainwater
Harvesting at Dedag Watershed, Sirmour H.P.
*Dr. Anirudh Manchanda *Dr. Pankaj Mittal *Dr. H.L.Thakur
Abstract
In Himachal Pradesh more than ninety percent of population lives in villages and
earn its livelihood through farming. The farming in hills mainly depend on rainfall.
Water in the hills is available through rain, snow, springs, surface flows and drainage
courses. The hills of Sirmour receive 1670 mm as the average annual rainfall, still
water is a scarce commodity in these areas, as more than 85% water is received during
June-September, which goes waste as runoff due to inadequate harvesting and storage
facilities. The excess rain water in shape of runoff takes away the fertile soil along
with it. So in order to manage these natural resources watershed approach based on
“community action” was adopted at Dedag under the National Watershed Development
Program. The watershed is located at longitude 77 0 24’E and latitude 30 0 50’N with
height varying from 1600-2348 meters above mean sea level in District Sirmour HP.
The project has 570 ha of effective area from five villages supporting 145 families,
with irrigation restricted to less than 15 % of the area. A Community managed system
called “Jalagam Sangh” was constituted at watershed level, which helped in executing
different modules through participatory approach.
(a) Rain water harvesting from base or surface flow -The water source at Sanio
contributed on an average 20-25 thousand litres of water per day under normal months
but the discharge increased to 85-90 thousand litres per day during rainy season .This
large volume of water resulting from rainfall was going waste .So, water storage and
conveyance module was demonstrated to harvest every drop of water. This module has
benefitted 55 families.
(b) Rain water harvesting from roofs –The roofs of three houses were selected as
catchments for the harvest of rain water at Dedag in the absence of natural catchments.
The discharge from these roofs has been directed to a tank through PVC pipes and
water yield of 2.0-2.5 lac litres is being harvested annually, which provides irrigation
to 2-3 ha of land. This module has benefitted 6-7 families.
The benefits and impacts of rain water harvesting can clearly be seen at watershed in
shape of social-economic changes. The availability of water has been increased from
0.3 ha-m to 2.4 ha-m annually and as result an increase has been observed in the
yields of Potato, Pea ,Garlic and Maize (20-50%). The incremental gains were highest
under Garlic Rs 70,000/ha followed by Potato Rs 61750/ha, Pea Rs 18900 /ha and
maize Rs 7000/ha. Where as the Benefit :Cost ratio was highest in Pea(7.24) followed
by Potato (5.63) , Garlic (3.56) and Maize (2.14). Higher values of Crop Fertilizer
Index under Potato(0.50,0.44), Pea(0.40),Garlic (0.37,0.40) and Maize(0.50,0.60)
clearly indicate that the farmers have started using NPK and Urea fertilizers at rates
*CSK, HPKV. Hill Agric. Research and Extension Centre, Dhaulakuan. HP, INDIA anirudh_3322@hotmail.com
436

anging from 37-60% of recommended doses. The higher values of Crop Productivity
Index(58-87%) confirms the increase per unit area.
The encouraging results of water harvesting have given confidence to farmers. They
are now well organized in a system called “Jalagam Sangh”. The feeling of
participation, cooperation and social justice can be seen among farmers. They are
now governing the resources as per need, local rules and mutual understanding thus
reducing social conflicts. These modules have given opportunity for women to
participate in development programmes and have benefitted them by reducing drudgery
and saving precious time. Women empowerment can be seen in the watershed as Ms
Prem Lata is working as Watershed Secretary. General cleanliness and hygiene of
village has also been improved. There is change in attitude, clothing and food habits.
The people participatory index is also above 55 percent.
Risk bearing capacity and financial empowerment can be seen in the farmers.
Employment opportunities (1100 man days) have been generated due to different
developmental works in progress. Economic equity is another positive point as weaker
sections are being benefitted with wages and other interventions. The opportunities
of livelihoods have also been increased.
1.0 Introduction
Himachal Pradesh is a hilly state and situated
in the lap of Himalayan ranges in the north- west of
India. It is situated between 30 0 -22’-40" to 33 0 -12’-
40" N Latitude and 75 0 -47’-55" to 79 0 -04’22" E
longitude (Anonymous,2002). Himachal Pradesh
has twelve districts and more than 78 percent of
cultivated area is rainfed. District Sirmour is situated
at the south end and has its boundaries with
Utranchal and Haryana state. As we move from
valley to high hills in the district, we experience three
different agro climatic zones (mid hill sub-tropical,
mid hill-sub humid and high hill sub temperate zone
). In Himachal Pradesh more than ninety percent
of population lives in villages and earn its livelihood
through farming . They are mainly involved in
agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry. The
farming in hills mainly depend on rainfall. Water in
the hills is available through rains, snow, springs,
oozing water sources, surface flows and drainage
courses. Major share of water is being used by
agriculture followed by domestic and other sectors.
The hills of Sirmour receive 1670 mm as the average
annual rainfall, still water is a scarce commodity in
these areas, as more than 85% water is received
during June-September, which goes waste in the
shape of runoff due to inadequate harvesting and
storage facilities. The water resources in hills have
high potential, which need harvesting on scientific
lines to cater to the needs of hill farmers. The soil
degradations is another problem in the hills as excess
437
rain water as run off takes away the fertile soil
along with it.
Agriculture production is the major livelihood
concern of the inhabitants of fragile, complex, diverse
and risk prone agro-ecosystem of the Himalayas.
Stake holders of this region have poor resources ,
inadequate infrastructures ,marginalized farming
situations and uncertainties due to rainfed conditions.
Efficient utilization of natural resources is essential
to accomplish sustainability and stability of food,
nutritional and environmental securities (Mishra
,2001).The productivity levels in irrigated areas has
attained a level and there is little scope for further
increase. So, the opportunity lies in the development
of rain fed areas . Rainfed agriculture is complex,
diverse and risk prone and is characterized by low
productivity and low input usage. The farmers of
rainfed areas generally face scarcity of water as
major problem i.e erratic and uncertain rains, which
results in wide variation and instability in crop yields.
So in order to have holistic and sustainable
development of natural resources in rainfed areas
“Watershed Approach based on community
action” was adopted, which makes it an ideal
planning unit for development and management of
water and soil resources besides it also enables a
holistic development of agriculture and allied
activities.
The main objectives of watershed approach
1. Natural Resource Development.
2. Farm Production System.

3. Socio-economic upliftment of farmers-
Livelihood issues.
2.0 Location and Watershed information
Watershed Dedag, is situated on Rajgarh -
Haripurdhar state highway, 10 km from Rajgarh
town in H.P. The watershed is situated at 77 0 24’E
and latitude 30 0 50’N with height varying from 1600-
2348 meters above mean sea level. It has total
effective area 570 ha.The watershed consists 180
ha of total culturable area and only 116 ha is being
cultivated presently. The irrigation facility at
watershed is only restricted to 43 ha whereas rest
of the area is un irrigated .The main source of
irrigation is rainfall and natural springs. There are
145 families (SC-67, Gen- 78) which has been
covered under project from five villages namely
Dedag, Sanio, Matari , Jelag,and Khanoteo. The
total beneficiaries are 753 out of which 392 are male
and 361 female. Most of the family member (719)
are literate and majority families ( 90%) earn their
livelihood from agriculture.
3.0 Concept
There is growing realization that technology
generation, dissemination and adoption cannot be
taken in isolation. So National watershed
development project for rainfed areas, Dedag, has
been conceptualized differently from other Extension
and Developmental programmes to solve farmer’s
problem in participatory mode and through
community action. Participatory endeavour of
watershed project is to bring about the socio
economic transformations by way of diversifying hill
farming for complete sustainability. So, a systematic
approach is followed to achieve the objective.
Participatory approach is an important initiative to
decentralize decision making process and promote
ownerness among the farming communities. These
paradigms of development are required for
sustainable improvement of socio economic condition
of resource poor stakeholders.(Mishra,2001) In this
process, the real issues are analyzed by sharing
experiences and knowledge of local communities and
external service providers. This empowers the
people in decision making by sharing responsibilities
and accountabilities of activities to be carried out.
The bio-physical and socio-economic constraints,
priorities and preferences of interventions were
438
identified before launching the program through
agro-ecological system analysis. The professionals
and stakeholders work jointly for problem solving
and decision making processes. The service provider
acts as facilitators and the stakeholders as actors
while preparing the project in participatory mode.
Technologies generated at institute were assessed
and refined through adaptive research and
disseminated to farmer’s field by conducting
demonstrations in a participatory mode.
4.0 Methodology
The national watershed development project
for rainfed areas is basically a Participatory
programme based on a community managed system
called- “Jalagam Sangh” and all the development
work has to be executed by the farmers under the
guidance of experts. Therefore to achieve this
objective a team of experts from Hill Agriculture
Research and Extension Centre (HAREC)
Dhaulakuan.(H.P Agricultural University , Palampur)
worked with the farmers on following lines.
4.1 Social Aspects
Community Organization
Capacity Building
Planning. Execution of programme.
4.2 Developmental and technical Aspects
Technical programme (Survey, Design etc.)
Farm Production system interventions.
4.1 Social Aspects
Important socio-psychological components
(confidence building ,motivation, aspiration, conflict
resolution, learning and transparency) ,which play
crucial role in accomplishing sustainability were

given priority before implementation of program.
� Community Organization-
According to the government previous policy,
decision making process was in the hands of official
hierarchy of the authorities with top-down strategy.
Paradigm shift from top-down to bottom-up
community interactive process is an appropriate
approach, as this results in real participation of the
beneficiary in the development process and desirable
goals of food security and self sufficiency are
achieved. Hence, for effective participation of
farmers, awareness campaign among farmers was
created and they were motivated to come forward
to understand the concept of participation by our
team of experts. All beneficiaries were made
members by contributing Rs 50/= as membership
fee and they were allowed to choose leader
democratically to form executive body i.e President,
Secretary, Volunteers, Community organizers. The
association was then registered with registrar
Societies as “Jalagam sangh” or Watershed
Association. The user group of Sanio and Deadg
were formed under leadership of Mr Partap
Chauhan and Mr Ashok kumar.
� Capacity Building-
Once the teams or groups are formed it becomes
important that team efforts are sustained and team
spirit is maintained, hence for successful team work
they needed training to acquire knowledge and skills
w.r.t. Management, Leadership, Communication,
Mutual trust and Power to take decisions etc.
(Wani,2002). The members of association were
given training on management , social and technical
aspects.
� Planning and execution of Project
activities-For Planning and execution of project
activities agro-ecosystem analysis, PRA and priority
analysis was carried out.
• Agro-ecosystem analysis-
Agro-ecosystem analysis is a method of finding out
problems and solutions related to socio-economic
improvements. Agriculture problems are
systematic in nature and are linked with each other
due to varying agro-ecological and socio-economic
conditions. The concept of agro-ecosystem analysis
initiated by Conway (1985) involves a minimum set
439
of assumptions acceptable to all the disciplines of
rural and agriculture development. The behavior of
agro ecosystem is characterized by four properties
i.e Productivity , Stability, Sustainability and
equitability.
• Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and
Surveys-
After the capacity building phase the members
of Watershed association conducted series of
Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercises
separately for each village to gather first hand
information. Then information was confirmed by
bench mark survey of individual village w.r.t Natural
resources, Land use, Cropping pattern, Input use,
Human resource, Animal resource, Socio-economic
status of the families.
The Sanio village has the following information
w.r.t different resources.
(a) The land use data revealed that out of total 150
ha effective area,52 ha is culturable area and 40 ha
is being cultivated presently. The irrigation facility is
restricted to only 19 ha area. Main crops grown are
Potato , Pea and Garlic. These are the main cash
crops grown in watershed and their cultivation is
restricted only to irrigated area.
(b) The village Sanio has total 57 families and out
of these 23 belong to Schedule caste. The femalemale
ratio of watershed is 0.91, where as the literacy
percent of the watershed is 98.3 The data on input
use of watershed indicates that the input use is below
fifty percent of recommendations.
(c) The majority of the families(51) in the village
are having agriculture as main occupation, where as
service and business class constitute only 10.5

percent (6 families).Hence, majority of farmers will
be interested in farm development activities.
• Priority analysis-
Priority analysis was worked out through the
data generated from Participatory rural appraisal and
Basic survey of village. So after prioritization of
problems, an action plan was prepared for Sanio and
Dedag villages. Water harvesting , soil management
and farm production were the issues of the prime
concern to farmers. The order of important priorities
identified by the farmers has been given in figure.
• Execution of Programme–
User group of beneficiaries was formed at village
level, which submitted resolution w.r.t Consent,
Participation, Viability of project, Area to be covered
and other Social benefits, to Watershed Executive
Committee for approval. The work was then
executed through community action by the members
of user group Sanio, and Dedag under technical
guidance of Soil Conservation Department experts
4.2. Developmental and technical Aspects
� Technical programme (Survey, Design etc.)-
After doing the priority analysis by the farmers,
technical program was made in consultation with
the expert of Irrigation and public health or engineer
of soil conservation department for different water
harvesting ,conveyance and storage structures.
Before executing the work, this technical program
was got duly approved from the experts.
� Farm Production system interventions—
• Farm Production system interventions were
finalized by the farmers in consultation with the
agricultural expert. The analysis of data was done
as per the statistical procedure by Gomes and Gomes
(1992) and suggested by CSWCRTI Dehradun and
440
Sunabeda, Orissa .
• Crop fertilization index was calculated as ratio
of quantity of fertilizer used by the farmer per hectare
to the recommended fertilizer dose per hectare .
• Crop productivity Index was determined as
ratio of yield obtained by farmers per hectare to
recommended level of yield per hectare
• People participation Index was calculated as
percent of mean participation Score to
maximum participation Score.
• Economic analysis-To identify, quantify and
value the social advantages (benefits) and
disadvantages (costs)in terms of common monetary
units various interventions were analyzed for gross
returns, net returns and benefit cost analysis.
5.0 Results and discussion -
During the course of study various interventions
were demonstrated in the watershed through
participatory approach and the results obtained are
as below.
5.1. Intervention 1 - Rain water harvesting and
conveyance system from base or surface flow
at Sanio and its Socio- economic benefits.
5.2. History of Water source –
This water source is perennial one and has
average water discharge of 20-25 thousand liters
per day during normal months (having no rain
fall) but the discharge increases to 85-90
thousand liter per day during rainy season(June-
September). The farmers were taking this water to
their fields by open channel i.e traditional delivery
system locally called Bandha, there were heavy
conveyance losses as the channel was infested
with weeds, broken at several places and the
movement of water was very slow. The farmers
were not getting good recovery of water from the
system. With time this water delivery system
became faulty. Since good amount of money was
involved for its maintenance hence no body came
forward to maintain it. The source was used only by
2-3 influential and economically sound farmers and
they were taking this small amount of water through
their own delivery system i.e. plastic pipes of 1.0-
1.5" to irrigate their fields and they were able to
irrigate only 1-2 ha area and 50 plus families were
deprived off from this facility from source which

was having potential to irrigate 15-20 ha area. So
every one in the village was concerned to develop
it and to harvest every drop of water from the
source and also to capture additional discharge
resulting from rains during rainy season in tanks
They were also fascinated to install effective
water conveyance and storage system if some
funds were made available to them.
5.3 Execution of work-
Since it was a community asset and every
farmer wanted to develop it. A group of beneficiaries
called User group Sanio was constituted under the
leadership of Mr Partap Chauhan and a Concept
of People participation was introduced.
5.4. Technical Details of water harvesting-
The work was executed by the members of
user group Sanio. The farmers cleaned the water
source and the discharge was taken to a small storage
cum siltation tank. GI pipe ( 3 inch) was selected as
conveyance system by the irrigation expert since the
discharge was comparatively less than the irrigation
demands of command area so other option like open
channels as conveyance system was not preferred.
People also wanted that every drop of water
harvested should reach to the last point (750meters
away from source). Farmers laid out the pipe under
expert supervision and after every interval of 150
meters gate valve was provided to supply water for
the agricultural fields. There were three old tanks
in the fields and after minor repairs they were made
functional. One new tank has also been constructed
from the project funds. Now the water is being stored
in these tanks (2.0 lac liters cumulative capacity)
and is not allowed to go waste during night hours or
surplus period . Since the flow of water is continuous
and the conveyance system is passing through village
Sanio, two another out lets have been provided in
the village and farmers meet out their domestic water
demands from these taps. The topography of the
area also benefitted the villagers as the conveyance
system is running on the top of village boundary and
farmers are getting the water by gravity to their roof
tanks by plastic pipes for domestic needs. The source
of water is clean and is being taken in a covered
pipe line, the farmers are using this water for drinking
also. The work in this module has been taken in three
components
441
1. Collection of water in a small storage cum
siltation tank.
2. Conveyance system for water transport from
source to fields.
3. Storage of water from source in big tanks for
irrigation purpose.
The total expenditure incurred to make this
module operational was Rs 3,63,000=00 The tanks
were made of RCC material and GI pipes were
used for conveyance system. The farmers
contributed 10-15 % share in the shape of labour,
time, local material and devoted lot of time and energy
for supervising the work.
5.5. Findings-
By instinct, we tend to protect something, on
which we have invested. The farmers have invested
their labour and time in construction and
maintenance of the system. So they all worked for
the success of this module. This module is now
operational and the farmers are getting every drop
of water harvested and there is virtually no wastage.
The socio- economic effects of water harvesting
module have been studied as below -
5.5.1. Rain water harvesting and its
availability to society -
The day, this module became functional the
water availability in the village and fields is round
the clock as the water is flowing continuously from
the source to tanks and to farmers fields.
The average availability of water is now 2.0
ha-m to 2.4 ha-m. annually as against 0.03 to 0.04
ha-m in the past . The area has also been increased
from merely 2-3 ha annually to 15.0 ha every crop
season under irrigation and the beneficiary families
are now more than 50 as against 2-3 in the past.
Earlier the water losses were more than 85 % which
are now below five percent.(Table 1.) The resource
poor and weaker section farmers were having no
access to this water but now they are comfortable
and getting water for irrigation and other needs.
The sowing of crops which used to be dependent on
rains is now at the wish of farmers. The availability
of irrigation has improved the crop stand and growth.
The farmers are getting higher yields .The rain
water harvesting module has turned out to be a
social asset to the farmers of Sanio Village.

Table.1 Water availability status at Sanio village
No Observation Before Project After Project
1. Water availability Few days Round the clock
2 Water availability( annually) 0.3-0.4 ha-m 2.0-2.4 ha-m
3 Area covered 2-3 hectare >15 hectare each season
4 Number of beneficiaries 2-3 >50
5 Water losses >85%

water, use of improved seed and balanced fertilizers
and agronomic practices. (Table.2 )
( c) Input use-The benchmark survey indicated
that farmers were using agricultural inputs at lower
rates ranging from 30-50% of recommended doses
and as a result low crop yields. The farm production
interventions inspired the farmers and as a result
the use of agricultural inputs increased, which has
been reflected in the higher values of Crop fertilization
index(CFI) & Crop productivity index(CPI). Higher
CFI was observed under Potato(0.50,0.44),
Pea(0.40),Garlic (0.37,0.40) and Maize(0.50,0.60)
which clearly indicated that the farmers have started
using NPK and Urea fertilizers at higher rates
ranging from 37-60% of recommended doses.
.(Table.3) The farmers have now recognized the
balanced use of NPK fertilizers and their role in crop
production.
(d) Productivity-Before the start of project the
crop productivity index in the village was below 54%
under Potato, Garlic and Maize crops except Pea
69%. The farmers were not harvesting good yield
as per the potential of these crops so there was
scope for improvement. Higher and judicious use of
inputs along with assured irrigation has increased
the yield of almost all the crops which comes as
confirmation from the increasing trend of Crop
Productivity Index registered under various crops at
village Sanio.(Table .3)
OUT COME OF THE SYSTEM-
The water source which was not managed
earlier has been developed by people and the user
group Sanio is maintaining its functioning. The
farmers have now developed a system at their own
and every user is to abide the rules and regulations
fixed by all members as below.
� No person will be allowed to pollute the water
source in any shape.
� Members will be storing the water in tanks
when it is surplus or at night time.
� Farmers will be using their own plastic pipes
as conveyance system to irrigate field.
� Flood irrigation has been discouraged as it leads
to losses and less water use efficiency.
� Small amount has been fixed as user charge/
fees and defaulter if any, will be fined by user group
members.
� All the members of user group are authorized
to inspect the working and maintenance of system
Table 3 – Effect of water harvesting on Crop fertilization index and Crop Productivity index
S.No Crop Crop Fertilization Index(CFI) Crop Productivity Index(CPI)
Before (2003) After(2005) Before (2003) After(2005)
1 Potato 0.54 0.68
NPK 0.4 0.5
Urea 0.38 0.44
2 Pea 0.69 0.87
NPK 0.33 0.4
3 Garlic 0.47 0.58
NPK 0.31 0.37 - -
urea 0.32 0.4 - -
4 Maize 0.5 0.75
NPK 0.4 0.5
Urea 0.5 0.6
443

