DEPARTMENT OF SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION, PUNJAB

Rain Water Harvesting in Punjab- An Experience

Er. SS Saini, Chief Conservator of Soils, Punjab, Chandigarh.

Water is a critical input for the land based production system. Since 1950-51, a massive investment has been made for the development of irrigation in India and the area under irrigation increased from 22.61 mha in 1950-51 to 86.26 mha in 2000-01. Despite such substantial increase of area under irrigation, the share of irrigated area to gross cropped area is about 40% as of today. At the National level, there are concerted efforts to bring more area under irrigation and the focus is on rainwater management for increasing the production in rainfed areas.

In Punjab, 5.38 lakh hectare area, nearly 10% of the total geographical area of the state, comprising of Shivalik foothills known as Kandi area, water is a precious resource. Although the average rainfall in this area varies from 1000 mm to 1200 mm, the irrigated area is far below than the rest of the state where more than 97% of the area is under assured irrigation. In comparison, only about 20% of the cultivated area in Kandi is under assured irrigation. Therefore, the management of rainwater in this region is a key to environmental, economical & social sustainability.

Scope and Potential of Rainwater Harvesting in Punjab

Punjab is one of the smallest States of India with geographical area of 50362 Sq. Km. It lies between 29-30' to 32-30' N Latitude and 73-55' to 76-55' E Longitude. It is bounded by Pakistan in the west, Jammu and Kashmir in the north, Himachal Pradesh in North and North East, Haryana in the east and South west and Rajasthan in the south west.

Based on soil and climatic parameters, Punjab is divided into the following Agro Climatic regions:-

1.      Sub Mountainous undulating region or Kandi region.

2.      Undulating plain region.

3.      Central plain region.

4.      Western plain region.

5.      Southern plain region.

6.      Flood Plain/Bet Area.

Although the Punjab State has highest production of crops in the country, there are few areas in sub-mountainous region lying in the Shivalik foothills where lands are not intensively cultivated. The development of irrigation potential through surface and subsurface has reached up to the level of approx. 98% of the cultivated area in central plain regions and western and south western regions. Although the average annual rainfall in the Kandi region is more by about 1.5 times the rainfall in the Central region and more by about 2.5 times the rainfall in the western and south western regions, but its distribution is erratic and uneven. The 80% of average annual rainfall of 1000 mm in Kandi region is received within 3 months of monsoon period resulting into severe soil erosion with flash floods and frequent droughts due to erratic rainfall. Therefore, the management of the runoff in the sub-mountainous region known as the Kandi region is crucial for increasing productivity of this region.

Kandi Area of Punjab

Location

The Kandi area is located in North-Eastern part of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahar, Ropar and Patiala districts lying between 30^o21'48" to 32^o30" north latitudes and 75^o32' 12" to 75^o56' east longitudes covering an area of 5,38,000 hect about 10.6% of 5.03 million hect. geographical area of Punjab state. The watershed and sub watershed lying in the Kandi area of the Punjab covers 2154 villages of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshaher, Ropar and Patiala district. The average height of hills range from 415m to 500m above mean sea level.

Fluvial action of choes, erosion and deposition are free geomorphic processes prevalent in the Kandi area of Punjab.

Geologically, the area forms a part of the Shivalik hills constituting piedmont and alluvial piedmont. The piedmonts are sited on the upper conglomerate beds mainly on a bed of clay intermixed with pebbles and cobbles and nodular concretions and in the plains, it is alluvium deposits.

Physiography

There are two major physiographic units:-

i)                    Hills

Hills are observed in the northern fringe of Gurdaspur, North Eastern part of Hoshiarpur and Ropar districts. The hills are composed of sandstones, conglomerates and shales. The attitude varies from 300 to 600 meters above Mean Sea Level. These hills act as a runoff. The number of choes/seasonal rivulets originating in the hills cause severe erosion. Hill shoe dendritic drainage pattern and have thin to moderately dense scrub forests. Ground Water potential of this hilly tract is poor.

ii)                  Piedmont Plain (Dissected & Rolling Land)

