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Journalism of Courage
Ladsavangi village in Marathwadas Aurangabad district has always faced a severe water scarcity,and even clashes over water,for many years. People of the adjoining Naigavan village also never shared water with this village of 5,000 people.
Things have,however,undergone a drastic change. Water,both for drinking and irrigation,is now available in abundance,and farmers are harvesting around three crops every year leading to a substantial increase in their income levels.
The credit for this turnaround in as many as 29 villages in the district spread over 17,656 hectares goes to an irrigation project based on the concept of aquifer management a first in the country that started in 2008.
Instead of individually treating tiny watersheds,the aquifer water management system stresses on water recharge,which is widely seen as the beginning of a new era in water resource management.
Aquifer is a type of strata or soil which has capacity to hold water and which transmits groundwater. Normally,the time required for the treatment of any large watershed is four to five years but it is possible to treat critical watershed areas within one year.
The Maharashtra government has undertaken the Aquifer Water Management Pilot project with World Bank assistance. The project aims at achieving sustainability through community involvement in groundwater recharge and maintain the balance of surface and groundwater within a particular area.
The project is in the backdrop of the habits of siphoning off groundwater without assessing the crop needs,said Sanjeev Unhale,Secretary,Dilasa Janvikas Pratishthan (DJP),an Aurangabad-based Non-Government Organization (NGO),which played an instrumental role in making the pilot project a grand success.
To delineate the Aquifer,almost 12 hydro-geological parameters were studied in minute detail.
Shivaji Dhakne,Chairman,Aquifer Water Management Association (AWMA) said the project was along the lines of the one in Mexico.
He elaborated that the project is divided into three distinct types of Aquifers. The first comprises nine villages with low permeability,while the second consists of 15 villages with medium water intake capacity while third Aquifer consists of five villages having the best percolation capacity.
The initial geological survey and groundwater movement study was carried out by the Groundwater Survey and Development Agency (GSDA),Aurangabad.
The study reports were discussed with the villagers in a very interesting manner through participatory rural appraisal techniques.
Chandrakant Ghuge,of Dhondkheda village, said,We have no work as the economy of villagers depended on agriculture. But,this year,everyone in Ladsavangi,Sayyadpur and other adjoining villages are overwhelmed as hundreds of wells got recharged. Not only has the drinking water problem been solved but the villagers are also harvesting three crops round the year,for the first time this year.
Vaishalee Khadilkar,Project Engineer,Dilasab said the most distinguishing and key characteristic of Aquifer management is identifying the most appropriate and ideal location of water storage structures.
The implementation of the entire project has lso resulted in rejuvenation of Dudhana river,which was once a perennial river,but has been flowing only for six months for the last five years.