5.5.3 Water harvesting benefits the women
of Sanio- Women empowerment.
The women in the village are ignorant ,undernourished,
week and overburdened with farm and
house hold work. The involvement of women was
very essential to meet the gender neutrality and for
betterment of society as well as realistic planning of
watershed. There fore overall empowerment of farm
women was attempted through following ways.
� The watershed secretary, is a key position in
the watershed and the person is responsible for
maintenance of records, accounts, supervision of all
works and community related activities. Ms Prem
Lata from Village Sanio is working as
Watershed Secretary and is the example of
women empowerment .
� Reduction in women drudgery has been
achieved through water harvesting module which
has come as a boon to village Women folk.
� The average water requirement for a family
of five in Sanio village was worked out to be 233
litre /day(46.7 Liter/day/person) plus 40-50 litre for
animals. The women of village used to spend on an
average 3 hrs daily (1095 hrs annually) for bringing
water to meet the domestic needs viz Cooking,
Washing of cloths,Cleaning, Bathing and Sanitary.
� Now these valuable hours have been saved
and the women are spending this time for the
welfare of their children and self care. The
women are now happy and relaxed a lot , as water
is available round the clock and they can plan the
work according to their comfort and mood.
� Regular health camps are also being organized
to benefit the women.
444
� Women of the watershed have been included
in the community institutions Viz-Watershed
Committee, Watershed association SHG,User
groups, Mahila mandal and they are encouraged to
participate and express their needs, problems and
priorities.
5.5.4 Water harvesting and its Impact on the
general hygiene of the village.
� Due to shortage of water the overall cleanliness
was poor in the village.
� The farmers were not washing their clothes
very frequently but now the situation has been
improved.
� The older people were not comfortable at all
as the water source was far away and they had
limited access to it. The conveyance system of this
module is running through the village and catering
the needs of all sections of the society.
� The scheduled caste and other weaker
sections in the village were not comfortable on
the water issues but present scenario has reversed
the situation and water is available to every body in
plenty.
� The availability of water has improved the
General Hygiene in the village .
5.5.5 Water harvesting introduced Social
changes in community
Participatory endeavour of watershed project
is to bring about the socio economic transformations
by way of diversifying hill farming for complete
sustainability. This systematic approach has achieved
the following objectives.
� The people are now coordinated and they have
developed the feeling of ownerness
� The empowerment of people has come in
decision making by sharing responsibilities and
accountabilities of activities to be carried out and
decision making process is now decentralized.
� There is a new experience of working. The
professionals and stakeholders jointly work in
problem solving and decision making processes.
� The service provider acts only as facilitator and
the stakeholders as real actors while preparing the
project in participatory mode.
� The higher values of participatory index at
different phases of project show that farmers are
taking more interest in different activities and it is

the result of the success they have achieved under
participatory approach. The overall score of people
participatory index was 55% at Sanio.
5.5.6 Economic Benefits- Impact of water
harvesting on the economy of people.
Right from the start of the project the members have
been benefitted economicly as-
� Yield Increase-The results of demonstration
revealed that Av. Yield of 165.0 and 170.0 qtl/ha
was harvested in Potato demonstrations which was
22.2 & 25.9 % higher than control plots . Garlic
demonstrations harvested 105.0 and 103.0 qtl/ha and
was 21.1&23.5 % higher than control plots. Pea
demonstration also resulted in 20-26 % higher yield
than control plots. Maize demonstration registered
an increase of 35-50% grain yield under
demonstrations.
� Monetary gains-The highest incremental
gains (Rs/ha) were under Garlic Rs70,000 followed
by Potato Rs 61750 , Pea Rs 18900 and maize Rs
7000.
� Where as the B :C ratio was highest in Pea7.24
followed by Potato 5.63 , Garlic 3.56 and Maize 2.14.
The increase in the productivity of crops was mainly
attributed to higher availability of water for irrigation,
use of improved seed and balanced fertilizers and
agronomic practices.
� Employment Generation-More than 1100
man days were generated as employment from
project activities.
� The flow of funds have created confidence
among farmers and now they are having better risk
bearing capacity .They are now in a position to
decide the rates with the dealers where as earlier
the dealers had upper hand and they used to dictate
their terms and conditions.
� Assets Possessions and Consumer
durables-The farmers have also added assets to
the village viz-New houses (6), Radio sets(15),
Television(7), Dish TV(7), Gas connection (15),
Livestock (10), Agricultural equipment(8),
Latrines(3) which indicates the economic growth of
farmers.
� Sustainability and Replicabilty-The
enthusiastic participation of farmers across the
developmental stages of the project added to
sustainability dimension of the modules. Now the
farmers are trained and have capacity to replicate
445
the work at other places.
6.2. Intervention.2. -”Rain water harvesting
from roofs through community managed system
at village Dedag, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh”.
6 .2.1 Execution of work and technical Details-
The roofs of three houses were selected as
catchments for the harvest of rain water at Dedag
in the absence of natural catchments. The discharge
from these roofs has been directed to a tank through
PVC pipes and water yield to a tune of 2.0-2.5 lac
liters is being harvested annually, which provides
irrigation to 2-3 ha of land. This module has benefitted
6-7 families. The results of demonstration revealed
that Av. Yield of 138.0 qtl/ha, 38.0 qtl/ha and 91.0
qtl/ha were recorded under Potato, Pea and garlic
which was higher than control by 15.0% in
Potato,13.0% in Peas and 21.0% in Garlic The
system has been developed under community
managed system under leadership of Mr Ashok
Kumar User Group Dedag with the main objective
to harvest rain water for irrigation purpose. Being
first year ,the data on the yield has been presented

where as data on socio economic impacts will be
available for presentation after second year.
7.0 Conclusion :
The rain water harvesting through community
managed system at Dedag watershed has benefitted
the farmers of Sanio and Dedag villages by providing
water for irrigating and other domestic purposes.
The availability of water has increased the
productivity of crops and in turn better monetary
returns. The economic gains have made the farmers
more comfortable and confident .The women
empowerment can be seen in the watershed as
women are involved at every stage of development
and their opinion is given due importance. Reduction
in women drudgery is another out come of the
project. The weaker sections have also been
involved in the watershed and they have been
provided employment opportunities in the watershed.
� � �
446
8.0 References :
1. Anonymous (2002). Annual Season and Crop
Report. Directorate of land records H.P.Shimla
India.
2. Conway,G.R.,1985.Agroecosystem analysis.
Agricultural Administration .20(1):31.
3. Gomez. A.K and Gomez.A.A (1981). Statistical
procedures for agricultural research 2 nd edition An
IRRI publication..
4. Mishra A.S (2001) Social concept and
participatory approaches in watershed
development.Procedings of workshop on watershed
development. CSWCRTI Dehradun.pp-103-111.
5. Wani,S.P.,T.J.Rego and P Pathak (2002)
Improving management of natural resources for
sustainable rainfed agriculture. ICRISAT.
Proceedings of workshop on “On farm participatory
Research Methodology”P:1-61

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
79. Rain water harvesting –Public awareness
* Pradeep S. Bhalge
Abstract
Indian ancestors realized that water is very ephemeral resource for them. They
began to love the monsoon season. They realized that human society couldn’t grow without
extending the bounties of monsoon water from the wet months to the dry months. They
slowly grew the extraordinary traditions of rainwater harvesting in myriad form in different
parts of India. Ancestors have given holistic approach to the water. India is the only
country in the world where water is called as “Tirth”. “Tirth” means the holy water. Due
to this concept in mind no body was wasting the available water and dared to add impurities
to the water resources. Unfortunately today, peoples are forgetting the water heritage,
water culture, and the sustainable technology. This results in to impure and scare water.
In the past days the peoples/ community always had an important role in constructing and
managing the traditional water harvesting systems. This was the reason of the prosperity
in the olden days. This paper deals with the public awareness about the traditional rainwater
harvesting techniques, and importance of people’s participation for efficient use of available
water resources.
Introduction
Once upon a time India was known for surplus
production in the field of agriculture. The prosperity
at that time was depends upon the Agricultural
production and the agriculture was depends upon
the wise full management of available water
resources. Indian agriculture is a monsoon feed
agriculture. The monsoon is known for its vagaries.
One cannot predict anything about its quantity,
extent, intensity, and period of stress. Some times
it rains so heavily, at others it does not rain at all.
To overcome these uncertainties the fore fathers
invented various devices of water conservation.
Some of them are still functioning in different parts
of the country, while the others are waiting for
getting restored. Water is prerequisite of life and
there is no substitute for water. Hence the by gone
scientist realized the essence of water. They made
entire society aware of it. They made conservation
and preservation of water the concern of every-body
and hold every body responsible for its misuse. The
wrong done were severely punished. Ancient stories
description and the narrations written by the foreign
visitors describe the prosperity of our nation at that
time. The prosperity was depending upon the wise
full management of water resources. Prosperity was
attended in the period of dynasty like Gupta’s,
Satwahana’s, Morvay’s,Yadava’s, Hinu dynast of
Vijaynagram, and others. In that period we were
far ahead of other nations in agriculture science.
Information about the few glimpses of Traditional
wisdom in water management is given below.
Water as Tirth
India is the only country where water is
honored as ‘Lok Mata’ i.e. folk mother. They are
hence worshiped as goddesses. Water of rivers and
scared hydraulic bodies was given the status of
‘tirtha” i.e. holistic drink. Tirtha has great respect
in the society. On every religious occasion water is
worshiped at the beginning of the ceremony. On
the third day of Vaishkh a ritual of Akshaya Tritiya
is observed though out the country. Rivers like
Ganga, Yamuna, Sindhu, Sarswati, etc. and
hydraulic bodies like lakes and reservoirs, step
wells, and hot water springs were honored
* Assistant Engineer Gr .II, Jayakwadi Project Circle, Aurangabad.
447

throughout the country. Water is assumed as god’s
gift. This assumption helps to maintain the purity
of water, its efficient use and also helps in
maintenance of the water structure. The traditions
are still vogue. Special Melas (Festivals) are
organized in honor of them. Indians have given
importance not only for the collection of rainwater
but equally importance to the purity of the water.
India is mining Ground water, which may be as
much as 7000 years old. They had respect of water
and they loved water and handled it with great
sensitivity and wisdom. Almost all-small rivers,
springs, and other water bodies including tanks, are
attributed some degree of holiness and associated
with the local pantheon of Hindu god and goddesses.
The digging of tank was considered to be one of
the seven great meritorious acts a person has to
perform during a lifetime.
Traditional method of rain water harvesting
The base of Indian civilization has ever since
remained agriculture; however the technique of
irrigation differs according to climatic diversion.
Therefore it has very long tradition in the
development of water bodies like, surface and
subsurface (ranging from small to large), river works
such as diversion weirs, diversion canals, flood
canals, diversion of river courses, inter basin transfer
of water, constructing of underground tunnels
(through soft or hard strata), underground channels
(lined or unlined), digging open well and step well,
laying pipeline on ground or under ground, tapping
sub soil water through tunnels and infiltration
galleries, transforming water over long distance
through open or closed conveyance system for rain
water harvesting etc. Few examples of the systems
are given below.
Lakes and reservoirs
India has been rightly known to be the country
of lakes. At every village there was at least one lake.
The man made tanks or lakes were devised for
different objectives such as irrigation, fishery,
religion, recharging ground water, drinking water,
tanks for cattle’s etc. These hydraulic bodies were
developed in almost all part of India with active
support and encouragement from beneficiaries.
There was a common belief that this type of pious
deed could secure a place in heaven. Many of such
448
works are still functioning. The best examples are,
reservoirs at Bhopal, Jodhapur, Bikaner, Chittod,
Rajkot, Devas Jaipur-Ajamer, Jaisalmer,
Budhelkhand, Anhillpattn etc. were constructed in
this distributed historical span.
Step well
The ancestors were taken care of recharging
of these well. Techniques of rainwater harvesting
are used here to improve the ground water level. At
many sites water tank were constructed to recharge
the ground water. The recharge ground water is then
enters slowly in to the step well. That is the reason
of the centuries old steep wells are still functioning.
The steps wells are found all over India. It is an
extraordinary form of the underground water
conservation system. Few examples of the best step
wells are, Adalaj near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Rani’s
Barav at Patan in Gujarat, Ahilyabai’s Barav at
Chandavad near Nasik, in Maharashtra etc.
Water harvesting from the hill slope
Devagiri- Daultabad is situated in a hilly
terrain known for water scarcity where no river
flows, assuring perennial source of water. Being a
capatial and metropolitan nature of the centre, it
required ample water for its daily needs. The huge
magnitude of the population with sizable number
of animals including elephant, camels, and
residential quarters would have necessitated an
ample supply of water. They introduced number of
rainwater harvesting schemes. The wisdom they
used since long remain to be the unique in nature.
The hill on the left side of the highway going
towards Ellora, situated well above the level of the
palace complex in the fort. The average annual
rainfall in this region is around 600 mm. The
rainwater running down the slope of the hill is
guided to a collecting chamber by a guide wall cum
bund. The thickness of the bund is 450 mm, height
is 750 mm. and length is 2000 meter. Two pipelines,
one of them stoneware pipe line 400 mm in diameter
and other earthenware pipeline 200 mm diameter,
were provided. These two pipelines were taken
through the valley at about 35 m below the inlet
level and let in to the rock mot running around the
foot of the hill, over which the fort stands. The out
let is about 11 meter below the inlet level. The two
pipe lines thus acted as syphons and collecting the

un off from one hill and conveying to other hill by
crossing the valley between the two. An estimated
yield of 173000 cubic meter of water is obtained
from this source. This single example is sufficient
to prove the Indian wisdom in hydraulic faculty.
Water thus brought and collected in a water tank
inside the moat of size 20 m x 10 m x 200 m length
section is separated from the body of the moat by
rock cut diaphragms left deliberately uncut while
excavating the moat section. From this tank water
was supplied to the neighboring guesthouse
complex. Bullock operated arrangements locally
known as ‘Moat’ was provided to lift the water from
the tank in moat. The lifted water then conveyed to
the palace complex.
Peoples Participation-Phad System of Irrigation
The community managed Phad irrigation
system is prevalent in northwest Maharashtra i.e.
part of Dhule and Nasik districts. Each independent
Phad system comprises of a diversion weir, a canal
on the bank and distributaries for irrigation. The
technique of construction of weirs and diverting the
river water for irrigation were developed form the
dynast Morya’s period (300 BC). The average
rainfall in this area is 674 mm. Most of them receive
in between June to September. The land is fertile.
Surface irrigation is boon for this area. A Weir/
Bandhara may supplies water to more than one
village. The right to water has been fixed by
tradition, which is strictly adhering to. Phad
irrigation system can be set a good example of
equitable distribution of available water and its
proper management. At few places the Fad irrigation
system is still in existence. Fad irrigation is unique.
King or Ruler supported the capital costs for
construction of weirs. The distribution network is
to be prepared by the irrigators. The maintenance
works were the collective responsibility of the
irrigators. And they had performed in such a way
that the system runs years to gather. The wisdom in
the management is very attractive. All the
stakeholders in the irrigation limits are the members
of the organization. Their elected punch- committee
(Executive body) is to discharge day to day working.
There is annual gathering of all the members on the
eve of first day of Hindu calendar year. The
members of the committee are honorary workers,
to executive the duties they were assisted by
449
irrigation staff which includes.
1. Havaldar- Vigilant officer and responsible for
maintenance of the system. Observation of rotation
and distribution of water are his prime concerns.
Generally he is an outsider and paid in cash.
2. Patakari- Working on canal distribution
3. Barekari- In charge of rotation and crop
patterns.
The miraculous Kazana well
Beed is a district head quarter, situated in
Maharashtra state of India. The city is situated in
the scanty rainfall zone. The average rainfall in this
region is about 750mm. The rain is irregular. In such
a situation Kazana well was constructed to supply
water for irrigation. This well is situated on the bank
of the Bindusara River. It is 5 Km. away from the
Beed City.
The details of the well are given in the table below
Year of construction 1572
Material of construction
Diameter inside up to
Coursed rubble
masonry in lime mortar
5m depth from the top
Diameter inside form 5m
19.7meter
to 8depth from the top 13.0meter
Diameter outside 20.6 meter
There are three underground tunnels inside
the well. All the three tunnels are at the same level.
The length of the southeast tunnel is not known.
Only 5.40meter length is seen, the rest of it is filled
with earth. Water does not come from this side. The
southwest tunnel is having length 540meter as per
Government record. This tunnel is constructed
below the riverbed and joins the Kazana well. The
water flowing in the river recharges the ground
water and saturates the subsurface layers. The tunnel
is passing through these saturated layers. The water
in these layers enters the tunnel through the holes
provided on the walls of the tunnels. The water
collected in the tunnel, then flows towards the well
due to gravity. This much water is sufficient to
irrigate 212 ha of lands with traditional flow
irrigation methods, which is miraculous and unique
of its kind. An irrigation tunnel 2.42 Km long is
provided on the north side of the well. Since 1572,

without much expenditure this scheme is running
well and irrigating 212 ha. It also fulfills the needs
of drinking water of the rural and new urban area
of Beed City. Given the unreliability of the Indian
monsoon, the seasonality of surface water sources
and the expenditure involved in the supply of piped
water, water-harvesting structures can play a useful
role in meeting the survival needs of the people
Water management
Find out how much water is available in your
village. An example and one table are given below.
Water requirement of village under
consideration
Area = 1000 haPopulation =1000 no. Animals =
600 no.
Water will be required for 1.Drinking ( people +
cattel) 2.Irrigation 3.Forest 4.Industries
1. Calculation of annual water requirement for
drinking purpose for peoples
=365 days x 100 liter per day requirement x
population 1000 =3,65,00,000 liters.
2. Calculation of water requirement for drinking
purpose for peoples
=365 days x 150 liter per day requirement x No. of
animals 600 =3,28,50,000 liters
Total= 365 00 000 + 328 00 000= 693 50 000 liters
=6.9 ha-m = 7 ha-m
3. Calculation of annual water requirement for
irrigation purpose
For one rotation 100 mm (0.1 mater) water
will be required. Generally 60% of the area is under
cultivation. Thus the cultivated land of our village
will be 60% of 1000 ha. i.e. 600 ha. Out of which
50% will be assumed under irrigation (300 ha).
450
Assuming one rotation in Kharif and four rotation
in Rabi the tatol water requirment for 300 ha will
be
= 300ha x 5 rotation x 0.1 meter =150 ha-m.
4. Calculation of annual water requirement for
Jungle purpos e
Plants in the jungle or Horticulture garden
require 100 liters of water per week. There are 52
weeks in a year. Let us not consider 2 rainy weeks.
Then assuming water requirement of 50 weeks only.
Let there are 200 no trees in a hectare, and the
plantation is on 100-hectare area. Then total number
of trees will be
= 200 no per ha x 100 ha area = 20 000 Nos.
Water requirement of 20 000 trees will be
= 20 000 no x 100 liters per week x 50 weeks
= 100000000 liters = 10 ha-m
5. Calculation of annual water requirement
for Industrial purpose
There will be production of vegetables,
flowers, and fruits. It can be sale directly or some
times it is to be preserved in cooling plants. Or some
times it may process. For that purpose canning
centers are required. Water requirement of various
small-scale industries will be assumed to be
=13 ha-m.
6. Assumption of annual water requirement
for Garden around the School = 5 ha-m
Thus the total annual water requirement will be
= 7+150+10+13+5 =185 ha-m
Available annual water from rainfall over 1000
hectare area and 600 mm annual rainfall will be
(From above table) = 210 ha-m
This is more than the annual water requirement of
a village under consideration.
Thus it is found that the water scarcity is not
natural, it is due to the mismanagement. Rainwater

harvest will certainly solve the water problems in any village. Thus we can overcome the erratic nature of
rain. For that purpose we should leave the nature of dependence on the others. Then only we can stop the
tanker for water supply.
Comparison of India with Other nations
Water availability per head in different River Basins in India
General Information of Maharashtra: ( 1996-1997)
(Reference : Maharashtra Irrigation Commission)
( If gross availability is assumed as 125936 M cum)
451

Sub basin wise water availability per head and per hectare in Maharashtra
( Reference : Maharashtra State water and irrigation commission)
452

If the rain precipitation in a village is kept in
the village then all the problems will solve. Roof
water should be diverted in to the Bore well or open
well. Install a hand pump over it. The rain
precipitated over the fields shall be filtered and
diverted in to the open dug well, will improve the
water table in the vicinity of the well.
Conclusion
The area getting heavy rains have water
scarcity in summer days; the reason behind is that
efforts are not taken to make the water to percolate
in to the ground. “catchment’s area development”
is necessary for solving the water problems.
Generally pumping of ground water is more than
the naturally percolated water in to the ground. As
the money is deposited first in to the bank and then
utilized, in the same way Allow pumping of that
much amount of water, which is replenished in the
preceding rainy season. This attitude will solve the
water scarcity problems.
Irrigated area of Different Nations
[Reference: World Irrigation Statistics 2002- IWMI]
District wise average annual rainfall in Maharashtra state in millimeter
(Reference : Maharashtra State water and irrigation commission)
� � �
453
There may not be have suitable geology to
store underground water at all places. In such places
store the rainwater in surface storage structures like
field tanks, village tanks, storage tanks, weirs etc.
Otherwise, every year, water scarcity problem gets
severe and severe. By construction of very simple
structure the rainwater can make to percolate in to
the ground.
References
1. Zopale Ajun Mal : Santosh Gondhalekar
2. Maharasshtra water commission repot : President –
Madhav Atamaram Chitale
3. Param Vaibhawacha Tappa Ala Prof. Ramesh Pandav
4.Aaj Bhee Khare Hia Talab : Anupam Misara
5. Pani sarvasathi : Pradeep Bhalge
Papers
1. Few Glimpses of Indian Water and Culture : Dr. R.S.
Morwanchikar
2. Glimpses of Water History of India : Dr. D.M. More
3. Well water management in India : Pradeep Bhalge