It forma a transitional zone between the Shivalik hills and alluvial terraces. It is 10 to 15km wide and comprises parts of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshaher and Ropar districts. The elevation of this zone varies from 300 to 375m above the MSL. The land is badly dissected by seasonal streams popularly called Choes. Many of these choes terminate in the area without joining any major stream/river. The deposits in the alluvial fans and in choes are coarse-textured mainly sand mixed with gravels and or pebbles at places and relatively finer in other area. The deposits are young and highly stratified.

iii)                Alluvial Fans

This is undulating are below the hills with general gradient towards southwest direction and has sub parallel drainage. The unit comprises of sediments laid down by choes/ nallahs. Sediments are composed of loose sandy material with some pebbles and boulders.

iv)               Table Land

A gently sloping, highly eroded occupied the eastern portion of Bist-Doab area. The drainage is very fine and parallel. The unit comprises of alternate bands of clay, silt and sand of varying grades.

Drainage

Most of the area is drained into rivers Ravi, Beas and Satluj through numerous choes. These rivers along with their tributaries form the main drainage system of the area. The Ravi river rises the northern face of Rohtang Pass in the Kullu hills in Himachal Pradesh. After passing through Chamba and Dalhousie hill ranges, the river emerges from the foothills at Shahpur Kandi in Punjab. The river flows along the western boundary of Gurdaspur district. The Beas river in Beas Kunj in Pir Panjal range in the south of Rohtang Pass. After traveling through Manali and Kulu valleys, it pierces the Dhanla Dhar range and joins the chakki khad near Mirthal and finally merges with Satluj at Harike (Amritsar District). The area between Ravi and Beas rivers is drained by Sakki Nallah, Kasur Nallah and Palti Nallah. Most of area of Hoshiarpur district and north eastern side of Balachaur tehsil of Nawanshaher district is drained of river Satluj through choes, while the most of area of Garshankar and Hoshiarpur tehsill of district Hoshiarpur partly drain in to East Bein through numerous choes namely Rajni, Chabbewal, Mangrowal and Nasraia choes. The Dasuya tehsil partly drains into the Beas River and West Bein leading to river Satluj and partly into hilly and piedmont area is drained through the langerpur group of choes to the river Beas. The river satluj forms the main drainage in the area of Ropar district. The main tributaries in the area are rivers Soan in the North and Sirsa in the South.

Climate

The annual rainfall varies from 1000 to 1200mm. The southwestern monsoon begins in the first week of July and extends up to September. This is the main rainfall season and constitutes about 80% of the annual rainfall. The temperature precipitation diagram indicates that July, August and September have more rainfall in a year are wet months. The monthly mean temperature is 30^oC while the monthly mean minimum temperature is 14^oC. Area qualifies for Hypothermic temperature regime and ustic moisture regime. Mean annual temperature is 22^oC and the difference between mean summer temperature and mean winter temperature is more than 5^oC. The northern part of Gurdaspur district is having rainfall of 1100 to 1500mm and mean annual temperature is 20^oC ranging from 15 to 22^oC. The soil temperature regime of this area is thermic and soil moisture regime is Udic.

Socio-Economic condition

The economic condition of the Kandi area is poor. The major occupation of the inhabitants of Kandi Area is farming. The land holdings are small and fragmented. The area faces severe problems relating to soil and water. It is prone to excessive runoff, flash floods and frequent droughts due to high fluctuating and erratic distribution of rainfall over the years. There is also acute shortage of drinking water, fodder and fuel. The agriculture production system is mostly rainfed due to lack of irrigation water.

The marketing and transportation facilities have played a major role for general development but these facilities are still inadequate in the remote areas of the Kandi area. There is a scope of agro based industries and valuable plantations to boost the socio economic condition of the area.

Rainwater Harvesting in Punjab

The Department of Soil & Water Conservation started the work of rainwater harvesting in the year 1986-87 on the pattern of famous Sukhomajri Project. The First Earthen Rainwater Harvesting structure was constructed in village Perch in Ropar district having a catchment area of only 8 hectares. Over the time more than 250 water harvesting structures of different kind have been constructed in Ropar, Nawanshahar and Gurdaspur districts.

