National acclaim for Jalgaon river-linking project

Singhal,presently the municipal commissioner of Kolhapur,said Jalgaon had received scanty rains in 2005,when the rest of Maharashtra was witnessing flood-like situations. Seven of its tehsils were drought-affected with no run-off water in rivers and nallahs; the water reservoirs were all empty. “The groundwater level was depleting in the district while the Girna dam in the neighbouring Nashik district was overflowing. This excess water from the dam,which was otherwise going waste,had the potential to be diverted to the water-scarce regions of Jalgaon.”

Singhal said the only feasible option for rain-deprived areas was to divert water to them from areas of excess rains by way of the river-linking technique. The project in Maharashtra is based on innovative methods of linking a natural and artificial water drainage and intra-basin water transfer; a  technique of rainwater conservation,utilisation of flood water runoff and replenishing natural and artificial water bodies through natural and artifical water drainage channels. “The project was planned and completed over four months in 2005. We involved citizens in the planning process and local villagers willingly gave parts of their land to enable the inter-linking of rivers. We decided to use the existing canals that were repaired and their capacities enhanced by desilting and raising embankment heights. The existing natural big drains,riverbeds and channels were also used to a large extent and also additional canals and channels were dug wherever required.”

The drinking water shortage in a municipal corporation,five municipal councils and 123 villages was solved while a population of 8.5 lakh benefitted from the project. It also resulted in an additional 4,886 million cubic ft storage of water,valued at Rs 11 crore. In total,around 700 medium,small dams,KT weir,village tanks and percolation tanks were filled and more than 16,000 water wells were recharged with the project.

The river-linking project also helped increase the area under irrigation from 13,000 hectares in 2005 to 30,000 hectares in 2008. The total estimated benefits for agriculturists ranged between Rs 25 crore and Rs 30 crore annually.