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
80. Involvement of People for Flood and Drought Control
*Rahiman pani Rakhiye, bin pani sab soon, pani
gaye na ubren, moti manas chune*
When Rahim says and explain in two lines in
the year —— there were no water scarcity, nor water
was polluted , even at that time he was well aware,
that this gift of nature is how precious, for the
existence of the planet which believes that there is
only earth, where the life is ,we can see how limited
the availability of water ,which we are using without
even thinking, about the fact that this can not be
produced in any factory, except through the nature
itself ,we hardly feel its importance ,however
whenever there is a scarcity of water we realize how
useful it is in our day-to-day life ,apart from our
daily use ,we depend on water, to fulfill our other
requirements ,A large amount of water is used in
agriculture, to produce food, also industries use
water, to carry out various processes ,increasing
demand of electricity is also needs water Although
the earth has a huge stock of water, the amount of
water that can be used by human beings and other
animals is very small.
The figure shows about the availability of fresh
*A. K. Charles
water —as per diagram shown below——of the total
water available on earth , 97.40%is in the oceans.
due to its salinity it cannot be used by human beings
most of the fresh water is frozen in the polar , how
important this precious gift of nature in early days
traditional Indian culture was for the betterment of
the society not for personal ,every where from
Kashmir to Kanyakumari we can see Amrais, Talab,
Dharamshala , wells etc. now the old tradition has
gone and seemed outdated ,nobody wants to
maintain that type of community places and the
result is, all these structures are being ruined ,no
public involvement ,lack of interest to manage are
the main problem nowadays, at the other hand we
are not aware of this fact that day by day situation
is going worst, if the attention will not pay timely
we have to pay enormous damage to the society and
then we will not be able to check then, this is the
right time when we should fully involved ourselves
and get it done with war foot level in this context
our very first priority is to maintain groundwater
level which is going down with alarming speed ,
cautious about its cleanliness aware about its
*Wainganga Samudayik Vikas Kendra, Dhapewara,Kumhari,Balaghat, M.P. 481022, Mo.9893217825
E-mail –charles_ ak@rediffmail.com
454

echarging , A study of world wide fund in the year
2006 shows that all the developed countries are
using water as the other resources , the fact is this
that these countries are facing acute water shortage.
When we Actually look in the field, and we
are really interested to change the situation
everybody get involve and within very short span
of time, we can watch the difference, we have
already very suitable and dynamic example of Tarun
Bharat Sangh when Mr. Rajendra singh started water
conservation works in the Rajasthan everybody
including local people of the area laughed and
nobody can believe, now the changes we are
looking, that is the result of ones deep sense of love
and affection to the nature his dedication whole
heartedly working in that kind of worst situation, it
changed the whole economy of the area ,and once
the area where even fodder was not available for
cattle’s, now the farmers are busy with farming
activities and getting three crops in a year.
And the works leads Mr. Rajendra Singh to
won the Megsese Award for his outstanding works
in the field of water conservation.Another example
is Mr. Anna sahib hajare, position of the village
Ralegaon sindhi was just like any other village of
Maharashtra state and when he started his work on
conservation of water with the help of local people
he got Padam shri and Padam vir awards.
In the state of MP when Mandideep near
Bhopal,was identified to develop as industrial estate
there was acute water shortage and AKVN took
initiative to develop water bodies in the area now
Mandideep become self supported water bodies
which are not only feeding its peoples drinking water
but also providing water for industries ,all these three
case studies shows us the work done by locals
themselves and we can see the result whether it is a
question of involvement of peoples like in our first
two cases or it is a dedicated work of government
agencies, the important thing is to start with a good
intention ,result oriented zeal dedication and ready
to complete timely .
One National level studies shows when there
were only one thousand tube wells, in the year 1947
now there are more then sixty lacs tube wells are in
the country , when MP Government with a very good
intention to the farmers of the state, decided to clear
all the loans and provided free electricity farmers
over exploited this facility and 8 districts poured
455
water more then the capacity which damaged the
reserve store which cannot be restored anyway, this
is the position when in the 80’s all the wells were
capable to provide water in the summer season now
seventy-five percent of the wells are drying in the
month of December ten percent in the January ,ten
percent in the February only two percent of the wells
of MP has the capacity to feed in the summer, this
is only because of the tube wells, one tube well dried
ten wells of surrounding area,
Now even environmentalist and geologist are
agree with this fact that one tube well damaged 5 to
10 nearby wells , Officers of the water conservation
authority says due to digging up to 300 feet all the
underwater current disturbed and diverted the
ground water layers.
Madhya Pradesh plays a very critical role in
this context all the rivers originating from MP are
because of the forest and ground water sources
unlike the rivers of the northern part which are the
result of ice melting of Himalaya ,rivers of MP needs
proper attention to conserve forest ,rainwater
harvesting techniques should be the integral part
of our planning thus only we will be able to fight
with this great manmade disaster of the country other
wise this will damage the ecosystem of the whole
country .we need proper attention of local people
and general public to involve in the whole process
of conservation of water like if we follow these very
simple techniques in our daily life how much our
contribution in the field of water conservation we
can observe ourselves .
It is a very common fact that next world war
will be for water as we are observing, all the rich
and developed countries are facing acute water
shortage and when the position will be beyond their
limit they will sure try to exploit undeveloped and
underdeveloped countries to fetch water for the
citizens, even now many multinational companies
has already started various plants, which needs
plenty of water and spreading pollution in the
surrounding area, thus this is the right time to start
not thinking but functioning from top to bottom we
have to start from every nook and corner in this
situation we need awareness ,Training ,Skill
development ,methodology ,and last but not least
funds within a fixed time frame which involves short
term, medium and long term plans, all the
recommendation and conclusion depends upon the

SN Activity If tap is on Water used If use this way Water used Saving
1 Brushing 5 minuets 20 Ltr. Mug /Glass 0.5Ltr. 19.5 Ltr.
2 Shaving 2 minuets 10 Ltr. Mug 0.25Ltr. 9.75 Ltr
3 Bathing 30 minuets 90 Ltr. Bucket 30Ltr. 60 Ltr
4 Toilet 10 minuets 30-40 L. Using flush 7.5Ltr 20-30 Ltr
5 Home Cleaning 10 minuets 50 Ltr. Mug/ Bucket 20 Ltr 20-30 Ltr
6 Two wheeler 10 minuets 70-90 L. Bucket/ Mug 20 Ltr 50-70 Ltr
7 Car wash 30 minuets 300 Ltr. Bucket/ Mug 50 Ltr 200-250Ltr
availability of resources ,Human, Technical ,and
Financial are important for that .Major cause of the
floods and draught in the area like Balaghat which
is paddy growing area is that due to traditional
knowledge and practice, all the fields filled with
water for crop, in this process the whole area of
agriculture convert in a kind of blockage which don’t
allow water to absorb in the mansoon which
ultimately create draught in summer.
Some of the recommendations are as follows :
1. All the data available at government, non
government Academic and Research institutions
should be compiled and made available to
everybody on internet.
2. All the latest Rainwater harvesting techniques
should be compiled and made available to all
interested individual and institutions from panchayat
to national level.
3. All the works from traditional knowledge to
the latest one should be collected and made available
to everybody.
4. This is a work which needs involvement of
everybody at every level so the planning, Execution,
media should also come together and work with
target and result oriented strategy.
5. Develop some systematic plan with the help
and guidance of planning commission to suit every
body and every sector.
6. formation of high power committees from
National to village level with the involvement of
every sector.
7. All the Government, Nongovernment,
Panchayat, Cooperatives, Media, Technical
institutions should be the members of this
committee.
8. proper feed back systems are very essential for
the monitoring and follow up.
9. Near railway lines, Roadsides, canals
plantation work should be encouraged.
10. Some special Award can be launched for proper
implementation, as this is very positive way to
recognize for their outstanding works in the field.
11. All the Panchayats should be involved to take
necessary works related rainwater harvesting these
grass root agencies are very effective for such works.
When rahim says these words in the year —
— there were no water scarcity, nor water was
polluted, even at that time he was well aware, that
the gift of nature is how precious, for the existence
of the planet which believes that there is only earth,
where the life is, we can see how limited the
availability of water, which we are using without
even thinking, about the fact that this can not be
produced in any factory, except through the nature
itself, we hardly feel its importance, however
whenever there is a scarcity of water we realize how
useful it is in our day-to-day life ,apart from our
daily use ,we depend on water, to fulfill our other
requirements ,A large amount of water is used in
agriculture, to produce food, also industries use
water, to carry out various processes ,increasing
demand of electricity is also needs water Although
the earth has a huge stock of water, the amount of
water that can be used by human beings and other
animals is very small. The figure shows about the
availability of fresh water —as per diagram shown
below——of the total water available on earth,
97.40%is in the oceans. Due to its salinity it cannot
be used by human beings most of the fresh water is
frozen in the polar.
� � �
456

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
81. Public Awareness on Rain Water Harvesting
- A Case Study in Chennai City
GENERAL
Water is life and blood of our environment and
without water no living being can survive. Water is
finite resource and cannot be replaced/duplicated
and produced on commercial scale. Ground water
is the largest reservoir of fresh water on the planet.
It immensely contributes to India’s development and
economy. It meets 85% of drinking water needs of
rural India. It sustains 60% of irrigated agriculture
and plays an important role in social equity and
poverty reduction.
The phenomenon of human induced ground
water extraction due to excessive development led
* A. Jebamalar **Dr. G. Ravikumar
ABSTRACT
Any initiative involving the public in a mass scale will be successful only when the
public themselves are consulted and are participating in every process. As the stakeholders,
their involvement has been necessitated, in the recent times, in any water related initiative.
This paper attempts to bring out the importance of public awareness in the implementation
of rain water harvesting. Government, though it represents the public, may not be in a
position to deal with such water related issues out and out by itself. Understanding this,
Tamil Nadu Government made rain water harvesting (RWH) as mandatory by the public.
This paper focuses on public awareness for RWH implementation in Padmavathi Nagar of
Chennai City.
A nondisquised structured questionnaire was prepared in Tamil & English and the
questionnaire survey was conducted at 38 households of the study area. It is a 5 page
questionnaire contains three major parts. The first part is about general information
regarding the resident’s personal details, No. of persons in the family, area of the premises,
soil details, awareness about RWH system and their willingness towards this survey. The
second part contains water resources engineering aspects, with water availability, water
usage, quality of water and the sufficiency of the available water at their premises. The
third part contains the details of the RWH systems like type of the system, features and their
opinion about the RWH systems.
Coding sheet was prepared and the information like awareness about RWH system,
its purpose & its impact, willingness to conduct study and their opinion about RWH were
studied. This will help to study the involvement of the public in implementing RWH system.
to decline in ground water level, resulting in water
scarcity in some areas. There are a lot of impacts
associated with falling water levels such as sea water
intrusion, land subsidence, depletion of surface
water, high pumping cost, etc. So, ground water
resources should be managed in such a way that the
recharge is kept at pace with the with drawls through
artificial recharge of rain water. Hence, artificial
recharging of ground water by Rain Water
Harvesting is the solution to improve ground water
potential in order to maintain the sustainable water
resource.
*Sr.lecturer, Velammal Engg. College, Ambattur, Chennai-66
**Asst. Professor, Centre for Water Resources, College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai – 25
457

RAIN WATER HARVESTING (RWH) IN
CHENNAI
Chennai gets an average of 1300 mm of rainfall
every year. But, this rainfall occurs in short spells
of a high intensity and nearly 65 percent of the
rainfall is lost due to surface runoff to the sea and
evaporation. With the open space area around
houses and buildings being cemented, rain water,
which drains off from terraces and the roofs is not
percolating into the soil. Therefore, precious rainfall
is being squandered, as it drains into sea eventually.
If better methods like roof top rain water harvesting
techniques are adopted, will have proper recharge
and the water will be available throughout the year.
RWH means catch the rain water where it falls.
It is the activity of direct collection of rain water.
Rain water can be stored for direct use or can be
recharged in to the ground water for later use. In
cities, due to shrinking of open spaces, rain water
can be harvested and recharged to the ground water.
So, the Government of Tamil Nadu made RWH
mandatory in all the houses. With the participation
of the public in RWH, roof top rain water can be
collected and stored in the place of generation itself.
This will improve the self-sustainability in fulfilling
the day to day water requirement of the public.
RAIN WATER HARVESTING STUDIES IN
INDIA
Deepak Khare et al (2004) have reviewed the
impact assessment of RWH on ground water quality
at Indore and Dewas, India. The impact assessment
of roof top rainwater harvesting on ground water
was carried out with the help working tube wells to
improve the quality and quantity of ground water.
The roof top rainwater was used to put into the
ground using sand filter as pretreatment system. This
lead to a reduction in the concentration of pollutants
in ground water which indicated the effectiveness
of increased recharge of aquifer by roof top rain
water. He observes that in certain areas, the amount
of total and faecal coliform were observed high in
harvested tube well water than normal tube well
water. The reason of this increase was poor
cleanliness of roof top and poor efficiency of filter
for bacterial removal. The author concludes that
quality mounting of rainwater harvesting is an
essential prerequisite before using it for ground
water recharge.
458
Venkateswara Rao (1996) in his article has
reviewed the importance of artificial recharge of
rainfall water for Hyderabad city water supply.
Rainfall water from the roof tops of the buildings
recharged through specially designed recharge pits
in order to augment the ground water resource in
the city. This water meets almost 80% of domestic
water requirements, storm run off from the public
places like roads, parks, play grounds etc., is
recharged through naturally existing tank within the
city by not allowing municipal sewage and industrial
effluents in these tanks. He finally suggests that,
wherever natural tanks are not existing, community
recharge pits are to be constructed at hydro
geologically suitable location.
Sharma and Jain (1997) describe the ground
water recharge through roof top rain water
harvesting in urban habitation. In Nagpur city an
experiment was conducted where 80,000 litres of
water collected from the roof top of 100 m2 area
was recharged at the expense of Rs.1500/-. The rise
in water level up to one meter was recorded in the
recharge well and adjusting dug wells. The quality
of ground water was also improved as nitrate
concentrations got diluted considerably to desirable
limit. They conclude that such a practice, if
replicated on a large scale can bring out sustainable
augmentation to ground water reservoir.
Sekar Raghavan (2004) in his paper deals with
survey on constructions of roof top RWH structures
at Gandhi Nagar. He analyzed the RWH system
based on completeness viz., roof top and open space
RWH, apportioning of roof water, design of
structures and maintenance of RWH system. Finally
he concludes that 15% of the systems were very
good, 35% were good, 30% were satisfactory and
20 % were bad.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN RWH
Indira Khurana and Suresh Babu explained the
experiences in community based water harvesting.
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had
been promoting the concept of rain water harvesting
doing research on community based water
harvesting. Some of the case studies from Alwar
and Laoriya in Rajasthan, Ralegaon
Siddhi,Darewadi and Hivare Bazar in
Maharastra,Raj-Samadiyala in Gujarat and Jhabua
in Madhya Pradesh are discussed in their article. In

these villages, the people themselves are managing
their water resources and have set an example for
the rest of the country.
Gurunathan and Karuppusamy made an
attempt to share DHAN Foundation’s experience
in one of the water starved districts,
Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu State, about the
people participatory oorani development and
management in people’s drinking water for survival.
The authors confidently argue that deepening or
construction of oorani in Ramanathapuram district
is the simple and very effective RWH method, which
can cater the drinking water needs of the people
throughout the year even during the scarce situation.
In Chennai, the RWH was initiated by Chennai
Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board
(CMWSSB) and Tamil Nadu Water Supply and
Drainage Board (TWAD).
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
RWH is the important task to be done in war
foot urgency in order to augment the degrading
ground water in terms of quantity and quality. This
RWH should be done from the topmost level to
lowermost level viz Government to individual. To
increase the use of RWH system, the knowledge
about it with the public must be analyzed. For this,
the Questionnaire survey is the best methodology.
It will give both qualitative and quantitative
information from public. An attempt is made to
study the public awareness in RWH in Padmavathi
Nagar of Chennai city with the help of
Questionnaire. From the results obtained, any
improvement activity can be decided and
implemented in RWH with the help of public
participation.
This paper focuses on Public awareness in
RWH in Padmavathi Nagar, Chennai. Padmavathi
Nagar is located in between Vadapalani and
Virugampakkam, having a plot area of 16,556 m 2
and roof area of 8,584 m 2 approximately. The lay
out map is shown in Figure 1. It has 69 plots out of
which 59 were constructed with buildings. In that,
10 are apartments containing an average of 10 flats.
The soil condition of this area is clayey in nature
up to 5 feet and after that it is sandy in nature. The
average depth of water table from ground level is
8.5 m. The water colour is yellow. In this area, all
the houses have only roof top RWH systems. Most
459
of the RWH systems are connected to open wells
through filters. Awareness was created among the
residents of Padmavathi Nagar on one to one basis
on the need for efficient RWH structures.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Slesinger and Stephenson in the Encyclopedia
define research “as the manipulation of things,
concepts of symbols for the purpose of generalizing
to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that
knowledge aids in construction of theory or in the
practice of an art”. Research methodology is a way
to systematically solve the research problem.
Research design is a basic plan that guides the data
collection and analysis of a research project. “A
Research Design is the arrangement of conditions
for collection and analysis of data in a manner that
aims to combine relevance to the research purpose
with economy in procedure.” This research falls
under the category of descriptive research of
conclusive nature.
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
Descriptive research studies are those studies,
which are concerned with describing the
characteristics of a particular individual or of a
group. Descriptive Research is characterised by a
carefully planned and structured research design.
Poate and Daplyn explained the questionnaire
design, which consists of six principles.
i) Content: include the minimum number of
topics to meet the objectives;
ii) Time for the interview must be kept reasonable;
iii) The question should be easy to use as an
interview guide for the enumerator and as an
instrument for recording answers;
iv) It should be self contained;
v) Coding for analysis should be done directly
on the form; and
vi) Smart presentation, careful thought should be
given to the quality of the paper, clarity of printing
& presentation and the spaces provided for
recording answers. They also explained about the
coding system in the text book.
QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY
To know about the public awareness in RWH
system, a nondisquised structured questionnaire was
prepared both in English and Tamil. The

questionnaire contains three major parts. The first
contains general information regarding the residents
personal details, No of persons in the family, area
of the premises, soil details, awareness about RWH
system and their willingness towards this survey.
The second part contains water resources
engineering which has water availability, water
usage, quality of water and the sufficiency of the
available water at their premises. The third part
contains the details of the RWH systems like type
of the system, features and their opinion about the
RWH systems.
The Questionnaire survey was conducted at
Padmavathi Nagar. It was conducted in 38 houses
out of which 23 residents accepted for taking water
levels in every fortnight for conducting impact study.
To derive the information, coding sheet was
prepared and it was analysed.
FINDINGS
Awareness
The residents were asked whether they are
aware of RWH and its purpose. All respondents
reported that they are aware of RWH and its purpose.
With this response, certainly the purpose of
implementing RWH will be achieved. Then
awareness regarding all the structures like sump,
source well, recharge well, percolation pit and
recharge well cum bore pit were enquired. All
respondents were aware of structures like sump &
source well.
The awareness was low for structures like
Percolation pit & Recharge well cum Bore pit.
Percentage of awareness about RWH structures in
Padmavathi Nagar is presented in Table 1 and the
graph is shown in Figure 2.
All respondents were aware of structures like
sump & source well.
The awareness was low for structures like
Percolation pit & Recharge well cum Bore pit.
People may be educated by the different soil
conditions and their suitability of different types of
RWH structures in order to improve the efficiency.
They were also asked whether they are aware of
impact of RWH. All respondents are aware of impact
of RWH. They were reported that RWH will
Table 1 : Percentage of awareness about RWH Structures in Padmavathi Nagar
Awarness in %
No. Structure Awareness
Percentage
1 Sump 36 100
2 Source well (Open well/bore well) 36 100
3 Recharge well 35 97.22
4 Percolation pit 25 69.44
5 Recharge well cum Bore pit 20 55.55
100
80
60
40
20
0
Sum p Source well Recharge w ell Percolation pit Recharge w ell cum Bore pit
Figure. 2 Percentage of awareness about RWH Structures in Padmavathi Nagar
460

improve the quantity and the quality of the ground
water.
Willingness
The respondents were asked to express their
willingness for the RWH impact study to be
conducted in their houses. The percentage of
willingness to conduct RWH Study is shown in
Table 2 and the graph is shown in Figure 3.
Table 2 : Percentage of Willingness to Conduct
Study in Padmavathi Nagar
No. Willingness No. of
People
Percentage
1 To conduct study 21 58.33
2 Not to conduct study 15 41.66
41.66 To conduct study
58.33
Not to conduct study
Figure 3 : Percentage of Willingness to Conduct
Study in Padmavathi Nagar
Around 58 % of the respondents expressed
their willingness to conduct a study in RWH while
others did not give their consent. They are also asked
about their interest to improve the existing design
through advice from Centre for Water Resources,
Anna University. About 62 % of the respondents
are interested to improve their existing design, while
rest of them expressed their inability to afford for
the modification.
Implemented in %
100
80
60
40
20
0
RWH Implementation
The Respondents are also asked about the cost
of implementation, time of implementation, designer
details and the type of the RWH structures. Only
53% of the respondents are implemented during the
year 2003, rest of them implemented before 2003.
They have spent Rs. 2000 to 4000 on an average.
About 62% of the RWH structures are designed and
constructed by the local plumbers and all of them
have done only roof top RWH. The details of
implemented RWH structures in roof top harvesting
are shown in Table 3 and the graph is shown in
Figure 4.
Table 3. Type of RWH structures in Padmavathi Nagar
No. Type No. of
houses
Percentage
1 Source well
(Open well/ bore well) 31 86.11
2 Recharge well 0 0
3 Percolation pit 5 13.88
4 Recharge well cum
Bore pit
0 0
Most of the respondents reported that they had
implemented RWH using the open well through
filter while few had resorted to percolation pit. RWH
system like recharge well, recharge cum bore pit
were not implemented. RWH through open well is
common because the top soil is clayey in nature
and if any other structure would be effective only if
implemented at high depth.
Source w ell( Open w ell/ bore w ell) Recharge w ell Percolation pit Recharge w ell cum Bore pit
Figure 4 : Type of RWH structures in Padmavathi Nagar
461

Filter details
Recharge of Source Well through filter : 90%
Recharge of Source Well without filter : 10%
Average Filter depth : 3 ft
Type of filter : Sand and Pebble are mostly used
Location of filter : Near to storage structure
Almost 90% of the respondents used sand & a
pebble filters before the source well. Filter was
located near to storage structure. 10% had not used
filter before the source well. Most of the respondents
felt that filters are needed because open well water
was used by them.
Opinion in %
100
80
60
40
20
0
Maintenance
The respondents are also asked about the
method of maintenance and the frequency of
maintenance of the RWH structures. Only 70% of
them are maintaining their RWH structures by
cleaning and desilting once in a year.
OPINION OF THE PUBLIC
To know the opinion of the public about the
RWH structures, four questions are asked to the
public and their views are represented in the
following graphs. The opinion of the public for the
question “RWH will improve ground water level?”
is shown in the following Figure 5.
Strongly agree Agree Neither Agree nor Dis agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
The opinion of the public for the question “An improper structure will affect the
efficacy of RWH?” is shown in the following Figure 6.
Opinion in %
100
80
60
40
20
0
Strongly agree Agree Neither Agree nor Dis agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
The opinion of the public for the question “RWH is the best method to solve water
crisis?” is shown in the following Figure 7
Opinion in %
100
80
60
40
20
0
Strongly agree Agree Neither Agree nor Dis agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
462

The opinion of the public for the question “RWH will improve the quality of water?” is shown in the
following Figure 8.
Opinion in %
100
80
60
40
20
0
Strongly agree Agree Neither Agree nor Dis agree Disagre e Strongly Disagree
CONCLUSION
An attempt is made to study the
public awareness in RWH in
Padmavathi Nagar of Chennai City.
This study shows that the people are
100% aware of RWH, its purpose and
its impact. Public involvement in RWH
implementation is also good. People
feel that RWH will improve the ground
water quantity and quality. Further
studies can be made to check the
efficacy of implemented RWH in
terms of improving both quantity and
quality of ground water.
REFERENCES
• Agarwal, A., Narain, S and Khurana, I.
“Making Water Everybody’s Business-
Practice and Policy of water harvesting”,
Centre for science and Environment, New
Delhi.
• Poate, C.D and Daplyn, P.F, “Data for
Agrarian Development”, Cambridge
University Press,Edition, 1993.
• Indira Khurana and Suresh Babu,
S.V.(2001), “Experiences in Community
based Water Harvesting”, National
Workshop on Water Resources and Water
Quality Management for Sustainable
Drinking Water Supply, pp.1- 7.
• Gurunathan, A., and Karuppusamy,
N.(2001), “Water for All - Making a reality”,
National Workshop on Water Resources
Fig. 1 : Layout map of Padmavathi Nagar, Virugambakkam
and Water Quality Management for Sustainable Drinking Water Supply, pp.v5-v11.
• “Manual on Rain Water Harvesting”, (2001), Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board.
• “Manual on Rain Water Harvesting in Urban Areas”, Rain Centre, Akash Ganga Trust, Chennai.
� � �
463