Procedure adopted for construction of Water Harvesting structures

State Level Technical Committee

All the Rainwater Harvesting structures were used to be technically approved by a State Level Technical Committee comprising of the representatives of the Department of Soil & Water Conservation, Central Soil & Water Conservation Training & Research Institute and the Zonal Research Station, Ballowal Saunkri. The Topographical Survey, Vegetation Survey, Soil Profile Studies and the Field Visits are made part of the exercise by the Technical Committee. The registration of Water Users' Societies is mandatory before the construction starts. The treatment of catchment areas preceded the construction. The actual construction period on Water Harvesting Structures varied from 4 to 6 months starting in September and completion by May every year.

Water Users' Societies

A Water Users' Society on each Water Harvesting Structure was formed and registered under the Societies Act. The detailed Byelaws of the Water Users' Society were got approved from the State Govt. The Executive body of the Society, called the Managing Committee, was constituted of 11 members elected by a simple majority. In the Byelaws, the functions of the Executive body were clearly defined. The maintenance of Water Harvesting Structure, protection of forests in catchment areas and equitable distribution of the benefits were the key responsibilities of the Society. The capacity of the Society and its members for maintenance & management of the assets created was built up through Orientation Trainings for the community mobilization.

Different Types of Water Harvesting Structures and Research & Development Issues:

The following types of Water Harvesting Structure have been constructed:

1. Earthen and Masonary Check Dams

2. Makkowal type water Harvesting
3. Micro Lift Irrigation Projects

Earthen and Masonary Check Dams

The department has constructed about 90 earthen harvesting structures and 11 stone masonry/brick masonry structures. The height of the earthen structures varies from 8-15 meters and of masonry structures 5-8 meters and the catchments area varies between 10 to 200 ha. The earthen embankments have been constructed in Ropar, Nawanshar and Hoshiarpur Districts where the geology varies from light textured to medium textured soils with clay bands. The masonry structures have mostly been constructed in Dhar and Dunera blocks of Gurdaspur district where the hills are composed of conglomerates and shales. The good earth as a fill material is often not available near the sites.

Makkowal type water Harvesting

The Makkowal type water harvesting structures got its name from a remote village in district Hoshiarpur where first ever this type of structure was constructed about 25 years ago. In this type of structures the hill seepage and the base flow is tapped in the higher hill reaches and is delivered to the command area by gravity through a network of pipelines. In village Makkowal, the great socio economic transformation was witnessed with this project. For decades, the whole village consisting of about 200 hamlets, the only source of water for human and cattle drinking and other household chores was a 200 ft deep open well. With the construction of this water harvesting structure, the water was carried by laying a 200 meter long pipeline from the hills to the village pond. The water was made available in the village for human and cattle and also for providing irrigation to about 100 acres.

The excellence of the project was widely appreciated and later on replicated at about 110 other places in the Kandi region. The command area in this type of projects varied from 10 hectares to 100 hectares and in a few cases even more than 200 hectares. The availability of water in this type of structures is assured for 8-9 months in a year.

Micro Lift Irrigation Projects

These type of structures have been constructed where the command area is at a higher level than the water source. The projects include the development of the water source through percolation wells and then lifting to centrifugal pumps to irrigate the command area. The average Command Area for such projects is 50 ha. About 60 such structures have been constructed, the majority of them in hilly areas of Gurdaspur district.

Cost and Economic Viability of Water Harvesting Structures

The cost per unit of harvested water in earthen and stone masonry structure varies from Rs. 10-15 per cubic meter of harvested water and Rs 1-1.5 lakh (approx.) per hectare of command area. The cost of Makkowal type water harvesting and micro lift irrigation harvesting is much less as compared to the earthen or masonry water harvesting structures. It varies from Rs. 25000-50000 per hectare of the command area. The operation and maintenance cost in case of Earthen and Masonry structures varies from 2-5% of the investment. It is about 1% of the Makkowal type projects and 5-7% in case of Lift Irrigation projects.

