Rural water programme
Make money while the water lasts
In this issue of the newsletter, the second part of the PPP story looks at small informal water service providers, taking the example of Delhi. More than 50% of the population of Delhi is actually served by these informal water service providers. Although the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is mandated to supply water to the poor living in unauthorised colonies, JJ clusters, resettlement colonies and urban and rural villages, the reality is that people living in these non-planned areas pay more than 750 times of what DJB charges the well-off living in planned colonies.
Are PPPs here to stay
The first part of this article focussed on the recent initiatives by the government to involve big and established private players for municipal water supply. The argument behind the privatisation moves is that private players need to be brought in to recover costs and bring in improved efficiency and service in urban water supply.
Qanats, Surangams
Qanats and surangams are examples of water accessing systems which have similar technologies. Qanat technology originated in Iran and was used extensively in the dry, arid desert regions of the Middle East and surangam technologyis used in the hilly terrains of the Western Ghats. Both systems essentially consist of underground tunnels that source the aquifer and use gravity to convey the water to groundlevel.
People of Water
Himalayan Gram VikasSamiti
Social Centre for Rural Initiative and Advancement (SCRIA)
SCRIA has been working in semi-arid and arid areas of Rajasthan and Haryana since 1979. They are involved in organising rural communities, especially women, and promote integrated development. They have aided communities in reviving and creating water harvesting structures (watersheds, traditional tanks, rooftop rainwater harvesting, natural resource management) for drinking and irrigational purposes. Micro-finance is also provided to promote self-governance and livelihoods development.
Newsletter
Reviving Catch Water Nearly 12 years ago, CSE launched its campaign on rainwater harvesting. We have come a long way since then – rainwater harvesting is firmly placed in the policy paradigm. Many states have incorporated rainwater harvesting in their policies, laws and schemes. Many NGOs are working on rainwater harvesting and enthusiastic and committed individuals are doing a fantastic job of showing what can be done by simply holding rainwater where it falls. The Central Ground Water Board has prepared a master plan for artificial recharging for the entire country. Yet, there is a yawning gap between these plans and groundlevel implementation. The National Water Mission has a target of improving water efficiency by 20% by 2020. What about having a target for groundwater recharging? When CSE launched its rainwater harvesting programme, nobody understood what it was all about. Anil Agarwal, on the other hand, firmly believed that capturing India’s monsoon rains during the short period of not more than 3 months in the year, could be the answer to India’s water problems. He said,” an average Indian village needs 1.2 hectares of land to capture 6.57 million litres of water in a year for cooking and drinking. If there is a drought and rainfall levels dip to half the normal, the land required would rise to a mere 2.4 hectare. Thus, there is no village in India that cannot meet its basic drinking and cooking needs through rainwater harvesting”. With this in mind, CSE launched its campaign on rainwater harvesting. Catch Water was the campaign newsletter. The newsletter, true to the campaign’s aim of “making water everybody’s business”, endeavoured to be the people’s voice and to showcase their efforts. It was initially brought out in several Indian languages as well as in English. Somewhere, along the way, this effort got lost. Today, we are trying to revive the newsletter. This is the first issue, and in this year, it will be brought out every two months. We request our readers to send us in water stories from all corners of the country – the issues, the problems, innovative solutions, people’s solutions and technological solutions. We would like to disseminate these efforts in all areas of water management – urban, rural, water supply, sanitation, water quality, rivers, floods, pricing, industrial use, watershed – in fact, anything and everything to with water. This first issue remembers the initial campaign days with a piece by Anil Agarwal. Read on and we look forward to your contributions and your efforts to make this newsletter truly a voice of the people. Gita Kavarana
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Reviving Catch Water 
Akashganga: The bounties of rain 
Bamboo drip
Standards for harvested rainwater
Based on WHO drinking water quality standards and field studies conducted in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Nepal, the Rain Water Harvesting Implementation Network (RAIN) has established the following standards:
To achieve these standards, RAIN has recommended the following techniques:
1. Sampling and collection:
Water Statistics
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What changes does drip irrigation bring to farming? Study: In a 2010 study, “Impact of Drip Irrigation on Farming System: Evidence |
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