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
82. Modern Water – Energetic Resources Use Problems
and Perspectives of Tajikistan on Conditions
of Global Non-Stability Climate
*Nurmahmad Shermatov *Inom Normatov *Georgy Petrov
The beginning of irrigated farming in Central Asia
belongs to sixth – seventh century b. c. Since that
time and up to now its role constantly grew, the area
of irrigated lands increased and the methods
improved. To the beginning of 20 th century about
3,5 mln. ha was irrigated in region. Particularly the
intensive development of irrigation in region began
in period of USSR existence (mainly from, 60-s up
to 90-s). Occurring in this time interference on
nature and its achievement could be named as
unique in world practice in such experiments. In
the result to 90-s the total area of irrigated lands in
region increased to 8,8 mln. ha.
The same abrupt drawing in soviet time was
also observed in hydropower. As a matter of fact
beginning from the 30-s of XX century in the region
the perfectly new base branch – hydropower was
founded. The total fixed capacity of all power
stations in region reached to the middle of 90-s –
37,8 mln. kWt.
Unfortunately all these impressive results also
led to negative consequences. Intensity of ecological
balance breach processes in region sharply
increased, particularly hard it showed itself in zone
of Aral Sea, the salting of lands and their becoming
deserted increased, the quality of water became
worse practically in all sources. With it already to
70-s the water resources of Syrdarya river basin
proved quite fully to be exhausted. Practically all
these turn into the global ecological problem of
region and according to Aral Sea – to ecological
catastrophe. The rapid growth of population
negatively influenced upon it.
In integrated view anthropogenesis influence of
people in nature shows itself on change of climate.
The conception of “Climate” includes aggregate of
physical and geographical processes happening in
atmosphere at their interaction with surrounds.
Climate is the main factor from the condition of
which depends to existence of all olives on the Earth.
The Earth itself and its components form under the
operation of climate change.
Generalized parameters of climate change from
the hydropower point of view are the temperature
and almond of precipitation.
In the article the results of researches on
vulnerability of hydropower of Tajikistan from
climate changes the possible consequences of it and
necessary measures on decreasing such influences
as on hydropower itself so on surrounds as a whole
are presented.
Vulnerability on its definition is the opportunity
to get negative consequences at influence of some
factors. There are two sides at consideration of
vulnerability problem – objects, which are under
influence and influenced factors themselves.
First we consider objects of influence. In our
case it is hydropower. But the common conception
itself does not tell anything concrete, so as energetic
can be very different. There are important its type,
technical state, location, conditions of exploitation
etc.
Peculiarity of modern energetic of Tajikistan is
its quite full orientation on hydropower resources.
If the share of power stations on common structure
of capacity and working out energy makes up about
9% in average in the world, so in Tajikistan it equal
to 92% now on capacity and more 95% on
production.
The analysis made above convince shows that
*Institute of Water Problems, Hydropower and Ecology Academy of Sciences Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe,
Tajikistan
464

in fact the base of energy in Tajikistan both now and
in visible perspective will be hydropower. More that
it is quite probable that on Tajik hydro – resources
the neighboring countries will orientate in future. And
apparently this export potential will be already in next
future claimed in region. Already now the volume of
hydropower export – import of Tajikistan makes up
3,5 – 5,0 bln. kWt. h./year.
Even with account of coal, the total found out
stocks of mineral fuel in region, on which based the
energetic of all other republics beside Tajikistan are
rather restricted – in general about 8,45 bln. t.
specific fuel (s. f.) including in Tajikistan – 0,5 bln.
t. s. f. Therefore at the level of power resources
consumption, proper in 1990 to 2,6 t. s. f./year pro
person and restrained growing of population number
providing of region with mineral fuel equals to 60
years. Taking into account expected economical
growth and also that all given estimation ware done
15-20 year ago; in fact this term can reduce to 30
and less years.
Thus, even in average all regions are provided
with mineral fuel only in tern almost comparable
with term of building large hydro unit type of
Nurek’s. What about Tajikistan so for it even
theoretically the stocks of or necessary needs of the
state?
Tajikistan owns very insignificant stocks of oil
and gas as absolute size so in comparison with
another republic of Central Asia. The stocks of coal
in republic are quite significant, but they are located
mainly in small not necessary areas for building
large thermo stations and transportation network is
not developed.
Besides, the use of coal requires the large
outstripped expenses for exploring and organizing
of fields. All these prove very restricted
opportunities of industrial use of coal.
Less possibilities of industrial use of non –
traditional renewable sources of energy are in
Tajikistan.
Wind – power is quite expensive, the small in
capacity wind – installations require estrangement
of large areas (about 100 m 2 for capacity of 1 kWt),
and the large installations emerge serious ecological
problems. Besides, all of them are very complex in
exploitation. In result of it even in the countries
where it initially got spreading, interest to wind –
power decreased gradually.
465
Tajikistan is located in more favorable zone in relation
to solar energy, between 37 th and 41 st degrees of
northern latitude and fully comes into so called, world
solar belt (45 0 n. l. – 45 0 s. l.). Theoretically at 100
% use of solar energy, from 1 m 2 area about 1700
kWt. h./year can be obtained. That is essentially
more than it is used in everyday life pro person.
But technology of direct convert energy into
electrical current is nowadays still very difficult and
expensive. Therefore even in high developed
industrial countries it is used on too districted scales.
Thus, in Tajikistan now to consider solar energy as
reliable source for receiving energy in industrial
scale is not real. Its use possible and expedient only
for obtaining low – potential thermo – energy which
use in everyday life.
Atomic energy on purely technical plan could
have in Central Asian and in Tajikistan good
perspective, but really in next future its development
is problematical. First of all it is connected with
high schismatic of region and high cost, their energy
significantly high even energy of thermal stations,
holing to say about hydraulic. And finally the
building of atomic station in any republic, all the
more so in Tajikistan requires agreements with
neighboring countries, not only with the closes, but
also with the fares that in nowadays condition it is
hardly possible.
Even less perspectives of industrial use of bio
– energy in Tajikistan.
Tajikistan possesses large, simply unique stocks
of hydropower resources. The republic is in the
eighth place in the world with its total stock – 527
bln.
kWt. h. after China, Russia, USA, Brazil, Zaire,
India and Canada. What about specific showers, so
on hydropower potential per capita (87,8 th. kWt.
h./year/person) it is in the first – second place and
with potential stock of hydropower per one square
kilometer of territory (3682,7 th. kWt. h./year/km 2 )
the first place in the world much for outstripping
the followings after it countries.
Thus not only the republic itself but all regions
as a whole will e forced increasingly to orientate on
hydropower of Tajikistan in visible perspective.
It is necessary to mention that such structure of
hydropower based on hydropower resources besides
all others it is more economical effective.
It is determined by following:

• hydropower does not have in structure of its
exploitation expenses fuel
making up in our conditions with account of
transport even now equal to about 2 cent/kWt. h.
Therefore the cost price of hydropower production
equals to only 0,1cent/kWt. h. when on thermal
stations 2,1 – 2,5 cent/kWt. h.;
• the term of hydropower station constructions
service, such as dam, water
overflows, HPS building are essentially more than
TPS constructions;
• specific number of exploitation personal on
HPS also twice – three time
more than in TPS.
For that it is necessary to take into account the
following factors :
Hydropower resources of Tajikistan are used
now on only about 5%. Therefore there is not
absolutely any real danger of their exhausting or
deficit in very for respective and at very
optimistically scenes in development of hydropower
as in republic itself so in all region. It can be said
that practically hydropower resources of Tajikistan
are inexhaustible.
Besides apprehension on intensive melting of
glaziers and sharp on 30% change of their volume
in last quarter of century, apparently is rather
overstatement. We will make a simple account. The
total volume of Tajikistan glaciers ice as know
equals to 456,9 km 3 . At their decreasing on 30%
during 25 years, annual volume of formed after it
water would be equal to :
456,9 × 0,3 : 25 = 5,48 km 3
All this water might river flow, formed in
territory of republic, increasing it in this period on
average about 10%. This is quite serious addition
and it can not be mentioned. But in fact water –
platy off all rivers of Tajikistan for last 25 years has
been on norm limits.
Any hydropower and Tajik’s also in relation to
this is not exception, first forms with per pose of
regulation river flow leveling its natural and
occasional vibrations: in slit of days, season, year
and many years periods. It is in other way we can
say that one of the main conditions at energetic
assimilation of hydro-resources is decreasing
vulnerability of all objects in relation to
changeability of river flow parameters that in its turn,
466
of course, are determined by climatic factors.
As an example it can be brought the fact, that all
constructions of hydropower are planned on expense
of water many times increasing their average
meaning. Particularly flood expenses with repeating
once in thousand years for normal and once in ten
thousand years for extreme conditions of
exploitation are takes as account for objects of
higher class of capital to which belongs, for
example, Nurek’s HPS. The large stocks are founded
also in constructive elements of buildings – land,
concrete and metal.
Hydropower has very large stocks in relation
to capacity of their stations and aggregates. For
example, the number of hours on using fixed
capacity of Tajikistan’s power-system equals 3401
hours/year at total number of hours 8760 annual, so
the stock is more than 2,5 times.
At this guaranteed, that is minimum capacity,
on which the whole people’s economy expects, is
also twice – three time less than fixed.
At summary all objects of hydropower differ
with very high reliability on connation to all
influencing factors, including climatic.
It has been shown above that hydropower differs
with high reliability and very small vulnerability
on relation to main climatic factors – expenses of
waters on rivers. But all these at first belong to
safeness, protection from possible accident.
What about exploitation showers (electric,
power production, its distribution on seasons,
regimes of work etc.), here hydropower of Tajikistan
vice versa is very sensitive to climate changes,
displaying – in form of river flow’s water regime. It
is well shown by two last years of 1999 and 2000
when because of low water level in republic a sharp
deficit of electric power was observed.
Such situation is not expected. It connects with
the fact that formation of Tajikistan’s hydropower
does not yet finish. It is not able to realize many
year regulation of flow with its parameters. For this
it is not enough the total capacity of reservoirs.
Summary volume of all reservoirs in Tajikistan
makes up only 14,4 km 3 at general river flow,
forming in republic of 61,8 km 3 and flowing about
80 km 3 . For many year regulations volume of
reservoirs should be as minimum equal to half of
this size, it is 30 – 40 km 2 .And has hydropower of
republic has the such task. For its decision in the

end of 80’s building of Roghun’s HPS was started
with volume of reservoir more than 13 km 3 and a
number of other HPS with reservoirs.
Arising now in the world ideas practically
synonymously value possible in perspective changes
of climate. It is connected with degradation of
glaciers, drying up of Aral Sea and forming of salt
winds, spreading right up to Pamir’s mountains
cutting off woods, erosion of river banks etc. In this
case the valuation hesitates from moderate –
pessimistic up to apocalyptic.
Unfortunately all these are weakly confirmed
by actual materials. The systematical observations
on glaciers in republic are not carried out since 1986
yet and as it is shown above the point of view about
their sharp restriction are not based enough. There
is not any data on salt wind. The connection of
another analogical factor with climate is not
unambiguous.
change of temperature, 0 С
scenario 1
scenario 3
1
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
In these conditions it is necessary use of many
– factor mathematical models for obtaining
objective and reliable valuation of climate changes.
We have for models scenarios of climate change
now developed by west specialists: 1. CCC – EQ;
2. UK – TR; 3. GFDL – model of geophysical hydro
dynamic laboratory of USA; 4. Had CM2 – model
of United Kingdom.
All these are based on accounting of emission
influence of green gases and gives valuation of
climate change on main parameters – temperature
of surrounds and atmosphere precipitation to the
end of 50 – year’s period. Their very big difference
from each other can be noted.
In general view matrix of climate change on all
four scenarios as a whole for republic, but for
difference periods of year is sown in table 1 and
fig. 1.
Matrixes have analogical view for other zones of
Table 1. Matrix of climate change for different scenarios
Scenario Change of temperatures Change of precipitation
year winter summer year winter summer
1 2,6 3,0 2,3 -4,0 1,0 -8,9
2 2,5 2,5 2,5 4,8 2,1 7,6
3 2,0 1,9 2,1 -1,9 2,4 -6,3
4 1,9 1,8 1,9 17,1 16,0 18,2
scenario 2
0
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
change of quantity raining, mm/year
Fig. 1 : Diapason of the climate changes on various scenarios
467
scenario 4

Tajikistan. It can be mentioned that sparseness of
parameters for various scenarios, especially on
relation to temperature is very large and doesn’t let
to make unambiguous valuation. As a matter of fact
these scenarios help too less on prognosis of climate
change, since preliminary choice some of them are
required without enough criteria for it. This
conclusion by the way, fully is affirmed by
Convention Framework of UNO on climate change
in 1992, in which are marked numerous indefinites
of climate change prognoses, particularly in relation
to their terms, scales and regional features.
In these conditions for valuation real possibilities
of climate changes connected with technogen’s
activity of people and the most essential their
influence on such hydrological characteristics of river
flow as common water – plenty and flood expenses
being the main factors determining vulnerability of
hydropower in relation to climate, we consider passed
yet period of 1960 – 1990. By the way such analysis
can help and also on choice of more suitable scenario
of climate change, considered in previous section.
This period is characterized by sharp, dynamic
development economics of Tajikistan, the main
statistics of which are given in table 2.
It is seen, that gross product of industry
increased in this period more then five times
Table 2. Common index of economy development of Republic of Tajikistan
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1989
Production of energy, mln. kWt’”h 125 143 314 459 1351 14746 13340
Production of oil, th. t 17 47 181 391 387 190
Production of gas, mln. m3 52 388 222 303 194
Production of coal, th. t 854 904 887 832 516 515
Population, th. man 2032 2468,8 2899,6 3391,8 3900,9 4499,3 5108,6
change of temperaure, o C
change of raining, mm
1,00
0,50
0,00
-0,50
-1,00
-1,50
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990
yeas
Fig. 2. Factual change of temperature for the Republic of Tajikistan as a whole.
250
200
150
100
50
0
-50
-100
-150
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990
years
Fig. 3. Factual change of precipitation (from average meaning for period)
468

consumption of oil on 11 times more, gas – about
four times, hydropower – more than 100 times. Two
and a half times the population number of republic
increased. Moreover approximately such growth of
all these statistics was observed also in region
around and in the world.
Now the rates of economics growth of Tajikistan
and Central Asia Region essentially have lowered.
Therefore from the point of view of technogen’s
influence on climate period of 1960 - 1990 is more
introductive.
Unfortunately, the reality foes not confer evenly
for Tajikistan presence of large influence of
technogen’s activity of people on climate. In the
fig.2,3 are given actual data on average – annual
meanings change of air temperature and atmosphere
Waterness, shares, unit
1,5
1,4
1,3
1,2
1,1
1
0,9
0,8
0,7
change of charg, m 3 /second.
1961
1000
800
600
400
200
1963
0
-200
-400
-600
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973
1975
years
Fig. 4 : Waterness of rivers of Tajikistan
precipitations.
It can be noted that in average for all considered
period these climatic statistics remained practically
unchangeable. It tells that it is necessary to refer
with big care to propose above scenarists of climate
changes evenly for period in several decades.
This conclusion belongs to the all period of
observation (1960 - 1990) in average. At the same
time in separate shorter periods such changes of
climate parameters (precipitations and temperature)
were felt more. They let us to evaluate influence of
climate change (not important by which reasons
happened) on hydrological parameters of river flow,
determining conditions of functioning hydropower.
In given on fig.2, 3 prophets three periods with stable
trends of parameters changes can be divided: 1964
1977
r. Vakhsh Average w aterliness on republic Polinominal (average w aterliness on republic)
-800
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990
Fig. 5 : Factual changes of climatic parameters of Tajikistan (averae of the period)
469
years
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989

– 1972, 1973 – 1982, and 1983 – 1988.
As comments to climate changes, determining
vulnerability of hydropower, as it was mentioned;
we accepted water – plenty of river flow and flood
expenses. Appropriate data are given in fig.4,5.
The analysis of flood expenses in the fig.5 is
made for Vakhsh river, since its relative water –
plenty and water – plenty of all reveres in average
on republic practically identify (fig. 4). The
explanation of this fact can be that Vakhsh river
flowing through all republic from one its border to
another crosses all climatic and high-rise zones.
It can be seen that in these diagrams as
characteristically also three periods are divided:
1964 – 1972, 1973 – 1982, and 1983 – 1988.
For further analysis on the Table 3 is given the
matrix of actual changes of climate and appropriate
comments to it in form of hydrological
characteristics of Vakhsh river. Comparing it with
matrix of climate change scenarios 1 – 4, it can be
mentioned that it covers significantly big range with
rainfall and essentially less with temperature. Thus
by all these essential varieties scenario 4 – model
Had CM2 and then scenario 3 are closer scenarios
for local vibration of climate in Tajikistan and its
fluctuation.
These statistics show that there are enough close
connection between change of river flow and flood
expenses from one side and change of atmosphere
rainfall quantity from another. They are given in
fig.6,7.
According to made analysis increasing of rainfall
quantity increases the common water – plenty of
Table 3 : Matrix of actual climate change and Vakhsh river water regime
Periods Climate change Water regime, m 3 /year
Temperature Precipitation Water full change, Spring floods
change, °C change, mm/year km 3 /year change, m 3 /s
1964-72 -0,2 14,4 0,71 49,7
1973-82 -0,01 -8,37 -0,35 129,2
1,0
1983-88 0,16 28,1 0,91 -38,6
change of waterness of Vakhsh km 3 years
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0,0
-0,2
-0,4
Fig. 6. Dependence of waterness of Vakhsh River due to the rainfall
470
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
change of raining, mm/year

change waterness charge o Vakhsh m 3 /sec
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
-20
-40
-60
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
rivers, but decreases flood expenses. The last is
explained by distribution of water – plenty change
and temperature on year, leading to their more
leveling on seasons. At the right time, such position
in mentioned in scenarios of climate change 1 – 4,
examined above.
In difference of atmosphere rainfall changes,
in relation to actual changes of temperature, any
district connection with hydrological parameters of
rivers is not possible to expose. It is connected with
thing that observed changes of temperature are not
very meaningful, their total range equal 0,36 0 C. But
it does not have particular meaning for us. Since
comments to climate change are for us hydrological
parameters of river flow so more suitable description
of climate change itself naturally is accepted change
of atmosphere precipitation quantity. Connections
between them, as shown above are revealed clear
enough.
We examine now what kind of influence could
have climate changes on hydropower.
It is necessary to mention that hydropower of
Tajikistan really in determined measure is
vulnerable in relation to climatic influences. It is
well show by examples of accidents, happened in
last decades. Of course, the main reason of these
accidents are the hard economical state of energy
system and connected with this large use up of its
channge of raining,mm/year
Fig. 7. Depend of change waterness charge o Vakhsh region from changing raining
471
main founds, but a definite role played also climatic
factors. The lists of such common accidents are
given below:
• In 1993 the up – river building dam of Rogun’s
HPS on Vakhsh river 40 m
the main reason of accident was over – accounted
flood, horded by slides phenomena and mashes.
• In 1994 the Watergate construction of Vanj HPS
was fully destroyed which
was maid up of concrete water – overflow two bay
dam with segment water – gates. The reasons of
accident were high flood and wash – out of
foundation on tail water.
• Beginning from 1990 and up to now Aksu HPS
practically is in permanent
accidental state. All concrete construction of head
water – gate unit and head pool last stability.
Concrete revetment of derivative channel and
happen regular washing out of its sides. The main
reasons of accidents are hard winter climatic
condition, ice marshes and frost swelling of ground.
• In 1992 and in 2002 in result of mighty slides
of Baypazin’s HPS tail water the course of river
partially dammed and the building of HPS was
flooded. Station’s way out of operation was
succeeded to avoid only due to stripping of slides
by explosion including use of military aviation. The
reason of accident was water satiety of landslide

slope due to atmosphere precipitation.
• In 1999 downfalls of Nurek’s HPS foundation
were formed that already during more than 25 years
testing rise of deformation. The reason is carts –
formation and washing out of salt layers by surface
and underground waters.
It can be mentioned that actually all these
accidents in some measure are connected with
climate phenomena clearer with their sharp
vibration. It proves that hydropower is vulnerable,
first of all not to stable changes of climate, but to its
occasional fluctuations.
In purpose of number estimation of hydro –
power vulnerability degree as the first very
approximates the following dependences can be
proposed:
• For estimation of vulnerability directly only
from climatic factors change:
V cl. = P n = 0,9999 10 = 0,999;
P – probability of hydropower construction (objects)
normal work in conditions of stable unchanged
climate with rated characteristics of climatic factors.
For our case P = 0,9999
1
1 − = 0,
9999
10000 ;
n – multiples increasing possibility of rising rated
parameters of climatic factors (as the stables so
occasional). We conditionally accept for our case n
= 10.
• For estimation of vulnerability directly only
from technical condition of
hydropower object (from degree of their way out):
V
tech
T 10
= 1 − = 1−
=
t
25
SERVICE
0,
6;
Where :
T – actual term of exploitation more vulnerable
elements of energy – system – technical equipment
without normative through repairs. In our case T =
10 years.
t service – normative term of technological equipment
service without thorough repairs. For HPS t service =
472
25 years.
• For estimation of energy – system vulnerability
connected with its functional
features, first of all with regimes of work:
W 14,
4 3
r−
s
km
V = = = 0,
23
W 61,
8
;
flow
3
km
Where:
W r-s – total volume of system regulating reservoirs.
W flow – average - annual volume of river flow,
forming on all water – gathering area of republic.
Meaning “V” – factor of vulnerability
nominated and changes for all there cases from 1 –
that corresponds non-practical vulnerability or
absolute degree of adaptation, up to O – that
corresponds absolute vulnerability or zero degree
of adaptation. Execution of estimation confirm made
earlier stated conclusions that hydropower
vulnerability of Tajikistan now is, determined by
its technical descriptions: by insufficient volume of
reservoirs and way out degree, that eguals 0,6 – this
is it approaches to state of neutrality degree (0,5),
when probability of normal work and accident are
equal.
In common case all objects of hydropower
subjected to influence of climatic changes can be
divided on two groups. These are resource base of
hydropower and objects of system itself, its
constructions.
The resource base of Tajikistan power industry,
as shown earlier, now end in really invisible
perspective is hydropower. Here it is necessary to
mention two moments.
First taking into account that now resources of
hydropower are used only not more than 5%, one
can be confident that at any possible changes of
climatic, hydropower will be always able to provide
any development strategy of republic, both in case
of orientation on own consumption and on export.
Second as shown above, not change of absolute
hydropower stocks, but if it is possible to express,
their quality, under which is understood, first of all,
vibration of hydrological parameters of river flow
– many years, seasonal occasional are the most
important for considered problem.
Object of power system itself are characterized
by their parameters and features, the mains of which

