Degradation of water supplies around HubliDharwad and a model for their rehabilitation

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Degradation of water supplies around
Hubli-Dharwad and a model for their
rehabilitation

• Dr Robert Brook, project manager for projects
  R7959 and R8084,
• School of Agricultural Forest Sciences
• University of Wales, Bangor, UK

In collaboration with Centre for Arid Zone
Studies, University of Wales, Bangor DPU,
University College London University of
Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad BAIF,
Dharwad India Development Service, Dharwad Best
Practices Foundation, Bangalore and numerous
farmers and poor people in our six project
villages
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Pudakalkatti
Kotur
Dasanakoppa
10 km
Main road
Chaul Nalla
By-pass
Mandihal
Railway
Daddikamalapur
Tank and water course (nalla)
Mugad
Navalur
Built up area
Ungkal Tank
Shiraguppi
Hire Nalla
Hubli-Dharwad and surrounding area
Varoor
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Development of participatory action plans

• Conducted in 2001 in several peri-urban villages
• Process was as participatory as could be achieved
  within the time period
• Initially, worked with delegates selected by the
  poor within each village
• Recognition that social mobilization was a
  pre-requisite for successful implementation of
  action plans
• Therefore, simultaneously, NGOs established
  self-help groups in participating villages

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Development of action plans in villages
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Creation of cause, effect and solution analyses
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Findings

• Issues were remarkably similar in different
  villages
• Many revolved around access to water
• catchment rehabilitation
• desilting of tanks
• repair of tank bunds
• rehabilitation of channels feeding into tanks
• descending water tables in PU villages
• mitigating the adverse effects of irrigation with
  sewage waste water

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Relevance to the PUI?

• All villages are within 12 km of the twin cities
• All report a degree of social fragmentation
• Consequent breakdown of community action and
  maintenance of common property resources
• Inhibits development of new enterprises that take
  advantages of proximity to urban markets
• vegetable production
• fisheries
• dairying, and associated dry season fodder
  production

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Rehabilitation of catchments
Mugad tank in 1998
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Weeds choking the tank
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Fisherman, catching fish to urban markets
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Soil erosion is a major issue
Soils are classified as shallow, loamy
inceptisols over gravels, with low water holding
capacity and highly susceptible to erosion
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Mugad tank in 2003, after 5 years of drought
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Repairing tank bunds
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Tank in Mandihal in 2004, after bund repair
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Feeder channel and culvert, desilted tank and
repaired bund in Daddikamalapur
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Ooooh! Bliss!
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UAS negotiated with 33 landowners in Kotur to
allow and partially fund rehabilitation of 1.8km
of feeder channel
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Desilting was mentioned in several action plans
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Tank silt is an eagerly sought after soil
amendment
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Kotur tank in 2004
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Impact of channel clearing and tank desilting in
Kotur village

• Area irrigated directly from channel
• 2003 season 0 ha
• 2004 season 15.2 ha
• Monetary returns
• increased by Rs 267,000 (between 25 farms)
• Monetary returns due to application of tank silt
  (14 farms)
• increased by Rs 32,000 (between 25 farms)
• Yield of crops from 16.8ha (all types)
• 2003 season 18.6 t
• 2004 season 25.6 t
• Manure application
• 2003 season 120 tractor loads
• 2004 season 63 tractor loads
• Fertilizer application
• 2003 season 13.8 t
• 2004 season 11.5 t

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Outcomes

• Farmers and families feel much more confident
  about their ability to make a living from farming
• Reverses trend of social fragmentation
• Increases community cohesion
• Employs more people on the land, generating
  additional income
• Empowers local communities
• In due course, may generate new lines of income
  earning, such as vegetable growing
• Reverses a long trend of soil erosion and water
  loss
• Full tanks recharge groundwater, so more water in
  wells
• Community action is much less expensive than
  Government funded desilting programme
• But usually requires external facilitation, at
  least at first farmers contributed 41 of
  costs, in labour and in kind