Ensuring Drinking Water Security – A Case of Dodivada Village, Mehsana

Adivada (IWMP-4) project is located in Bechraji Taluka, Mehsana District of Gujarat state. The nearest town is Bechraji which is about 10 to 15 Km from watershed area which is well connected by pucca road. The project area lies in nearest boundary of Patan district.

Dodivada village of Adivada cluster in which Patel, Thakor, Rabari, Harijan, Darbar and other communities are the primary inhabitants of the watershed village. The livelihood of these people is primarily based on rain fed agriculture, wage labour, animal husbandry. The population of the village is 2111 respectively.

But the major issue in the village was scarcity of water for drinking as well as for life saving irrigation of their valuable crops; especially in the hamlets which are comparatively new settlement which don’t have these established facilities.The village did not had any reliable source for drinking water. There was only one drinking water tank in the village which was in worn-out condition earlier. The height of the tank was short; as a result there was continuous leakage from the tank. As per socially imposed construct the women in the villages had to spend a lot of time to fetch Drinking water for their households. They need to walk down 2km to the next village to fetch water for their drinking purpose. Thus, the availability of perennial drinking water was an acute problem in the Dodivada village. With the inception of the IWMP project, the Dodivada village of Mehsana district was taken under IWMP 4 in Batch-II in year 20010-11 by DWDU-Mehsana.

The project is purely community oriented and local people have a clear say in their resource management, utilization and its conservation. The project is planned, managed, executed and operated through community based institution (Village Watershed Committee).

Community and Participation: As a part of the participative planning process the drinking water availability was identified as the major problem in the village. The solution for the same came across as an outcome of PRA Exercise conducted by the Watershed Development Team during the preliminary phase of project planning. The Watershed Development Committees, PIA and Gramsabha decided to repair the existing drinking water tank to have permanent solution of this problem. The WDT finalized the activity under Entry Point Activity and works were started after approval of Gram Sabha constructed and completed within months at a cost of Rs. 2.84 Lakhs.

The Way Ahead... As an impact of this intervention currently this drinking water tank is the main drinking water source available within the village providing drinking water to the 500 village households round the year.

• Technical Detail: 5.50 Mt. Height Dia. Mt.: 5.80 
• Storage Capacity: 1, 35,000 Lit. 
• Cost of Construction: 2.84 Rs. In Lakhs.

This activity undertaken under EPA helped successfully to gain trust of the villagers for operationalizing IWMP further in the village.

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Watershed is the Solution: A Success Story of Kuda Village Kheralu

Background of the village: Kuda village is located in Kheralu Taluka of Mehsana district of Gujarat. The region is characterized by low rainfall and frequent drought. The total project area of the watershed is about 5727.70 Ha of which 5000 Ha is to be treated while 385.50 Ha area of Kuda village to be treated under IWMP. The project area lies in nearest boundary of Sabarkantha and Patan district. The watershed includes 12 villages. Of which Kuda village is surrounded by Vadnagar Taluka towards South, Visnagar Taluka towards South, Satlasana Taluka towards East, and Unjha Taluka towards west.

The population of the village is 2184 and all the families belong to the SC/ ST community. The topography of the land is even terrain with slopes upto 10%. The most predominant problem of soil in this area is loss of upper fertile soil layer is washed away by intensity of rainfall. Rainfall is scantly and irregular and confined to three months, July to September, Average rainfall in Kheralu Taluka is about 350 mm and it goes on decreasing from East to West, average number of rainy days in the year is 20 to 25 respectively. Cropping is generally followed by crops like Wheat, Fennel, Cotton, Bajri and Castor respectively.

Problems Faced: The project villages are located in an undulating terrain. The soil is sandy clay loam with a depth ranging 30 – 90 cm. The climate is categorized as moderate with an average annual rainfall of 350 mm. Most of the rainwater is lost as surface runoff and the majority of the water bodies have been dry for a long time, resulting in high agricultural costs and poor agricultural income. The area is rainfed and main source of irrigation is open wells, canal flowing nearby the village irrigating the nearby farms.

Project Methodology/ Strategy: IWMP project mobilized local communities into water user group and assist them to build, revive and maintain micro water harvesting structures and carry out soil and water conservation measures to reserve land degradation, provide critical irrigation and raise agricultural productivity. The project component intervened to solve the above problem was that an existing village pond was inter linked via drainage line to a canal flowing through the Kuda village. It was done with respect to increase the water storage in the village ponds in order to avail the water for life saving irrigation.

Impact: The activity done under IWMP project got a grand success and impacted in social, environmental & economical life of the surrounding community. Now after the construction of the drainage line under the IWMP 2009-10 project, the group of farmers is cultivating cotton and castor in the area which was one time cultivable till last year. The 278 meter drainage line is constructed on survey number 206 during 2012. before monsoon. The cost of construction of the drainage line is Rs. 1.68. This year 22 farmers are irrigating a total 80 Ha of land with the available water through the canal which is stored in the village pond. There is a significant rise in the water levels of the wells adjacent to the village pond. Most of the well was used to dried up during summer but presently even in month of April there are ample amount of water which is used for drinking purpose in the village. Also Agricultural productivity has increased. Instead of one crop per year, farmers are able to grow three. Over all agricultural productivity has increased by 1.5 to 3 fold with introduction of low water intensity crops and horticulture.

There are 18 wells near the interlinked drainage line which earlier remain dried up but after the project intervention these wells retain water round the year which is in turn used for irrigation. Total area benefitted is over 80 Hectare and total number of farmers benefitted is 22. Generally crops like cotton, Bajri, Wheat, Fennel and Castor are grown. The storage capacity of the pond interlinked to canal through the drainage line is 1,92,00,000 cmt.

S.No.	Season	Crops	Production Before (kg/ha)	Production After (kg/ha)
1.	Rabi	Cotton	2000	3000
2.	Rabi, Kharif, Jaid	Bajri	2400	3600
3.	Rabi	Fennel	1600	2400
4.	Rabi	Wheat	2400	3600
5.	Rainy	Castor	2000	3000

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