are following:
a) Compound of constructions. In power – system
of Tajikistan as the mains, most impotents can be
picked out:
• Dams;
• Reservoirs;
• Water – gate and water outflow constructions;
• Channels and tunnels;
• Power – transfer lines of various tentions and
transformations under–stations.
The dams are the most massive, initiative
constructions. They are the simplest on construction
and naturally insert to natural landscape. But from
another side dams have one of the lowest, is not the
lowest coefficient of stocks from all other
existences. For example, for Nurek’s dam 30m
height the stare of its height (increasing of top core
above maximum level of reservoir) makes up only
3m, that is coefficient of its stock is only 1 %. There
are nowhere such examples in technique. It tells of
very high sensibility of dams, doth the smalls, and
the larges to parameters of flow, first of all to their
prognoses and exploitation level.
Reservoirs – these are the constructions with
constant changing parameters. They are constantly
in working regime – filling. The reform their
sensibility to climate change is first of all sensibility
to prognoses of hydrological parameters and
regimes. Besides, regime of alluviums objects large
meaning to their work, their silting.
From the point of sensibility new to climatic
changes both individual parameters of separate
reservoirs and their summary units have meaning.
Water-gate and water-outflow constructions,
channel and tunnels also as reservoirs are sensitive
to change of calculating hydrological parameters
and prognoses. The change of flow is very important
for them/ Their water – letting in ability may be not
enough at its increasing that either leads to
accidental situation or requires extra water –
outflow. Power – transfer lines and transformator
under – stations are sensitive mainly to second
displays of climatic changes – landslide, avalanche,
downpour and other similar phenomena.
b) Parameters of constructions. The main
parameter of constructions, determining degree of
sensibility to climatic changes is their size. From
the most general reasoning it can be established that
at this case there is reserve dependence between
473
size of construction and subjection of them to danger
from climatic changes. It is aggravated also by worse
quality of building work at construction of smaller
stations and less strict control after them.
c) Quantity of objects. Influence of objects
quantities on vulnerability of them in relation to
climatic change is unsynonymous. It is positive
factor for large hydro – units with reservoirs,
because it provides large possibilities for regulation
of river flow. More quantity of them, on the contrary,
for small hydro – units carry to necessity of use
along with the better also worse areas and as
consequence, lead to large danger of arising cascade
accidents.
d) Technical state of construction is one of the
main parameters determining their sensibility to
climatic changes. It is defined first of all by level of
project and building which up to last time were
enough high and the very main by degree of way
out. Namely way out of construction (as shown
above) now is one of the main dangers.
e) Locating of construction. It is completely
obvious, that degree of objects danger to relation
of any negative sequence influence including
climatic will be different at locating their on
mountainous districts and volleys. In mountains
there are more harsh base conditions and more scope
of all climatic parameters vibration.
In all these cases and similarly for all objects of
power – system of concrete climatic influence,
degree of this influence can be arisen in different
kind, different forms and in different levels. As the
mains six such levels can be assigned:
The first level: Changes of technical states,
connected with inevitable, non – managed factors
that change parameters of constructions. Here for
example, silting of large reservoirs suspended and
drown; by river alluviums belongs to silting, as the
rule, has quite significant amounts, it is impossible
to manage it and necessary simply to take into
account at exploitation, accordingly correcting
regime of reservoirs and HPS work.
The second level: Changes of technical states,
connected with technogene factors and house – hold
conditions. HPS as one of the such kind of factor’s
example economy assimilation of tail water of
Nurek’s can be given in result of which water let in
ability of Vakhsh river course in this area reduced
up to 2000 m 3 /sec. In these conditions letting in

through Nurek’s HPS normal account flood with
expenses of 5400 m 3 /sec inevitably lead to
catastrophic sequences. Another example can be
Kayrakum’s hydro – unit which safety and
prediction of flowing regime to it existent raised
due to building on upper flow of river Narin –
Sirdarya’s cascade of HPS.
The 3 – rd level: Changes of technical states,
connected with changes of natural – climatic
conditions. Here it is necessary to put as well as
climate change, change of geological conditions.
Besides changes of natural – climatic condition con
be connected with their irregular estimation or under
– estimation of some factors on stage of project. As
examples underestimation of cars – rising in toil
water of Nurek’s HPS and modern processes of
course formation on GBAO rivers con be given.
The 4 – th level: Changes of technical states,
connected with change of planning and exploitation
norms of hydro – technical constructions. Such
changes are quite normal and determined by
development of science and techniques and also
world experience, gained in process of exploitation
existent hydro – technical constructions. Here, first
of all it is necessary to mention change of common
approach to letting in flood trough constructions.
With standards act at USSR for this purpose had
been taken into account all water – outlets, including
HPS turbines. Now, according to world standards
there are only special water – outflows. It frequently
lead to necessity of full reconstruction hydro – units
and building in them new extra water – outflows.
Now the standards of endurance and dam’s firmness
accounts, including with taking into account seismic
influence, are changed.
The 5 – th level: Changes of technical states,
connected with natural way out of constructions,
shock – absorption main founds. These factors are
well known and detail developed norms of their
account exist. In our case the special interest has
not total way out itself, determining by term of
construction’s service, that good enough is
conditional, but that part of it which can be
liquidated at expense of it major repairs . the
experience shows that real form of constructions
service can be extended due to well – timed repairs.
In power – system of Tajikistan the normal repairs
are not realized during the last 10 year already. Of
course the main reason of it is the hard economical
� � �
474
statement of water – power complexes.
The 6 – th level: Changes of technical states,
connected with accidental situations. It is undoable
the most dangerous level,. But unfortunately, it is
not possible to avoid it now. It is shown particularly
by all given above examples of accidents. No one
of them is liquidated finally and all these
construction are continued to exploration under the
danger of further development of accidental
situation.
First of all it is connected with instrumental and
natural observation after the constructions. The
system of KNA establishing at building of hydro –
units is not finished, up to now in mend cases
automatized assembly and even initial processing
of statistics are lacking.
The serious technical analyses of them are not
absolutely realized, since such functions were
entrusted on specialized scientific and planning
institutions of other GIS republics, connection with
them has broken now. For adaptation of Tajikistan’s
power – industry to sequences of climate changes
is necessary for account all these levels of influence.
In this case the determining role belongs to
management and organizing forms.
In this connection it is very important the
question of carried out now in power – industry
reforms, connected with transition to marked
economies. Planned according to approvable by
President of Republic of Tajikistan E. Sh. Rahmonov
joint – stock and privatizing program of power –
industry objects increases its competition ability and
efficiency. But at this case it is important not to lose
manageability and as consequence reliability of
functioning.
For this purpose in October 2000 the Ministry
of power – industry was formed in Tajikistan. Its
main objectives are to carry out state policy in area
of power – industry control and management after
all enterprises, interpedently from their form of
property. The low on power – industry was passed
in republic, the low on safety of hydro – technical
construction is in stage of preparation. There are
introduced the system of activity licensing in power
– industry and experting of all projects. The question
of introducing for enterprises declaration on safety
is on agenda.

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
83. Water Harvesting and Management for Increasing Agricultural
Production and Household Water Supply in Bangladesh
*Dr. Md. Abdul Ghani
ABSTRACT
Bangladesh receives annually about 795,000 cubic meter of water through surface
flow and about 2 meter (200 cm) from rainfall, which will bring the entire country under
about 7.5 meter water depth if there was no flow to the Bay of Bengal. Therefore, Bangladesh
does not need to be concerned for water management as total annual available water may
be enough for year-round use. However, rainfall distribution pattern and onrush of surface
water over the year, makes a complex water environment in the country and causes flooding
almost every year sometime during June to September. During this period of the year, the
country receives over 90% of surface flow and rainfall thereby affects assured harvest of
most crops during October to April without irrigation and due to flooding during June to
September. Therefore, the country is to deal with too much and too little water environments
during certain time of the year and thereby faces challenges for water management for
sustainable agricultural production, safety of infrastructures and safe water for household
purposes. In this paper, water harvesting has been selected in place of rainwater harvesting
intentionally as under Bangladesh context it is not possible to separate water volumes
received from these two sources during June to September when the country receives about
90% of total annual water. Conservation and effective use of this huge water volume is very
important for sustainable agricultural development and reliable safe drinking water supply
over reaming period of the year.
Through conjunctive use of ground and surface water, about 76% of the cultivable
area can be irrigated of which about 60% are presently under irrigation. About 75% of the
irrigated area use groundwater since the country does not have full control over surface
water flow. Unfortunately, in recent years, water quality during the dry season is deteriorated
due to arsenic contamination of groundwater and deserves immediate action for its
mitigation. Rainfall distribution and surface water availability pattern, salinity in coastal
area and arsenic contamination during dry months have become a limiting factor for supply
of good quality water for drinking purpose in Bangladesh. With possible low cost treatment/
purification this can be solved specially during the rainy season (May to October).
Conservation of excess water received during rainy season and effective use of rain water
and infrastructure developed so far can play important role in improving water availability
in dry season if comprehensive use of the facilities are ensured. Improved management at
local and national levels through government and social interventions can solve the problem
and can ensure clean water for all.
In coastal area, increased salinity during the dry months (February to May) causes
problem in availability of good quality water both for human consumption and for
*Executive Director, Center for Research and Development, Eastern University and Life Fellow, Institution of
Engineers Bangladesh (IEB), House 15/2, Road 3, Dhanmondi, Dhaka 1205, Bangladesh. Telephone: (88 02)
9677523 & 8621419 Ext.301, Residence Phone (88 02) 9113832, Fax: (88 02) 9675981, E-mail:
maghani@bdonline.com and maghani@easternuni.edu.bd
475

agricultural use. Water conservation through storage of excess rainwater during the
monsoon and surface flow in the existing low areas, canals and smaller rivers is possible.
Cultivation of irrigated second crop with the stored water during the winter/dry season
can change fate of the coastal people. Excavation of ponds and re-excavation of existing
canals will increase storage capacity for subsequent use of water for irrigating the second
crop. New ponds and re-excavated canals can also be used for fish cultivation. Fish
cultivation alone in the ponds and re-excavated canals will be cost effective.
Rainfall contributes a significant portion of water requirements for most crops in
Bangladesh, even in most of the irrigation projects especially during the monsoon. But
rainfall is unpredictable and sometimes uncontrollable at the field level beyond certain
amount in a day or a week. Often excess rainfall drains out of the command area of the
irrigation systems or crop fields. Rainfall can be more beneficially utilized if storage or
pump suspension can adjust irrigation deliveries for maximum use of rainfall. In field
conditions, effectiveness of rainfall is more important than the total amount of rainfall for
a day, week, month and season. Studies conducted in Bangladesh for determination of
effective rainfall since 1970s indicate that about 70 to 95 percent of total rainfall is effective
during Aman ((Second Kharif) season. Effective rainfall in these studies was determined
by using 10 to 15 cm levee heights and semi-empirical method suggested by Dastane with
3-day grouping for loamy soils. Study conducted in a pump cum gravity irrigation system
indicates that pump operation can be suspended for 40 to 45 days during rainy season
without any yield reduction, which will reduce operation cost and will encourage and
influence farmers in timely planting of rice (Aman).
An understanding of the characteristics of rainfall in relation to crop growth stages
and soil condition are required for successful crop planning and for maximum utilization
of rainwater. The onset of monsoon determines planting time and subsequent distribution
of rainfall influences growth and development of crop. Rainwater management strategies
should be considered depending on need and suitability in the wet season. Rainwater
harvesting for stabilizing T. Aman production should get top priority in Bangladesh. In
plain land, it could be achieved by means of a suitable ditch constructed at one corner of a
plot. In hilly and Barind areas, the ditch can be located at a suitable place of the catchments.
Studies conducted with 5m x 5m x 2m trapezoidal ditch found to be appropriate for storing
rainwater enough for one supplemental irrigation of about 6cm depth. It has also been
observed that a ditch size of 5% (2m deep) of the rice plot is required to conserve enough
rainwater for sustaining rice productivity in wet season in Bangladesh. Benefit-cost (B-C)
ratio of ditch irrigations were calculated for five years during early 1980s and the highest
B-C ratio of 6.8 were found for the study in 1983. Five years average B-C ratio of 2.4
indicates that permanent ditch is profitable even if there is drought once in every five year
cycle. Fish cultivation in the ditch will help to increase benefit from the ditch, which will
require cleaning once in every three years. Studies conducted in Bangladesh confirmed
that well managed 15 cm high levees could help to conserve significant amount of rainwater
(91%) which can be beneficially used to obtain a good T. Aman crop if there is short
duration drought.
Rain water and part of surface flow during later part of monsoon can be stored in lowlying
area, canals and ponds for supplemental irrigation of rice crops. There are
opportunities to use pond water for supplemental irrigation to stabilize yield of Aman crop
and for dry season irrigation. Observations have also been made that with one ha of pond
about 10 hectare lands can be brought under supplemental irrigation for rice. The same
pond can also be used for irrigating about 10 hectare of dry season non-rice crops.
Excavation of ponds and re-excavation of existing canals will increase storage capacity
476

for subsequent use of water for irrigating the second crop. New ponds and re-excavated
canals can also be used for fish cultivation (personal communication with fisheries experts).
Fish cultivation alone in the ponds and re-excavated canals will be cost effective.
Rivers especially smaller rivers can be compartmentalized to series of seasonal ponds
during November to May through appropriate water conservation structures like weirs
and rubber dams. Community based fisheries management system can be introduced in the
seasonal ponds following the Common Property Resource Management Procedure of the
country. Fisheries experts confirmed that these seasonal ponds could be brought under
profitable fish cultivation program through stakeholder participation and on an average,
0.5 to 1.0 ton fish can be harvested per hectare of water body. Moreover, water stored in
the seasonal ponds/riverbeds will be a continuous source for groundwater recharge, which
subsequently can be used for irrigation using deep and shallow tubewells without severe
lowering of groundwater table. River water conservation will also contribute to afforestation
program along the riverbanks, irrigation development using low lift pumps for the lands
adjacent to the rivers and availability of drinking water and bathing place for cattle. Success
of this approach in one river may be replicated in other area of the country, which will
contribute to its overall development.
The national development plan should be to maximize utilization of rainfall, surface
and ground water through conjunctive use of these resources. The development strategy
will be to increase production per unit of land, unit of water and unit of time.
INTRODUCTION
Bangladesh is blessed with excellent quality of
ground and surface water for irrigation, which is in
abundance for the year-round use. However,
distribution pattern of surface water availability over
the years makes a complex condition for its
profitable use and causes flooding almost every year
sometime during June to September. The country
receives about 90% of the surface water resources
during June to October through rainfall and river
flows, most of which flows to the Bay of Bengal.
With management alternatives, part of it can be
retained in crop fields (especially rice), rivers, canals
and low areas and can be effectively used for
agricultural (crop and fish production) and nonagricultural
purposes during the lean period,
November to May. Through conjunctive use of
ground and surface water, about 76% of the
cultivable area can be irrigated (MPO 1991 and
WARPO 2000), of which about 60% are presently
under irrigation (MOA 2005). Out of the present
irrigated area of 60%, about 90% is irrigated using
deep tubewells (DTWs), shallow tubewells (STWs),
manually operated and low lift pumps (LLPs) which
are popularly known as minor irrigation in
Bangladesh. Rainfall distribution pattern indicate
that water requirement for most crops be met from
477
rainfall only during May to September, since monthly
rainfall during these months on an average is more
than 200 mm. Therefore, sustainable crop production
can only be expected with rainfall only during these
months and irrigation is essential during other eight
months of the year.
Water conservation and management strategy
of Bangladesh should be based on water availability
conditions and improvement potential of different
regions of the country and integrated management
of flood control, drainage and irrigation (FCDI)
infrastructure. The country may be divided into four
zones depending on water availability, land
capability, subject to annual flooding and
agricultural practices. These are; Northwest, Coastal
area, Central Flood plain and Hilly area. The specific
areas considered under different zones in this paper
are; (i) Northwest which includes area under present
Rajshahi division and greater Kushtia and Jessore
districts, (ii) coastal area, (iii) central flood plain
which includes most part of central flood plain and
remaining area of coastal belt where saline water
inundation is rare, and (iv) hilly area of Chittagong,
Sylhet, Comilla and Chittagong Hill tract.
Development options through integrated land and
water resources of these zones and FCDI
infrastructure are explored and implementation

strategies are suggested in this paper which may
make significant contribution to the overall
agricultural development of the country.
Professional experiences indicate that if crop water
requirements can be met, household water supply
may not be a problem, as agriculture is the major
user of water resources.
METHODOLOGY
Land area especially cultivable area and water
resources, which include rain, surface, and ground
water of the above zones to be carefully estimated.
Land area of each zone should be further estimated
in relation to flooding conditions (Fo to F4 types of
lands). Potential crops for the zones and its specific
localities to be selected reviewing farming system
research data from the research institutes and
extension department. Production maximization
packages to be developed with assistance of the
farmers and extension agents. Government
machinery to provide advisory services for input
supports and market information. No price support
or subsidy is expected from the government but
facilitating roles are expected. Agricultural
production, which includes crop, fishery, forestry
and livestock, can be increased through integrated
use of water and land resources. The strategy should
be to increase production per unit of land, unit of
water and unit of time. In this paper, water
conservation cum water harvesting methods is dealt
with separately for each region as the regions have
unique water environments.
Northwest Region
Northwest region covers the area under present
Rajshahi division and greater Kushtia and Jessore
districts which coincides with full of NW and part
of SW of the Hydrological Regions (Table 1)
suggested by the Water Resources Planning
Organization (WARPO). Most part of this area has
low rainfall but fewer subjects to flood damages.
However, this area which has net cultivable area
(NCA) of about 2.94 Mha, has dependable
groundwater and can be brought under double/triple
cropping with conjunctive use and improved
management of water resources. This is the most
potential area for agricultural development and may
be subdivided into Barind tract, Atrai basin and the
remaining area as NW plain land.
478
Barind tract: The Barind tract is located in the low
rainfall area (about 125 cm /year) of Bangladesh
and has hard red soil. High temperature in the
summer (which goes above 40 degrees Celsius) with
low humidity and rainfall has distinguished Barind
tract of about 1.4 Mha from other parts of the
country. There is very limited source of surface
water and water availability in the dry season is a
major constraint for crop cultivation in the area.
Groundwater is a dependable source of irrigation
in the area and can cover about 60% of the Brind
tract. However, groundwater level goes below
suction limit especially during the dry months
(March to May), therefore, high cost tubewells are
required for providing irrigation. Moreover, part of
the area is showing symptom of arsenic
contamination and will require especial attention
for water management and year-round use of
groundwater. However, surface water conservation
is possible in the rivers, low-lying areas including
beels and ponds. This is also required for other areas
of the country as out of 32 agro-ecological-region
(AER), only 13 have ample surface water for year
round use (UNDP & FAO, 1988)
There are about 32,000 ponds in the Barind
Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA)
project area and about 70,000 ponds in the entire
Barind area (personal communication with BMDA).
These ponds were used for supplemental irrigation
for transplanted Aman ( transplanted paddy grown
during June/July to November) during earlier days.
Most of the ponds are silted and will require reexcavation
for their effective use. The project
management have program of re-excavating all the
ponds. These ponds vary in size and their waterbody
varies from 0.13 to 0.40 ha. These ponds after
re-excavation can be used for accumulating excess
rainwater during the rainy season and can be
subsequently used for supplemental irrigation,
household uses and fish cultivation. Banks and the
adjacent land area around the ponds can be used
for afforestation and vegetable cultivation through
participatory management with local poor people
which will further help in poverty reduction in
addition to water conservation for agricultural and
household uses.
There are about 25 major beels (low lying areas)
in Barind area which retain adequate water over the
year in most years except during the abnormally dry

years. These beels can also be converted to water
reservoirs through modifications and adding water
retention structures. These will also help in
increasing fish cultivation, groundwater recharge,
improved environment and poverty reduction in
addition to water conservation for agricultural and
household uses.
Atrai Basin : The Atrai river basin broadly covers
the Lower Atrai river basin. The major internal rivers
coming into the basin are Atrai-Gur-Gumni
(commonly known as Atrai River) and its tributaries:
Little Jamuna, Tulshi Ganga, Nagar, and Badai on
the left bank and Sib-Barnai and Nandakuja on the
right bank. Fakirni is a link channel between the
Atrai and the Barnai and the Baral is the spill
channel of the Ganges to the Atrai River. Besides,
there are many other smaller channels draining the
isolated basins formed between the fore-going main
regional channels. Atrai, the major channel of the
area, rising from the Himalayan foot hill in India
flows through part of Bangladesh (Panchagar and
Dinajpur districts) and again to India then to the
Chalan Beel area at Mohadevpur in Bangladesh.The
catchment’s area following the second entry of the
Atrai river in Bangladesh is considered Atrai river
basin and is also called Chalan Beel area or Lower
Atrai river basin. The river Atrai is subject to
occasional spillage from the Teesta at times of
exceptional high flood. Gross area of the basin is
about 600,000 hectare (ha). About 14 flood control,
drainage and irrigation (FCDI) projects have been
developed in this area which cover net area of about
500,000 ha. However, these projects are not able to
provide full benefit to the area since those are not
complete and are not inter-linked with each other.
In this paper an attempt has been made to
explore opportunities for potential development of
the Atrai river basin through comprehensive
development of its land and water resources. In the
Atrai river basin, 20 to 90 percent areas are subject
to annual flood, sometime during June to October.
Whereas, the annual average rainfall of the area is
about 125 cm compared to national annual average
of about 200 cm. About 90 percent of the annual
rainfall occurs during June to October, which is the
possible period of floods in the area. River water
starts receding from November and by the end of
February most rivers of the area become unsuitable
479
for navigation and become completely dry during end
of March to May. Therefore, without access to
irrigation, crop production in the area during
November to May is uncertain and crops grown
during June to October may be damaged if flood
control and drainage (FCD) facilities do not function
properly. Therefore, water conservation in the rivers
for the dry season uses are of utmost importance.
Effective flood control during the monsoon/rainy
season will provide opportunities for water
harvesting and agricultural development of the area.
Rivers in the area can be compartmentalized to
series of seasonal ponds during November to May
through appropriate water conservation structures
like weirs and rubber dams. Community based
fisheries management system can be introduced in
the seasonal ponds following the Common Property
Resource management procedure of the country.
Fisheries experts confirmed that these seasonal
ponds could be brought under profitable fish
cultivation program through stakeholder
participation and on an average 0.5 to 1.0 ton fish
can be harvested per hectare of water body.
Moreover, water stored in the seasonal ponds/
riverbeds will be a continuous source for
groundwater recharge, which subsequently can be
used for irrigation using deep and shallow tubewells
without severe lowering of groundwater table. River
water conservation will also contribute to
afforestation program along the riverbanks,
irrigation development using low lift pumps for the
lands adjacent to the rivers and availability of
drinking water and bathing place for cattle. Success
of this approach in the Atrai river basin may be
replicated in other area of the country, which will
contribute to its overall development.
Coastal Area
Coastal area consists of about 2.0 Mha
cultivable area and falls under SW, SC, RE and SE
regions. The entire area is mostly under single crop
(Aman) due to limited sweet water, which is most
often considered suitable for irrigation. The coastal
area can be a potential area for increasing crop
production through better management of land and
water resources. On an average, Bangladesh faces
annual food deficit by about 2 million ton (however,
the situation has improved since 2000). If an
additional crop can be harvested in the coastal area

