Uttarakhand - Department of Land Resources

Apart from frequent cloudbursts in hilly regions of the State which cause a great deal of
damage to life and property in hills. There are frequent droughts in the State as main
stays of agriculture in the hills are mainly rains. Each year many districts face drought
like conditions which result in failure of the crops.
When drought like conditions prevails most of the remotely located springs in the hills
start drying up or the discharge is reduced to such a level that they are unable to fulfill
the basic requirement of the residents. There is also a drastic reduction in the flow of
major rivers in the State. In the Himalayan region, „naula‟ (12 m deep well, mostly lined
to get water from seepage), „dhara‟ (spout springs) and „hand pumps‟ (at few places)
are the main sources of water for irrigation and household consumption, because rural
water supply (if it is available) is either irregular or unwholesome. Except the spout
spring, which delivers water at the ground surface naturally, „naula‟ and „hand pump‟ are
artificial methods to extract water from the sloppy aquifer. Perennial or non-perennial
nature of these water sources depends upon the aerial coverage of the discharging
aquifer. In turn, these aquifers are recharged by rain or by snow-melt water, which gets
infiltrated through the land surface and percolates to join the aquifers. The natural rate
of groundwater recharge is reckoned to be 31% of the total annual rainfall. Therefore,
soil characteristics and land use play a major role in recharging sloppy aquifers.
Deforestation, grazing and trampling by livestock, erosion of top fertile soil, forest fires
and development activities (e.g. road-widening, mining, building construction, etc.)
cause reduction in the infiltration rate and sponge action of the land and thus the failure
of the watershed, which results in unchecked flow of water during the monsoon to cause
a sudden swelling of streams and rivers, so that there are floods in the foothills and
even in the plains, and droughts in the villages located on the slope of the mountains.
Regarding nature‟s role, there is about 30–40% decline in average rainfall over the past
50 years. Under such circumstances, rainwater harvesting and its storage is the only
option left with us.
18