All types of Water Harvesting Structures have been found to be economically viable. The Economic Evaluation of a few harvesting structures was conducted by the Department. The Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of 6 Makkowal type projects and 6 Micro Lift Irrigation Projects & Small Earthen structures was worked out and it varies from 1.30 to 3.58 and 2.52 to 3.28 for Makkowal Type and Micro Lift/Earthen Water Harvesting Structures respectively.

Another study by Zonal Research Station (Kandi), Ballowal Saunkri of the 4 water structures constructed under the IWDP hills programme, the Average BCR is about 2. Thus, all these structures are economically viable.

Perception and Participation of the beneficiaries

The community has been participating in the water harvesting projects right from the beginning when the work of water harvesting was started in the state 20 years ago. In the initial years of taking up the programme of water harvesting, the Users' Group called the Water Users' Society was formed under an executive order of the State Government. These groups were having all the land owners as members and a managing committee elected by simple majority. The Managing Committee normally had 11 members, four of them the active office bearers. The functions and duties of these committees included supervision of the execution of work of water harvesting structure, sharing the harvested water, collection of user charges and maintenance of structure. The Societies were registered under the societies act. The societies actively participated in the protection of catchment areas. However, there was no beneficiary share towards the cost of the structure and therefore, with the passage of the time, the interest of those societies was reduced where the availability of water became unassured. The society remained more active in case of Makkowal and micro lift irrigation projects since the availability of water is assured for most part of the year in these type of structures. With the passage of time the community was motivated to share the cost in the shape of labour and with material and transport also. All projects completed with some contribution by the beneficiaries are functioning & sustaining better than the projects completed without their contribution. It has also been observed that the community is more active in Makkowal type and micro lift irrigation projects than the earthen and masonry type projects since the last 10 years the Runoff Yield during the monsoons is only 30% of the designed norm and there is not enough water for irrigation.

Another observation is that the smaller groups manage the water harvesting structures in a better way than the larger groups due to the social diversions in the bigger groups. With the training and skill enhancement component being focused during last few years for the management of water harvesting structures, the quality participation of the community members has improved.

Sustainability

The water resource structure can be useful, effective and sustainable with the active involvement of the community. The sustainability directly depends upon the capacity of the community in the post project operation and maintenance. The collection of user charges for generating the funds for operation and maintenance is vital. It has been observed that adequate funds are being collected by the members of the group as User charges in case of Makkowal type and Micro Lift Irrigation projects. The collection of User charges in Earthen dams is below expectations. The different user groups has fixed user charges on the basis of cost for maintenance and cost for operations. In the case of Makkowal and earthen structures the operation cost is very nominal. In most of Micro Irrigation Projects, the operation cost is heavy but the feedback from the field again reveal that the best functioning Users' Groups are of Micro Lift Irrigation Projects, followed by the Makkowal and Earthen/ Masonry Check dams. The reason is the smaller manageable size of the Users' Group in case of Micro Lift Irrigation Projects as compared to the Makkowal type and Masonry check dams. The Users' Groups have fixed User charges either on per hour basis or on per unit area basis depending upon the management convenience. It has been seen that in majority of the cases, the User charges are collected on six-monthly basis after the harvesting of the crop in case of Makkowal Type and Earthen/ Masonry Structures. For Lift/ Micro Lift Projects, the User Charges are mostly collected on monthly basis.

Issues for Research & Development

1. Runoff & Water Yield

The Water Yield form Runoff for harvesting directly depends upon the number & duration of runoff producing showers. It has been observed that the Runoff is drastically reduced over the last 10 years. The structures were designed by taking 30% Runoff in Ropar district, 20% Runoff in Hoshiarpur district and 30-40% in hilly part of Gurdaspur district. All the structures behaved as per the designed norms except for the last 15 years. The Average Annual Rainfall is lower by about 50% from 1990 to 2004. The Average Annual Rainfall in Punjab has come down from 754.6mm in 1990 to 375.2mm in 2004. For districts of Ropar, Hoshiarpur & Gurdaspur, part of which forms the Kandi belt, the Average Rainfall has come down by 45% from 1990 to 2004. The Runoff Yield is about 10-15% in Ropar district, 10% in Hoshiarpur district and 20-25% in Gurdaspur district. The Structures designed for storing total designed Runoff now do not justify the cost incurred on them.