of 2 Mha with average yield of even 1 ton/ha, the
country may remain self-sufficient in food grain.
With available water resources, its management and
technical knowledge, it is possible to introduce a
second crop in the coastal area, which may produce
more than three ton/ha. Water conservation through
storage of excess rainwater during the monsoon and
surface flow in the existing low areas, canals and
smaller rivers has been proved possible. Proper use
of the stored water for irrigating the second crop
during the winter/dry season, fate of the coastal
people can be changed. Excavation of ponds and
re-excavation of existing canals will increase storage
capacity for subsequent use of water for household
uses and irrigating the second crop. New ponds and
re-excavated canals can also be used for fish
cultivation. Fish cultivation alone in the ponds and
re-excavated canals will be cost effective (Personal
communication with fishery experts). Irrigation
from these additional water bodies during dry season
and supplemental irrigation in the wet season will
provide added benefit. Appropriate methodology for
conjunctive use of water and multiple uses (ricefish
cultivation) in the storage facilities can be
determined through water management related
research. Integrated water management in the polder
area can also contribute significantly in increasing
agricultural production in the coastal area.
Hill Tracts
Hill tracts cover about 1.94 Mha of which only
about 0.34 Mha is net cultivated area (NCA), has
unique water availability and land topographic
conditions. This area comes under the EH (Eastern
Hills) of Hydrological Regions. Hill slopes can be
brought under fruits, vegetables and fodder
cultivation. Plain lands can be used for suitable crop
production and low lands and riverbeds can be used
for fish cultivation through appropriate water
conservation and fish production practices.
Initiatives of water conservation have started in this
region with rubber dams and are proved to be
successful. However, all these innovative practices
should be developed through beneficiary
participation and provision of operation and
maintenance and cost recovery. This approach can
be expanded to other hilly areas of Chittagong,
Sylhet, and Comilla districts.
480
Flood Plains
Flood plain area in this paper covers most part
of the central flood plain and remaining area of the
coastal belt where saline water inundation is rare.
With reference to the Hydrological Regions, NE,
NC and part of SW and SC falls under this category.
Annual floods affect this area and FCDI facilities
have been created for saving lives and properties of
the people. Multiple uses of the FCDI facilities will
facilitate improved water management and
integrated agricultural production in flood plains.
On an average, about 22 percent of Bangladesh
is flooded annually (FPCO 1995). In the eastern
regions, flash floods are hazards in the early summer
and cause extensive damage to the Boro 3 rice crop.
In coastal areas, tidal floods and cyclone surges
cause damage to the lives and properties of coastal
area people. Moreover, when the peak flows of the
Ganges and Brahmaputra coincides, as they did in
1988, about 60% of the country is inundated.
Therefore, the country needs some type of
infrastructure for minimizing flood damages and
creating favorable environment for agricultural
development.
River Basin Management Approach
On an average, the country receives annual
rainfall of about 200 cm, almost 90% of it is during
the monsoon. Rainfall and surface water if
accumulated will result to a water body of about
7.5 meters depth over the country if not flowing to
the Bay of Bengal. But the country faces water
shortage during November to May every year due
to uneven distribution of river flows and rainfall.
Most of the Northwest and Southwest regions
become dry especially during March to May. Rivers
in these areas become dead during this part of the
year and become alive with onset of monsoon.
Rivers in the central area and eastern part of
Bangladesh have better access to water due to tidal
flows from the Bay of Bengal at least during high
tides. In this paper, approaches have been suggested
to keep rivers in Atrai and Baral basins (Figure 1)
alive for the whole year through improved
management (Atrai and Baral basin is selected as
examples for improvement through water
harvesting). This will further assist in incremental
crop and fish production. Healthy rivers in Atrai
and Baral basins will contribute to creation of water

ody through water conservation and management
especially from the end of monsoon and will provide
opportunities for groundwater recharge in the area.
This may further contribute to expansion of irrigated
area and minimizing level of arsenic contamination
of groundwater. There will be better environment
through increased vegetation and available water
body during dry months (November to May). During
June to October, all rivers in Bangladesh including
those in the Atria and Baral basins have very healthy
life and often cause flood. Flood problem is not
covered in this paper as it involves bigger dimension
of the problem, which is also required for overall
improved agricultural production environment,
safety of people and infrastructures. Development
options for maintaining healthy life of the rivers and
improved production environment through
integrated land and water resources are explained
for the Atrai and Baral river basins, which is part of
the Northwest region of Bangladesh.
The Baral river basin area is comprised of the
river systems: Baral-Nandakuja, Musakhan, Narod
and Godai and about 16 minor channels from Baral-
Nandakujs rivers. The Baral is an off take of the
Ganges originating at Charghat (Figure1), flows
towards East and Northeast and discharges into the
Atrai – Gur - Gimini river system (BETS and HCL,
1997). Therefore, Baral serves a spill channel for
diversion of excess flows from the Ganges to Atari.
This is why, Atrai and Baral basins are dealt together
in this paper as these are interlinked and separation
of basins covered by these rivers is difficult. The
entire Baral basin is covered by interconnecting river
channels. Bangladesh Water Development Board
constructed a 3-vent regulator at Charghat and a 5vent
regulator at Atghori. Construction of regulator
at Charghat has reduced flow of Baral river from
567 cubic meter per second (20,000 cfs) to 142 cubic
meters per second (5,000 cfs) but construction of
these two regulators has created environment of
water conservation and improved water
management for Baral basin and can be utilized for
improving crops, fish and forestry products in the
benefited area of about 86,000 ha (BETS and HCL,
1997).
Rivers listed in Table 2 are passing through and
covers most part of Atrai and Baral Basin areas
generally of narrow widths and can be
compartmentalized to series of seasonal ponds
481
during November to May through appropriate water
conservation structures like weirs and rubber dams.
With planned water conservation and appropriate
management from end of monsoon when most river
water become clean and silt free, water can be stored
to full supply level. This will augment surface water
availability and will serve as supplemental source
of irrigation water for the area. Augmentation of
surface water is required to irrigate the entire area
under these basins since with groundwater, only
about 60% of the area can be irrigated. With the
suggested water conservation in the rivers and canals
and conservation of rainwater in ponds and low
lying area (beels, low lying areas expected to have
standing water even during the dry months) during
the rainy season, almost 100% of the basins can be
irrigated and year-round crop cultivation may be
introduced. Moreover, water stored in the seasonal
ponds/riverbeds will be a continuous source for
groundwater recharge, which subsequently can be
used for irrigation using deep and shallow tubewells
without severe lowering of groundwater table. River
water conservation will also contribute to
afforestation program along the riverbanks.
Irrigation development using low lift pumps for the
lands adjacent to the rivers will be facilitated and
availability of drinking water will improve. Water
bodies can also be used as bathing place for cattle.
Community based fisheries management system
can be introduced in the seasonal ponds following
the Common Property Resource management
procedure of the country. Fisheries experts
confirmed that these seasonal ponds could be
brought under profitable fish cultivation program
through stakeholder participation and on an average,
0.5 to 1.0 ton fish can be harvested per hectare of
water body. In the Baral basin alone, about 3348
metric tons of additional fish can be produced,
which will be worth of Taka 146.3 million
equivalents to about US$3 million as of 1997 price
(Table 3).
Survey results indicate that there are 9 major
canals in Atrai basin area, with water area varying
from 900 to 3900 hectares and having water
conservation structures, 1 to 3 vents (Table 4). These
drainage canals can also be used for water harvesting
and for fish cultivation in addition to irrigation and
household water supply. Success of this approach
may be replicated in other area of the country, which

will contribute to its overall development and will
ensure healthy life of the rivers in Bangladesh.
Lessons learned may be transferred to other part of
East and Southeast Asia with local adjustment.
Other Areas
Local Government Engineering Department
(LGED) undertook development, maintenance and
management of small scale water resources schemes
up to command area of 1000 hectare (ha) or less.
LGED implemented 280 against target of 300
subprojects under the first small scale water
resources development sector project (SSWRDSP)
during1995-2002. The completed 280 subprojects
are covering 165,000 ha of cultivated land that
benefit about 142,000 farm families (SSWRD
update of June 2005, LGED). In the second small
scale water resources development sector project
(SSWRDSP), LGED targets to implement 300
subprojects during 2002 to 2009 for providing
benefit of sustainable water management to about
180, 000 ha of cultivated land and to about 280,000
farm families. The second SSWRDSP activities are
grouped under broad heads; (i) mobilization of
beneficiary participation, (ii) community based
infrastructure development, (iii) water resources
oriented support programs, (iv) monitoring and
quality control, and (v) institutional strengthening
of small-scale water resources sector. Water
resources oriented support programs are based on
the principles of water harvesting for all over
Bangladesh through beneficiary participation and
institutional development for sustainable use of the
infrastructures.
Compartmentalization of Rivers, Water
Conservation and Opportunities for its Multiple
Uses
Rivers especially smaller rivers can be
compartmentalized to series of seasonal ponds
during November to May through appropriate water
conservation structures like weirs and rubber dams.
Bangladesh has river area of 12,790 square km
(WARPO 2000) of which about 1890 square km
have width between 25 to 100 meter. These narrow
rivers can be converted to temporary water
reservoirs with rubber dam or any other suitable
water conservation structures and will provide
additional water body of about 189,000 ha. Water
482
conservation in the narrow rivers and irrigation and
drainage canals especially during the lean period
(November to May) will provide opportunities for
storing water over additional area of about 192,000
(189,000 + 2000 + 800) ha. With about one meter
depth, these water bodies can be used for fish
cultivation in addition to their normal use. Water
conservation structures on the rivers and irrigation
and drainage canals will also help in conserving
water in the adjacent low lying areas (beels). This
will further assist in increasing total water storage
capacity of the country. These water bodies, which
are not existing, at least in planned way can
contribute to groundwater recharge, development
of additional irrigation facilities during the dry
season and will also contribute to better
environment. Fisheries experts confirmed that these
seasonal ponds could be brought under profitable
fish cultivation program through stakeholder
participation and on an average, 0.5 to 1.0 ton fish
can be harvested per hectare of water body.
Moreover, water stored in the seasonal ponds/
riverbeds will be a continuous source for
groundwater recharge, which subsequently can be
used for irrigation using deep and shallow tubewells
without severe lowering of groundwater table.
Success of this approach in any river may be
replicated in other area of the country, which will
contribute to its overall development.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Post monsoon river water can be stored to full
supply level through appropriate water conservation
structures in river basins. This will make the rivers
healthy, otherwise most of the rivers will remain
dead during later part of the dry season, February
to May. Water stored to the full supply level at the
end of the monsoon (end of October or early
November) will last till beginning of the following
monsoon and will conserve water for subsequent
use. Beels connected to rivers will have adequate
water during the dry season. These water bodies
will facilitate recharge of groundwater even during
the dry season and lowering of water table beyond
suction limit during later part of the dry season may
not occur. Irrigation facilities using stored surface
water will expand and groundwater based irrigation
will be more cost effective as pumping depth will
be reduced. Additional water bodies will also

contribute to increased fish production, improved
environment and supporting sustainable
afforestation along river banks and FCDI
infrastructures. Additional fish production, trees and
vegetation will provide job opportunities and added
income to the stakeholders and will contribute to
improved livelihood and poverty reduction in the
river basins. Rain water stored in the existing and
excavated ponds and even low areas in the rice fields
in a planned way will assist in overcoming affects
of short duration drought by using water resources
for supplemental irrigation.
REFERENCES
1. Abedin, D. S. S and Alam, A, F. M., 2000. Chalan
Beel Project: Problems and Prospects. Paper presented
in the workshop on Chalan Beel Area Development on
April 6, 2002 at Natore Zila Council Hall, Natore.
Bangladesh Water Development Board, WAPDA
Building, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
2. Bangladesh Engineering and Technical Services
(BETS) and House of Consultants Limited (HCL), 1997.
Feasibility Study of Baral Basin Development Project,
Final Report. Bangladesh Water Development Board,
WAPDA Building, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
3. Flood Plan Coordination Organization (FPCO), 1995.
Bangladesh Water and Flood Management Strategy.
Ministry of Water Resources, Bangladesh Secretariat,
Dhaka.
4. Master Plan Organization (MPO), 1991. National
Water Plan Project Phase II. Ministry of Water
Resources, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka.
5. Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), 2005. Minor
Irrigation Survey Report 2004-2005. Bangladesh
Secretariat, Dhaka.
6. UNDP & FAO, 1988. Land Resources Appraisal of
Bangladesh for Agricultural Development. Report 2,
Agro-Ecological Regions of Bangladesh. Ministry of
Agriculture, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka.
7. Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO),
2000. Technical Paper No. 7: Land and Water
Resources. Saimon Centre, House No. 4A, Road No. 22,
Gulshan – 1, Dhaka 1212.
Table 1 : Present and Projected Regional Distribution of Net Cultivated Area (NCA)
and Irrigated Area in Million Hectares (Mha)
Region Total 1994 2025 Irrigated Area*
Area NCA NCA 2000 2025 Maximum Dev.
(Mha) (Mha) (Mha) Area
(Mha)
% Area % Area %
NE 2.01 1.16 1.14 0.48 41 0.91 80 1.08 95
NC 1.60 1.06 0.99 0.55 52 0.89 90 0.98 99
NW 3.16 2.30 2.23 1.47 64 2.12 95 2.21 99
SW 2.43 1.28 1.24 0.59 46 0.99 80 1.19 96
SC 1.25 0.82 0.80 0.12 15 0.56 70 0.76 95
SE 1.01 0.68 0.65 0.32 48 0.58 90 0.62 96
RE 0.59 0.33 0.31 0.13 37 0.27 80 0.32 95
EH 1.93 0.34 0.33 0.11 33 0.23 75 0.29 95
TOTAL 13.98 7.97 7.69 3.77 47 6.55 7.45
Note : Total irrigated area as of 2004-2005 was 4.8 ha (MOA), but distribution by Region is not elaborated.
* Irrigated area is estimated based on water availability during November to May period of the respective time.
NE=Northeast, NC=North Central, NW=Northwest, SW=Southwest, SC=South Central,
SE=Southeast, RE=Rivers and Estuaries, EH=Eastern Hills.
Source: Technical Paper No. 7: Land and Water Resources, Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO), June 2000. WARPO
could not update it as there is no funding support for such work (personal communication with WARPO management).
483

Table 2 : Major Rivers, those are flowing through Atrai and Baral Basins
Rivers Length (Km)
Atrai 51.41
Jamuna 46.59
Nagar 41.13
Nandakuja 21.68
Fakirni 18.48
Gur 24.10
Gohala 22.49
Barnai 39.36
Gumani 43.68
Baral 83.54
Sundai 30.51
Source : Chalan Beel Project: Problems and Prospects.
Table 3 : Extent of Water Body and Prospect of Fish Production in Baral Basin.
Fish habitat No. in basin Area in ha Annual fish Annual Fish Fish value
Production Production (In Million
(t/ha) (MT) Taka)
(1997 price)
Perennial Ponds 7000 670 2.70 1800 78.3
Beels 12 269 0.41 110 4.7
Baral river 1 13700 0.11 1438 63.3
Total 14639 0.23 3348 146.3
Source: Feasibility Study of Baral Basin Development Project, Final Report.
Table 4 : Drainage Structures for Water Conservation in Atrai Basin.
No. Name of drain Length in km Area in ha Discharge in No. of vent &
(cubic feet/sec) opening size
(1.52m x 1.83m)
1 Shimultali 4.50 900 10.19 1-vent
2 Udaysiri 4.00 1942 20.37 2-vent
3 Mohatala 2.00 1000 10.19 1-vent
4 Satbeela 1.50 1850 21.69 2-vent
5 Sonadanga 3.00 1833 21.69 2-vent
6 Katabari 2.00 3200 31.10 3-vent
7 Mohishbathan 1.50 2800 31.10 3-vent
8 Ramcharan 2.00 3560 31.10 3-vent
9 Biddyapur 6.00 3800 32.00 3-vent
Source: Feasibility Study of Baral Basin Development Project, Final Report.
484

Figure 1 : Map of Bangladesh showing Atrai and Baral Basins.
� � �
485

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
84. Water Resources Planning and Management in the face of
Global Warming and Changing Climate
* Pradeep K. Naik *P. K. Parchure *S. K. Bhatnagar
Climate is changing
Over the past century, India has built a vast
and complex infrastructure to provide clean water
for drinking and for industry, dispose of wastes,
facilitate transportation, generate electricity, irrigate
crops, and reduce the risks of floods and droughts.
This infrastructure has brought tremendous
benefits, albeit at a substantial economic and
environmental cost. To the average citizen, the
Nation’s dams, reservoirs, treatment plants, and
pipelines are largely invisible and taken for granted.
Yet they help insulate us from wet and dry years
and moderate other aspects of our naturally variable
climate. Indeed they have permitted us to almost
forget about our complex dependence on climate.
However, time has come we can no longer ignore
these close connections. The scientific evidence that
humans are changing the climate is increasingly
compelling. Complex impacts affecting every sector
of society, including especially the nation’s water
resources now seem unavoidable.
Don’t rely on uncertainties
Most impact studies have been using
information from global climate models that evaluate
the effects of increases in greenhouse gas
concentrations up to particular levels. Greater and
greater impacts would be expected to result from
ever increasing levels of climate change. Models
have their limitations, and many uncertainties still
remain. It is vital that uncertainties not be used to
delay or avoid taking certain kinds of action now.
Prudent planning requires that a strong national
climate and water research program be maintained,
that decisions about future water planning and
management be flexible, and that the risks and
benefits of climate change be incorporated into all
long-term water planning. Policy makers must start
considering climate change as a factor in all decisions
about water investments and the operation of existing
facilities and systems.
Need for action
A continued reliance solely on current
engineering practice may lead us to make incorrect
– and potentially dangerous or expensive –
decisions. India has invested thousands of crores of
rupees in dams, reservoirs and other concrete
structures. These systems were designed and for
the most part are operated assuming that future
climatic and hydrologic conditions will look like past
conditions. We now know this is no longer true.
Accordingly, two of the most important coping
strategies must be to try to understand what the
consequences of climate change will be for water
resources and to begin planning for and adapting to
those changes.
Coping and Adaptations – Public Policy
1. Prudent planning requires that a strong
national climate and water monitoring and research
programme be maintained, that decisions about
future water planning and management be flexible,
and that expensive and irreversible actions be avoided
in climate-sensitive areas.
2. Better methods of planning under climate
uncertainty should be developed and applied.
3. Governments at all levels should re-evaluate
legal, technical, and economic approaches for
managing water resources in the light of potential
climate changes. Improvements in the efficiency of
* Scientist, Central Ground Water Board, Central Region, N.S. Building, Civil Lines, Nagpur – 440 001
Ph.9423106185; Email. pradeep.naik@water.net.in
486

end uses and the intentional management of water
demands must now be considered major tools for
meeting future water needs, particularly in waterscarce
regions where extensive infrastructure
already exists. There is great a potential for
improving the “water efficiency” with which we
produce food, by changing cropping patterns toward
crops that require less water per calorie to produce,
by reducing wasteful applications of water, by cutting
losses between the field and the source, and by
cutting diets.
4. Water engineers should begin a systematic
re-examination of engineering designs, operating
rules, contingency plans, and water allocation policies
under a wider range of climate conditions and
extremes than has been used traditionally. For
example, the standard engineering practice of
designing for the worst case historical observational
record may no longer be adequate. Recent flooding
in Mumbai and the desert State of Rajasthan are
examples.
5. Cooperation between the water resources
development agencies and leading scientific
organizations can facilitate the exchange of
information on the state-of-the-art thinking about
climate change and impacts on water resources.
6. The timely flows of information among the
scientific global change community, the public, and
the water-management community are valuable.
Such lines of communication need to be developed
and expanded.
7. Traditional and alternative forms of new
supply, already being considered by the water
agencies, can play a role in addressing changes in
both demands and supplies caused by climate
changes and variability. Options to be considered
include wastewater reclamation and reuse, water
marketing and transfers, and even limited
desalinization where less costly alternatives are not
� � �
487
available and where water prices are high. None of
these alternatives, however, is likely to alter the trend
toward higher water costs.
8. Prices and markets are increasingly important
for balancing supply and demand. Because new
construction and new concrete projects can be
expensive, environmentally damaging, and politically
controversial, the proper application of economics
and water management can provide incentives to
use less and produce more. Among the new tools
being successfully explored are water banking and
conjunctive use of groundwater.
9. Even without climate change, efforts are
needed to update and improve legal tools for
managing and allocating water resources. Water is
managed in different ways in different places around
the country, leading to complex and often conflicting
water laws. Lat’s remember that water is a State
subject in India.
10. The reliability of ground water as the most
dependable source of irrigation has led to its overexploitation
in many parts of the country. The
development of this resource has not been uniform.
The reason for this can be technical, socio-economic
or political, but the non-uniform growth has created
some management problems. Demand side
management specially related to regulation, licensing,
policing etc. are difficult to implement and are not
appreciated by the users and public representatives.
Supply side management of ground water resources
and its augmentation through artificial recharge and
rainwater harvesting would possibly bring positive
results by increasing the water availability. Society
and the common man need to be activated so that
adequate water supply is ensured to everybody
throughout the year. Rainwater harvesting schemes
may be mandatory to all new buildings countrywide
and the public needs to appreciate its advantages
and necessity.

National Seminar on Rainwater Harvesting and Water Management 11-12 Nov. 2006, Nagpur
85. Large Water Storage Structures and
Rain Water Harvesting Structures- Limitations and Efficacy
*R. S. Goel **Jay Narayan Vyas ***V. B. Patel ****Aditya Sharma
ABSTRACT
This paper critically examines the controversies of large vs small dams and focuses
on limitations and efficacy of large water storage versus small dams and rain water
harvesting structures. Important conclusions of significant studies have been interwoven
regarding comparative evaporation, submergence, seismic & hydrologic safety as well as
the benefits and cost aspects of large dams versus RWH schemes and small dams. Basic
objectives and drivers of Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) are also summarised. Few NGOs
and self styled non-professional environmentalists leave no stone unturned to oppose almost
each water storage dam, hydel plant and continue fighting tooth and nail against vitally
needed inter-linking of rivers, perhaps also siphon off foreign funds mainly to garner
awards, fame and monopoly. They are generally ignorant of even basic facts and intricate
‘dose response functions’ of complicated environmental processes and techniques of water
resources and hydro power development due to no professional background. Such persons
repeatedly use media to create fantasies and tirade against water storage projects on
many shifting grounds. In every sector other than water and power, specialists like doctors,
surgeons, economists, space & atomic scientists etc. are considered competent but any
‘Tom’, ‘Dick’ and ‘Harry’ claims to be expert to oppose large dams, hydel projects and
inter-basin transfer of water projects. Supreme Court’s admission of PIL by NCCL against
NBA and Prime Minister’s direction for vigilance inquiries against NBA due to siphoning
of foreign funds and over 200 FIR’s for stopping R&R works are matters of alarming
concerns. Even though such presentation cannot be an exhaustive treatise; nevertheless,
authors hope that the policy planners, administrators, professionals, media, NGOs and
public at large should understand basic facts to avoid street fights and social tensions
almost every where now in India, due to breaking down of water and power supplies.
Key words- large dams, water harvesting, run of river projects, interlinking of rivers,
relation of forest & water.
*Chairman, Indian Water Resources Society, Gandhinagar Centre, Convenor, Coordination Committee, Water
Related National Professional Societies, Chief Engineer, Narmada Tapi Basin Organisation, Central Water
commission, Sector 10 A, Gandhinagar (Gujarat) – 382043 Fax- 079-23246115 E-mail - goelrscwc@yahoo.com
**Former Minister for Narmada & Water Resources, Govt. of Gujarat, Chairman, Saket Projects Limited,
Saket House, Panchsheel, Usmanpura, Ahmedabad 380013 Fax- 079- 27550452 E-mailmail@saketprojects.com
***Vice-President, Indian Water Resources Society & Former Chairman, Central Water Commission & Ex- officio
Seccretary to Govt. of India, Co-chairman, Coordination Committee, Water Related National Professional
Societies,128, Manekbaug Society, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad – 38 00 52 FAX- 079- 26764099
E-mail - vbpatel@multimantech.com
****Convenor, Indian Water Resources Society, Gandhinagar Centre, Deputy Director, Narmada Tapi Basin
Organisation, Central Water commission, Sector 10 A, Gandhinagar 382043 FAX- 079-23246115
E-mail- cwcmon_gandhinagar@yahoo.co.in
488

INTRODUCTION
Indian water sector is confronted with the
controversies of inter-state disputes vs. integrated
basin development, reliance on water-shed
development vs. reservoir projects, government
owned vs. private utilities and large vs. small
projects. On one side, the technological advances in
the fields of meteorology, hydrology, geology,
seismology and the techniques of investigation,
planning, construction and operation of the projects
are making possible the optimisation of scarce
national resources. On the other hand, a fear
syndrome has been created against river valley and
hydro projects by exaggerated likely or assumed
adverse environmental impacts and by ignoring or
suppressing their need and tremendous benefits by
few non-credible NGOs like NBA and novelists self
styled activists. As a result, many potential economic
developmental activities, which could generate
wealth and employment in India have been blocked
in large cities, towns and villages due to acute
shortage of water especially during the dry season.
At the same time, fury of floods routinely continue
to affect the economic activities causing large scale
loss of life, properties and flora & fauna.
Widely prevalent beliefs about the role of land
use and its relation to hydrology must be critically
examined in the light of scientific evidence. Simplistic
views have created a mindset which not only links
degradation with less forest but also rehabilitation &
conservation with more forest. Most of the people
imply the inevitable link between the absence of
forests and ‘degradation’ of water resources. Same
is the situation about relation to forestry, agro forestry
and various hydrological elements; even though
claims by enthusiastic agro foresters and nonprofessional
ecologists are often not valid. When
scrutinized, many of the mother statements relating
to forestry and the environmental processes are seen
to be either exaggerated or untenable. It is highly
relevant and crucial to know what can be attached
to these statements for the proper management of
water resources and land use. This article presents
basic facts on limitations and efficacy of large water
storage versus small dams & popularly known as
rain water harvesting structures and suggests serious
examination of mother statements about relation of
forests and hydrologic elements - Whether Forests
increase rainfall, Forests increase runoff, Forests
regulate flows, Forests reduce erosion, Forests
reduce floods, Forests ‘sterilize’ water supplies and
improve water quality and Agro forestry systems
489
increase productivity?
CAN SMALL DAMS & RWH REPLACE
LARGE DAMS?
The former captures rain in-situ and
supplements/conserves soil moisture for a longer
period, whereas the latter holds the run-off in
storages of surface waters and make it available
through canals for irrigation. The former has a crucial
role in treatment of catchment area and noncommand
areas of irrigation schemes. It recharges
ground water for use in local drinking water needs.
Also, it provides soil moisture to replace may be one
or two irrigation watering, in kharif season. Its main
role therefore is important for the vast rainfed areas
of the country, which will not be irrigated through
surface storages even in ultimate stage of
development.
Small dams and RWHS successfully operate
within a narrow band of meteorological phenomena
of intensity, duration, antecedent rainfall, potential
evaporation, infiltration capacity dictated by
topography, geology, slope, vegetative cover etc. Its
contribution in increase in productivity of cropped
land is rather limited. It is also essential that adequate
investigations & foundation testing, detailed
hydrologic analysis, hydraulic & structural designs,
proper construction supervision are given needed
attention even for small water projects, check dams
and rain water harvesting structures. Large number
of incidences have been noticed for washing away
of too many check dams within a year or two due to
structural, hydrologic, seismic and hydraulic failures.
Both therefore are considered as
complementary and not adversarial. Sediment
generation is reduced in the former case. Erosion
and deposition in downstream will continues due to
hydraulic phenomena. Dams hold bed load of
sediment in the designed pockets. Economic analysis
on dams accounts for such siltation. Peak flood is
reduced for local watersheds but does not have
significant impact on generation of floods. Available
data shows that when numerous small projects are
constructed to substitute a single large storage project
the cost per unit storage, relative submergence and
relative evaporation losses are invariably many times
more. Evaporation loss would obviously be more
because of larger water spread. Claims that only
small size (or some claim only large) of dams be
adopted are wrong. Only small dams can not capture
required quantity of water. In each basin, even if
one wants, all dams can’t be of only large or only

small size. Each size has its advantages and
deficiencies.
MICRO WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT
VERSUS LARGE DAMS?
Another important point quite often missed is
the need of large dams in Peninsular India even for
minor irrigation purpose (covering lesser than 2000
ha.) due to the limited capacity of the valleys on
account of the topography and configuration. On
the other hand, large barrages of lesser than 15 m
height are required for diversion of voluminous
discharge for irrigation of large tracts of land in Indo-
Gangetic plains as well as rivers’ deltas. It needs to
be appreciated that the dams upto a height of 100 m
are needed even for the run -of- river projects having
no live storage in Himalayan rivers. The steep
gradients in the river beds and the large rolling
boulders down the hills quickly fill up the storage
capacity, quiet often even during the construction
period. Apart from cost, the issues of mortality,
reliability, dependability, submergence, displacement
of inhabitants, loss of forest and cultivated land,
adverse impacts, multiplier effects are to be
considered while making the decision. A recent study
of proposal to revive the old tanks of south India
indicates that contrary to popular perception, it will
be economically too expensive.
The proposition that a series of small dams
can make up one large dam is an abstraction
which is not always physically practicable and
cost effective. It may often turn out that series of
small dams submerge a far larger area and
displace much greater number to store less water
as a factor of valley geometry. Again one type of
techno-economically viable development can not
be replaced usually by another for example to
replace a single large reservoir with a few small
reservoirs will need a large number of alternative
sites which is rarely available in practice
necessitating again a curtailment in the
envisaged development. In different studies
carried out by CWC, it has been conclusively
proved that when more reservoirs are constructed
to substitute a single large reservoir, the cost of
storage creation and submergence are high. Also
there cannot be a small reservoir on a large river
and even if a less storage reservoir is constructed
on a large river, it has to be provided with a large
spilling arrangement to tackle the expected large
size flood. Hence the issue can only be the major,
medium and minor reservoirs, each being
490
complementary to the other.
MEDIUM AND SMALL RIVER VALLEY
PROJECTS
It is a established fact that shallow storage
causes proportionately greater loss of land area due
to submergence. Shallower storage also means
greater surface area and hence evaporation as per
studies conducted in many river valleys by reputed
scientific agencies. Further it is difficult to find large
number of alternative sites for medium projects even
if such an alternative is preferred over deeper
storage. Small and medium projects have to be
constructed generally in the upper reaches of hills,
causing substantial loss of valuable forests.
Construction of large dams, on the other hand, in the
foothills involves submergence of large areas of
cultivated lands per unit of storage. Of-course
shortcoming is compensated in same ways.
For this reason small and medium hydel projects
are not only costlier than the large projects but they
also submerge larger land areas for the equal amount
of storage and in addition, they have increased
evaporation losses. Steep gradients in the river beds,
large rolling boulders and sedimentation problems
further limit the efficacy of small and medium hydel
projects. This became particularly evident in case
of Ichhari and Maneri Bhali dams (60 metres and
39 metres height respectively), both being run of the
river projects. These were filled up to crest by
sedimentation during construction, itself as planned.
EFFECTIVENESS OF RAIN WATER
HARVESTING
Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting (RTRWH)
is an ancient technique of providing domestic
water supply and still in use, especially in
tropical islands and semi arid rural areas. Many
Ministries/Departments of State Governments
have encouraged RTRWH with large scale
subsidies. During last 20 years, under the hype
of ‘traditional wisdom’ rain water collected from
the roofs of entire country (

ut definitely they are not substitute for large dams
and interlinking of river basins. RTRWH has
assumed overriding priority due to unjustified
hype created by several NGOs and self-styled
environmentalists. RTRWH can hardly solve even
fraction of the water requirement needs of the
entire country. A family requires 300 cu m of
waters per year of domestic use. In an area
having rain fall 100 mm, the roof top size required
would be 3600 m 2 . The roof top requirement for
agriculture purpose would be eight times more
than domestic use.
SOCIAL & ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF
FLOODS – HARDLY REPORTED BY
MEDIA?
Over 40 m.ha. of India experiences periodic
floods. The average area affected by floods annually
in India is about 7.5 m. ha of which crop area
affected is about 3.5 m.ha. Floods have claimed on
an average 1529 human lives and 94000 cattle ever
year. Apart from loss of life and domestic property,
the devastating effects of floods, sense of insecurity
and fear in the minds of people living in the flood
plains is enormous. The after effects of floods like
the agony of survivors, spread of epidemics, non
availability of essential commodities and medicines
and loss of their dwellings make floods most feared
natural disaster being faced by human kind. Crops
grown in the flood plains suffer from congestion of
water on the farmlands. Management of the surface
water becomes a very tricky operation in the flood
prone areas during periods of heavy rainfall. Floods
also affect the vulnerable aquatic and wild life,
forests, mangroves and precious bio-diversity in
the flood plains. Large-scale damages to forests,
crops & precious plants and deaths of aquatic
and wildlife, migratory and native birds in various
National Parks, Delta region, low altitude hilly
areas and alluvial flood plains of Assam,
Arunachal, Uttrakhand, U.P., Bihar, Orissa, West
Bengal etc. are matter of serious concern but
hardly reported by media. River Valley Projects
moderate the magnitudes as well as frequencies of
floods. While some projects are specially designed
to provide flood cushion in the reservoirs along with
other benefits, others also help in reducing the
magnitude of floods with proper operation and control
of gates.
SOCIAL & ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF
DROUGHTS – HARDLY REPORTED BY
491
MEDIA?
Over 265 million people live in drought prone
area of about 108 m. ha. (1/3 rd of the total area).
Thus, more than 26% of total population of the
country face the consequences of recurring
droughts. During drought years, there is a
marked tendency of intensive exploitation of
ground water, resulting in abnormal lowering of
ground water table thus accentuating the distress.
Grave adverse impacts are borne by flora, fauna
and domestic cattle and the very life itself fights
against nature for its survival. Droughts affect
rural life in several ways. This accentuates
problems in cities in the form of mushrooming of
slums and pressure on the existing civil amenities
thereby adversely affecting urban life. River
Valley Projects are designed to provide ‘carryover’
storage in the reservoirs to help in
mitigating the droughts.
POWER MANAGEMENT - ARE WE
HEADING FOR DARK DAYS?
Thermal and hydro are the two major sources
of powers. Thermal power production requires
burning of fossil fuels, which seriously affect the
environment adversely. Pollution caused by burning
of fossil fuel to meet energy requirements is causing
global concerns. Option lies in using the alternate
non-polluting sources of energy like solar and
hydropower. It is a matter of alarming concern that
the share of hydropower in the total installed capacity
in India has been declining in successive plans. In
1962-63, hydro projects had a 50% share in the total
installed capacity which has gradually declined to
24% against ideal ratio of 40%. Such a dismal share
of hydrothermal mix is adversely affecting the
optimal utilisation of natural and financial resources
besides resulting in failure of power grids. Economic
rapid exhaustion of the exploitable sources and
superiority of hydropower has been further enhanced
in the recent years with the steep increases in the
prices of fossil fuel. India has to import fossil fuel
to meet the thermal power needs at a huge cost.
Hydro power generation by constructing large and
medium storage reservoir projects to use the head
for water drop substantially helps in utilisation of
water resources, 75% of which is presently draining
down to the sea unutilised. Notwithstanding its
inherent benefits and availability of vast potential in
India, the pace of hydro development has so far been
very slow. Major constraints for slow development
of hydro potential are mainly obstacles by activists,

difficulties in investigations, R&R problems, delay
in land acquisition, funds constraints and geological
surprises. Policy on Hydropower Development may
help in boosting the pace of hydro development in
country.
ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF WATER
STORAGE PROJECTS – BRIEF RESUME
There are numerous incidental benefits from
the construction of large and high dams such as
improving environment, health, afforestation,
fisheries development, tourism and recreational
facilities, employment generation, development of
agro-based industries, network of roads in catchment
& command areas, development of land and
improving general socio-economic standards.
Numerous case studies prove that significant
improvement occurs in food and nutritional level with
higher per capita food availability and diversification
of crop production, especially cash crops after
introduction of irrigation. New employment
opportunities generated by the intensification of
agricultural and associated economic activities
further improve financial conditions of people
including landless labourers. As a multiplier effect,
large river valley projects tremendously improve the
health of rural population by significantly enhancing
the education, health care, transportation facilities
and the life styles particularly of women like Western
U.P. and Punjab.
Water resource development requires a
judicious mix of large, medium or small reservoirs,
which are location specific. Loss of forest area due
to submergence is less than five per cent of the total
forest area lost in the country in the last five decades.
The loss of biomass through submergence is, far
smaller than the biomass generated on account of
the irrigation. A forest far superior to the original,
sans the original bio-diversity, comes up after the
creation of the reservoir. Adverse effects like water
logging and salinity are being prevented through
conjunctive use of groundwater, prevention of canal
water leakage, reduction of seepage losses from
water carrying bodies, implementation of adequate
drainage and adoption of efficient irrigation methods.
Reservoirs may create new conditions for
growth of organisms, and ultimately, adjustments are
made to, foster new eco-systems. Varieties of new
organisms thrive on this new eco-lake system.
Additional water made available for dry period of
the year, when the environment tends to be harsh
and makes the area inhospitable, supports the growth
492
of life around. Such projects provide a dependable
source of drinking water. People from the irrigated
areas enjoy better health and sanitation facilities, thus
reducing the incidences of diseases. A very availability
of water leads to improvement in the level of
sanitation. The improved economic status also
makes people health conscious and capable of
availing of requisite health care. As per the UNICEF
(1988) report, new water supply facilities sourced
from large dams improved the sanitary conditions,
which led to significant improvement in general
health conditions. Vectoral risks can be reduced by
removing sources of stagnant or slow-moving water
and by ensuring continual maintenance of drains and
canals.
Substantial increase in numbers of tigers,
panthers, elephants, cheetals and crocodiles have
been observed in the famous Jim Corbett National
Park with the availability of green fodder and clean
water throughout the year improved climatic
conditions and reduced risk of poaching on account
of reservoir area on most of the sides of after
construction of the Ramganga Multipurpose Dam
Project. Rare species of birds flock there after the
reservoir construction. Similar phenomenon of an
increase in birds and wildlife has also been observed
around Rihand and Matatila reservoirs, which were
previously barren lands. Best tourist places area
Ukai tourist resort, Periyar wild life sanctuary,
Shalimar garden, Vrindavan garden, Pinjore garden,
Kalindi-Kunj, Matatila Garden, Dhyaneshwar Udyan
and Ramganga Udhyan, which are all bye products
of river valley projects.
REHABILITATION AND RESETTLEMENT
Controversies concerning the rehabilitation of
persons displaced by dams have muddied the entire
debate on the utility of water resources projects and
caused much harm to the national economy. As per
assessment by Central Water Commission (CWC)
through the review of data of 2784 dams, total
project affected persons (PAPS) range between 6
to 7 millions. Opponents of large dams blow up this
figure up to 70 million by taking the average of the
recent few mega dams and multiplying the same by
4291 (total number of dams over 15m height). It
has to be borne in mind that most of the high dams
(by definition every dam having height of more than
15m is classified as high dam by ICOLD mainly for
safety concerns) did not displace persons, firstly due
to very thin population in their submergence in earlier
dams during construction, secondly very few dams

having the height greater than 50m would have the
submergence impacts on the upstream habitation
those days. Displacement of human settlements is
indeed a painful necessity and must be handled with
compassion, fairness and even generosity to ensure
better quality of life than left behind by PAPs.
Most of such PAPs reside in areas of extreme
environmental fragility and largely deprived of
nutritional food, potable water, health facilities and
productive employment. Employment benefits of
river valley projects have been widely experienced.
Typically, 60 percent of the capital costs of a major
irrigation projects payment to construction workers.
Further sizeable recurring onfarm employment
benefits are generated because labour use in irrigated
farming is more than in unirrigated farming. Irrigation
development in a tract stems out migration of job
seekers from that tract to distant centers. Availability
of water from Sardar Sarovar Project will benefit
about 1.91 lakh of people residing in 124 villages in
arid and drought-prone border areas of Jalore and
Barmer Districts of Rajasthan, which have been
suffering grave hardship and on account of scarcity
of water, besides checking the advancement of Thar
Desert. Voluntary migration in India has been highest
from these areas due to scarcted water. National
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy has already
been notified. Judgements of Supreme Court and
Shanglu Committees Report have amply proved that
liberal provisions and comprehensive plans for
implementation are being implemented in recent
water resources project (Sardar Sarovar, Tehri,
Almatti, Narmada Sagar Dam) ensuring better
conditions of PAPs after rehabilitation.
MYTHS AND REALITIES ABOUT
RELATIONS OF FOREST AND
HYDROLOGIC ELEMENTS
There are many beliefs about the role of land
use and its relation to hydrology, which need to
be examined in the light of scientific evidence.
Simplistic views, have created a mindset which
not only links degradation with less forest but
rehabilitation and conservation with more forest;
particularly because they imply the inevitable link
between the absence of forests and ‘degradation’
of water resources. This is also true in relation to
forestry, agro forestry and hydrology, claims by
enthusiastic agro foresters and foresters are
often not supportable. When scrutinized, many
of the mother statements relating to forestry and
the environment are seen to be either exaggerated
493
or untenable. It is highly relevant to know what
can be attached to these statements for the proper
management of water resources and land use.
The overwhelming hydrological evidence
supports that forests are not generators of rainfall.
In fact, afforestation has a limited impact in terms
of changing hydrological conditions. Tributaries
of the Brahmaputra come from more forested
areas than the southern ones and yet create more
floods. Afforestation will help the local economy
but will not contain large floods in the Himalayan
regions. Floods have been taking place in the
Himalayan plains since time immemorial. The
perceptions that deforestation in the Himalayan
hill is a primary cause of devastating seasonal
floods is totally wrong. It is believed that forests
mitigate drought by storing water and releasing
it over time through more even stream flows. We
should also account for the loss due to evapotranspiration
by the forest. The net water balance
will vary in accordance with conditions and
circumstances.
Adverse effects of forests on water quality are
more likely to be related to bad management
practices than the presence of the forests
themselves. There is little scientific evidence to show
that enhanced productivity can be achieved in agro
forestry systems. Enhanced productivity from agro
forestry systems must be largely regarded as a myth.
Many such misconceptions are routinely reinforced
by the media and is all pervasive; it has become
enshrined in some of our most influential
environmental policy documents.
Numerous scientific studies made
worldwide and research by Centre for Science
and Environment (CSE) & National Institute
of Hydrology (NIH) in India are in contrast of
seven ‘mother statements’ in relation to
forests, productivity and hydrology. It is widely
believed that deforestation causes floods by
reducing infiltration and augmenting run-off. The
following findings of India’s environment – a
Citizen’s Report, 1991 on “Floods, Flood Plans
and Environmental Myths”, prepared by the
Centre for Science and Environment, are eye
opening while considering the widely prevalent
beliefs about relationship of forests with
hydrological elements :-
“Floods are nor new to the Indo-Gangetic
plains. During the 3500 years of recorded human
settlement in the Ganga basin alone, there have been
many floods of gigantic proportions. Run off and silt

tend to move out of the Himalayan region in explosive
ways. Landslides seem to be a major contributor of
deposits of soil to the rivers. Himalaya rivers have
constantly changed their course long before
deforestation began. For example, archaeologists and
scientists now believe that at the time of the Indus
civilisation, Yamaha probably did not flow into the
Ganga, nor Satluj flew into the Indus. Instead they
flowed into the Ghagar, a small seasonal river that
emerges from the Shivalik foothill in Chandigarh –
to make it a mighty, perennial river that flowed
straight into the Arabian Sea without joining the
Indus-probably the much worshipped Saraswati of
the Vedic times. The forests can tolerate minor and
medium floods but the human society will have to
learn to live with the major floods. Afforestation has
a limited impact in terms of changing hydrological
conditions. It is interesting to note that de-forestation
as a cause of floods has come to be cited only
recently. The District Gazetteer Of Poornia and
Saharsa regions in the last century though concerned
about the high silt load of the river Kosi, have never
eluded to de-forestation as a contributor factor.
Instead their recurrent occurrences was on the
geological instability of the rivers’ upper catchment.
To understand the problem of increasing floods in
the Indo-Gangetic plains, it may be more instructive
to study the logical changes that have taken place in
the flood plains themselves. Natural factors contribute
more to floods in Assam, than de-forestation or
shifting cultivation. Tributaries of the Brahmaputra
come from more forested areas than the southern
ones and yet create more floods. Natural erosion
processes in the Himalaya are so intense that they
dwarf the changes posed by deforestation.
Afforestation will help the local economy but will
not large floods in the Himalayan regions”.
‘The deep gorges of Himalayan rivers seem
sufficient to transport excess rainwater. Surprisingly,
this is not true. Floods have been taking place in the
Himalayan plains since time immemorial. The
breathtaking photograph of the landslide that blocked
the Bhagirath showed a densely green hillside had
come tumbling down. Was it the fragile Himalayan
geology or deforestation that was the main trouble?
While reviewing this report, the New York Times,
New York, reported “So this report takes little known
fact; the impact of environmental degradation on
floods in densely populated Assam and the Indo-
Gigantic plains”. So this report takes on a very big
myth; that floods in the plains are forced by
deforestation in the Himalayas. An Indian
494
environmentalist has touched off a furious debate
by challenging the conventional view that
deforestation in the Himalayan hill is a primary cause
of devastating seasonal floods”.
Late Dr. Anil Aggarwal, Director, Centre for
Science and Environment in the introduction of
the above report highlighted “In fact this report
points out some of the environmental myths that
cam crop up when we continue to deal with major
problems which occur in different ecological
settings. For instance, the report points out that
floods in the plains below the vast Himalayan
ranges may not be greatly exacerbated by deforestation.
Floods are, in fact, and will remain
an inherent feature of these plains where the
Himalayan mountains are well cleared with a
green covered area or are deforested and
deprived. The Himalayan mountains constitute
an extremely fragile geological system. They are
the youngest mountains in the world and
therefore, highly erodable. They are lashed by
rain streams by an intensity that probably no other
mountain system faces. Water and silt move out
of the mountain in a flood and shifting of river
courses is, therefore, inevitable. Deforestation
can aggravate the problem but afforestation can
not get rid of it.
Once the soil is saturated, all excess water must
run-off as rejected recharge or be lost to evaporation.
Forests do increase residence time by intercepting
rainfall and letting it down gradually, by absorbing it
in humus and leaf litter and in facilitating infiltration
through the root structure which too acts both as a
passage and sponge, but once the sponge is full its
retention capacity is exhausted. A cloud burst
produces torrential rain of an order that no forest
can absorb, resulting in severe flash floods such as
many parts of the basins experience every year with
regular frequency. To blame these floods on
deforestation is mistaken. What forests do is to
reduce erosion and consequent sedimentation.
It is believed that forests mitigate drought
by storing water and releasing it over time through
more even stream flows. This is only related to
the point of saturation storage. We also should
account for the loss due to evapo-transpiration
by the forest which drinks up water for its
sustenance. Forest interception of rain can also
enhance evaporation loss from leaves. The net
water balance will vary in accordance with
conditions and circumstances.
Forests are also believed to create or induce

ain. There is no conducive evidence of this belief.
This is not to denigrate soil conservation, watershed
management and forests or afforestation in the
slightest but to caution against being diverted too far
along what could be false trails. We have to avoid
large generalisations on limited data. Every one
knows about large rainfall on the seas, which occupy
much larger area than the land mass. There are no
trees on the seas and still the average rainfall on sea
is higher than average rainfall on land, which carries
forests.
After collecting worldwide research
findings, renowned international expert Ian R.
Calder in his book Blue ‘Revolution- Integrated
Land and Water Resources Management’,
Published by Earthscan, London, UK, 2005 has
alarmed, ‘Clearly it is important to know what
can be attached to meant mother statements about
forest and water for the proper management of
water resources and land use. Many forestry
projects in developing countries are supported
because of assumed environmental/hydrological
benefits, whilst in many cases the hydrological
benefits may at best be marginal and at worst
negative. The evidence for and against each of
these ‘mother statements’ is taken in turn and
appraised; the need for further research is also
assessed.’ Hence we must seriously examine-
Whether Forests increase rainfall, Forests increase
runoff, Forests regulate flows, Forests reduce
erosion, Forests reduce floods, Forests ‘sterilize’
water supplies and improve water quality and Agro
forestry systems increase productivity ?
MARKETING BOTTLED WATER
Considerably more satisfaction and benefit
can be obtained from the present water supply
system, if managed efficiently. Costly systems are
constructed, but for want of proper operation
and maintenance, the benefits are not received
by the people who have to incur considerable
private costs and have to resort to alternate
means or supplementary sources. Fast catching
up practice of selling mineral water bottles at
rates even more than milk and more than 1000
times than the tap water in India is paradoxical.
While half of our population is unable to afford
even the absolute minimum needs to quench their
thirst. Only water supply utilities should be
allowed to bottle and market the bottled water to
generate much-needed funds for modernization
and proper maintenance of existing
495
infrastructure.
INTER- LINKING OF RIVERS
Although India receives some waters from the
upstream countries, the precipitation is the main
source of water availability, Which has a very uneven
distribution, with an annual rain fall of more than
10m in parts of Meghalaya to less than half a metre
in semi arid parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. In arid
regions it could be less than 10 cm. Much of the
water is received in a few months of the monsoon,
and that to within around 100 hours of the rainy days.
As per International standard the limit of 1700 KL
of water per person per year is considered
satisfactory. If it falls below 1000 KL, it creates
condition of stress. The requirement of agriculture
for producing food alone is 700 KL. Other
requirements like that of domestic use, industries,
ecological requirement, hydro power etc. takes the
requirement above 1000 KL. The chart below shows
availability of water per capita in the main river
basins of India.
Most of the basins in India have availability
below 1000 KL whereas in Brahmaputra availability
is around 10000 KL and in Narmada, Mahanadi
above 2000 KL. Ministry of Water Resources, had
recognized need of interlinking of rivers (ILRI) and
prepared a National Perspective Plan in 1980 after
studying all major basins of the country. National
Water Development (NWDA) Agency was set up
in 1982, to work on preparation of feasibility reports.
A Task Force was constituted in 2002 to develop
consensus for ILR. Supreme Court also advised to
prepare action plan and time schedule for completion
of ILR so as to finish the project by end of the year
2016. Thus, more than 25 years have passed, since
need for Inter-basin transfer of water was recognized
If effective actions are not taken quickly the country
would face serious water crisis.
Food requirement by 2050 is estimated as 450
Million tons. If prompt actions are not taken, the
country may have to face serious food crisis and
may have to start importing food grains like realuheut
(PL480) in 450 and 60. Similarly if hydro power is
not developed fastly it would result not only in
shortage of power particularly in peak noun but,
the country will have to go for more expensive
options, which will make our products create
significant less competitive in international market
Broad objectives for inter-basin transfers could
be envisaged as equitable distribution of the available
water resources, increased economic efficiency; self

sufficiency in food and energy; providing livelihood
and employment opportunities in situ to avoid
migration of population from rural to urban areas.
The water resources of India are very unevenly
distributed within the basins. National Commission
for Integrated Water Development has shown that
the per capita availability of waters varies widely
from around 300 m.cu per person per year in basins
like Sabarmati to very large quantities in the
Brahmaputra, with a National average of about 2000
m.cu per person per year. Very large disparities are
also noticed in the per capita irrigated and rain fed
land available to the rural population for derived lively
hood from land. These disparities are likely to
increase in future. Self sufficiency in food grains
could again be an important driver for planning of
inter-basin transfers.
In order to be self sufficient in food, increased
irrigation through long distance water transfers may
be required. Investments in long distance water
496
transfers may be economically less efficient as
compared to say industrial and other commercial
investments. It may not be prudent to make
investments to achieve complete food sufficiency
through long distance transfer of water. Deficiency
in any out put including food if it occurs can be met
from imports, from those who can produce that out
put more efficiently.
There are instances where many smaller
nations depend on import for meeting their food
requirements. Countries like Japan, England, Saudi
Arabia etc. depend on imports to meet a large part
of their food requirements. How-ever many others
feel that a nation of the size of India cannot afford
to be not self sufficient in food requirements. The
world trade in food grains is not large enough to meet
the needs of a large country like India. World trade
in rice for example is only 18 million tonnes at
present. Large imports by India would affect the
price stability. Also many of the nations who do not

chase food self sufficiency as a goal seem to occupy
a more commanding position, politically and
economically. Thus, the threat of use of food as a
weapon may not be a deterrent to them. After
consideration of these aspects, most decision makers
feel that food self sufficiency should be an explicit
objective of interlinking of rivers.
SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
OF INTER-LINKING OF RIVERS
In India, the planners are familiar with the social
and environmental concerns caused by small, medium
and large in-basin projects. Few NGOs have
expressed that inter-basin transfers may cause socioeconomic
and environmental impacts much different
from those caused by in-basin developments. The
social and environmental concerns associated with
these inter-basin transfers would mainly on account
of the largeness of the totality of the measures in
the region in which the system of links passes. Each
individual storage dam such as the Ichampally, the
Polavaram, the Manibhadra/ Tikarpara etc involved
in the peninsular links would not be much different
in its storage or in its displacement from the large
reservoirs like Gandhisagar, Sardar Sarovar,
Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar etc which are existing.
Similarly, we already have experienced about large
canals exceeding discharge capacities of 1000
cumec and the link canals would be not of much
larger magnitude through these would be of much
larger links. The existing inter-basin transfers in India
do not seem to have experienced any such problem.
CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT AS APPLIED TO WATER
RESOURCES
Short vs. long term considerations:- There are
some fundamental dichotomies on the time
framework for sustainability of water resources
projects for practical application. For example, the
life period of a small check dam, run-off river barrage
and a large multi-purpose dam can not be considered
to be similar. Accordingly, there should be
considerable flexibility in terms of the type of projects
being considered while applying the fundamental
assumption behind the concept of sustainable
development that it would be viable over the long
term. Many times, sustainable development is
referred vaguely to several generations. Further, we
have to reconcile the short term expectations of the
main users (farmers in an irrigation project) with the
long term needs of the society.
497
Externalities : In most of the projects, the private
costs or benefits do not equal to social costs or
benefits. The internalisation of such costs has not
been easy through taxes, subsidies and regulations
due to main reasons of difficulties in calculations of
precise value of externalities, forceful difference of
considerable private advantages by powerful
individuals and organisations, time gap between
realisation of such costs and regulations to control
such externalities in the developing countries.
Risks and uncertainties : The water resources
development is confronted with large scale risks and
uncertainties due to highly complex environmental
system. The existing knowledge and data base is
inadequate to identify the parameters that could
indicate the passage from sustainable to
unsustainable stage. Further if, on already complex
issues, additional factors such as potential climatic
changes are superimposed; the degree of
uncertainties increases tremendously in terms of
detecting or predicting the transition process.
Above concepts should be systematically
analysed by multi-disciplinary experts for their
scientific application in real life. Commonly used
words ‘holistic approach’ and ‘sustainable’ are
difficult to be understood in specific sense.
TIRADE BY NON-PROFESSIONALS AND
SELF SYLED ENVIRONMENTAL
ACTIVISTS
Even a layman can appreciate that in the
situation of monsoonic weather in our country,
storage of river flows during floods is unavoidable
not only to meet the basic needs of bulging population
for diverse uses but also to moderate the floods,
droughts and poverty. Most of the people associated
with environmental activism and press reporting in
India have very little understanding of the complex
multi-disciplinary environmental processes. Most of
the personnel associated with the tirade against water
storage projects have very little understanding of the
‘dose-response functions’ of the complex
environmental processes and are ignorant of intricate
multi-disciplinary techniques of water resources
development. An overview of the environmental
impacts of the water resources development in India
is of particular interest at the present stage of
development. It is evident that large water storage
projects are surely better alternatives wherever
the parameters such as the volume of water flow,
geological and topographical considerations and

egional requirements are satisfied. Historical
records establish that dynamic nature of
environmental effects, which seem adverse to the
environment at the time of construction, generally
tend to stabilise and become less unfavourable.
In fact extensive green cover develop in
submergence and irrigation commands. Large
number of migratory bird and wild life starts
developing after construction of large dams (case
studies for Aswan, Ramganga, Rihand, Matatila,
Indira Gandhi Nehar, Beas Sutluj Link, Bhakra
and Hirakud projects).
We should aim at minimising the adverse
environmental effects through appropriate changes
in projects design along with adopting environmental
management plan. It is necessary to take a balanced
view considering both direct and indirect benefits as
well as cost together with positive and negative
impacts on environment and socio-economic status
of the society. The environmental impacts should
be analysed not only ‘before and after’ but also ‘with
and without’ of the proposed water resources project.
Many of the NGOs believe in myths even; when
though such myths are clearly contradicted by
scientific facts. Multi-disciplinary teamwork, though
advocated easily, is indeed a difficult task to
accomplish, specially when the individual’s training
is in the narrow disciplinary field of specialisation.
Subjects of water resources management,
environmental concerns and the process of planning
and operation of various types of water projects
should be rightly taught at different levels of
education as well as to the experts of different
disciplines.
SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT
RELATED TO NARMADA PROJECT
Following excerpts of Hon’ble Supreme Court
in their judgement delivered on 18 th October, 2000
for Narmada Project, in writ petition of Narmada
Bachhao Andolan Vs. Government of India and
Others are eye opening. (C.A. No. 6014/1994
W.P.(C) Nos. 345/94 with 104/1997, S.L.P. (C) No.
3608/1985 & T.C. (C) No. 35 of 19995 ).
Dams and Environment -Supreme Court in its
majority judgement stated ‘that in the present case,
they were not concerned with the polluting industry,
but a large dam. The dam is neither a nuclear
establishment nor a polluting industry. The
construction of a dam undoubtedly would result in
the change of environment but it will not be correct
498
to presume that the contruction of a large dam like
Sardar Sarovar will result in ecological disaster.’
‘India has an experience over 40 years in the
construction of dams. The experience does not
show that the construction of a large dam is not
cost effective or leads to ecological or
environmental degradation. On the contrary, there
has been ecological up-gradation with the
construction of large dam. What is the impact on
environment with the construction of a dam is well
known in India and therefore, the ‘precautionary
principle’ and the ‘polluter pays principle’ will have
no application in the present case. So far, a number
of such river valley projects have been undertaken
in all parts of India. The petitioner has not been
able to point out a single instance where the
construction of a dam has, on the whole, had an
adverse environmental impact. On the contrary,
the environment has improved. That being so, there
is no reason to suspect, with all the experience gained
so far, that the position here will be any different
and there will not be over all improvement and
prosperity. It should not be forgotten that poverty is
regarded as one of the causes of degradation of
environment. With improved irrigation system, the
people will prosper. The construction of Bhakra Dam
is a shining example for all to see, how the backward
area of erstwhile undivided Punjab has now become
the granary of India with improved environment than
what was before the completion of Bhakra Nangal
Project. We are not convinced that the construction
of dam will result in there being an adverse ecological
impact. There is no reason to conclude that the
Environmental Sub-group is not functioning
effectively. The Group, which is headed by the
Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests is a
high powered body, which can not be belittled merely
on the basis of conjectures or surmises.’
Hon’ble Court was satisfied that substantial
compliance of stipulated environmental
safeguards was undertaken in SSD Project.
Surprisingly, the Supreme Court noted that the
Narmada Bacchao Andolan (NBA) had not even
allowed surveys for demarcation for R&R of the
PAFs and that the NBA’s efforts to stall SSDP
through FMG had failed. The NBA’s plea that
environmental clearance for Sardar Sarovar Dam
Project had lapsed; was not agreed to by the
Supreme Court. It was ruled that Narmada
Bachhao Andolan (NBA) could not give a single
example of the whole advese environmental
impacts of even a single dam in India.

REPORTB OF WORLD COMMISION ON
DAMS AND INDIA COUNTRY STUDY
REPORT
NBA and particularly Ms. Arun Dhatti Ray
even dared to censor their lords for Ms. Ray was
token imprisoned for a day ‘being a lady’. Later-on,
Ms. Medha Patkar (main spirit behind NBA) became
judge of World Commission on Dams (WCD) and
her spokesperson Sh. Jain ( nominee of NBA in
Govt. of India Committee) was appointed Vicechairman
of WCD. Total reliance in INDIA
COUNTRY STUDY REPORT (ICSR) was laid on
the figures given by the NGOs especially regarding
the displaced persons, submerged forests or the
effective command; on the other hand, the
government figures were stated to be unreliable
inferring that such departments interpret and present
the data to promote their own interests best. The
achievement of water resources development of last
50 years in India have been totally neglected in
ICSD. Large beneficial environmental and social
impacts of the Bhakra Dam, Hirakud Dam, Ukai
Dam, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, Pong Dam, Ramganga
Dam and several other major dams were available
in numerous publications. Tremendous environmental
and social benefits of Brindavan Garden (Krishna
Raj Sagar Dam), Ukai & Ramganga Gardens,
Periyar wildlife resorts, Kalindi Kunj, as by-products
of large dams and improved environmental and social
conditions in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and
western UP after the construction of large dams
were left out in the study report. On the other hand,
the three on-going projects namely, the Tehri, Indira
Sagar and Sardar Sarovar Projects were cited,
without associating the project authorities but laying
total reliance on the views of activists fighting against
these three projects.
Thus ICSR was a true malafide play enacted
under the shadow of the WCD. Surprisingly,
against all norms of decency and law, the
litigants and their prime supporters in Indian
Supreme Court against the Sardar Sarovar and
Tehri Dam Projects were either positioned as
Commissioners of the World Commission on Dams
or authors of India Country Study Report. Sh.
Shekhar Singh, a lecturer in IIPA (petitioner
against Tehri Dam) and Sh. Ramaswami R. Iyer (
an IAAS officer who was connected with water
for about 2 years only as Union Secretary Water
Resources) were commissioned as authors of
India Country Study Report (ICSR) for WCD.
499
WCD report was critically reviewed by 3 top
International Professional Organisations
International Commission on Large Dams
(ICOLD), International Commission on Irrigation
& Drainage (ICID), International Association of
Hydropower Association (IHPPA). Their valuable
observations were conveyed to prominent
international organizations, professional bodies
and Governments of various countries. They
pointed out serious flaws & ambiguities in WCD
Report and impracticability of the WCD
recommendations.
How can WCD recommendations regarding
joint negotiations with the stake holders leading
towards negotiated agreements at national and
international levels, be accepted by India; in view
of the massive programme for utilization of water,
power and environmental resources; for
accelerated economic development. Govt. of
India had to very rightly reject the WCD Report
since the report was not only being biased &
ambiguous but also due to one-sided India
Country Study Report wherein, the minor adverse
environmental impacts of large dams were highly
blown up and tremendous socio-economic and
environmental benefits of even major dams like
Bhakra, BSL, IGNP, Damodar, Ramganga,
Nagarjunasagar, etc. were omitted.
CONCLUSION
A series of smaller dams, even if feasible, would
entail higher costs, greater submergence, far more
displacement, greater evaporation losses, increased
maintenance cost and far less benefits. Small dams
are prone to fall in critical years of drought because
they depend on tiny catchments. Moreover, a large
dam site is a natural resource depending on the rock
formation, geometry of valley, foundation-conditions
and hydrological features. Medium and small water
projects as well as water harvesting schemes cannot
substitute the need of large water storages but can
at best complement the larger projects. This, too,
depends upon the hydrological, geological,
topographical and regional limitations. A large dam
site is a natural resource depending on rocks
formation, geometry of valley, foundations and
hydrological features. Catchment area treatment
and watershed management are development
projects in their own right and should be planned
and executed as such independently without putting
undue financial burden on water resources projects.
At best, treatment of direct draining sub-watersheds

along the reservoir rim could be charged to the cost
of the reservoir project.
Supreme Court in their judgement in PIL filed
by NBA expressed its deep concern that against the
utilisable storage 690 cu. km. of surface water
resources out of 1869 cu. km.; so far storage capacity
of all dams in India is only 174 cu. km., which is
incidentally less than the capacity of Kariba Dam in
Zambia/Zimbabwe with capacity of 180.6 cu. km.
and only 12 cu. km. more than the Aswan High Dam
of Egypt. Supreme Court observed that the Public
Interest Litigation (PIL) is ballooning and can’t
be allowed to burst. The lords in majority
judgment stated that that PILs cannot be
allowed to degenerate into “Publicity Interest
Litigation” nor “Private Inquisitiveness
Litigation”. Supreme Court very clearly observed
that with channelisation of development, ecology
& environment gets enhanced and that biggest
dam to smallest structures are water harvesting
structures. Supreme Court ruled that “Dam is
neither nuclear establishment nor an industry.
Since long, India has derived benefits of river
valley projects. High dam decision can’t be
faulted. Large dams upgrade ecology”.
Environment is either science or engineering,
which can not be so well understood by novelists,
journalists and self styled activists. Such persons
repeatedly use media to create fantasies since they
have excellent command on language, media
relationship and have nothing else to do except whole
hearted full time tirade against water storage
projects, on many shifting grounds. In every sector
other than water and power, specialists like
doctors, surgeons, economists, space & atomic
scientists etc. are considered competent but any
‘Tom’, ‘Dick’ and ‘Harry’ claims to be expert to
oppose large dams, hydel projects and inter-basin
transfer of water projects. Supreme Court’s
admission of PIL by NCCL against NBA and Prime
Minister’s direction for vigilance inquiries due to
siphoning of foreign funds and over 200 FIRs for
stopping R&R works are now matter of media
coverage.Adequate laws & Governing mechanism
should be quickly evolved so that such non
credible NGOs & self styled environmentalists
are no longer allowed to create obstacles in
national task of water and power supply for
competing uses for such a vast humanity.
Note- Views in the article do not belong to the Author’s
Organisations. Valuable publications used for reference are
cited below for further reading.
� � �
500
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