Watershed Development

It had been observed in Bundelkhand that there are quite a number of natural drainage lines in the area, which due to the undulating land profile, draining the major portion of runoff out of the watershed, whenever the rain occurs. As the water gets lesser opportunity to infiltrate into the local aquifers, it is affects the water resource status, negatively in low precipitation years. Good rainfall also does not do well for the same reasons. The undulating topography takes the water away and higher runoff velocities erode the soils and affect the nutrient availability in upper soils. For coping with water scarcity problems in Bundelkhand Region, Haritika firstly with the support of DPIP project of MP Government constructed 490 structures of stop dams, check dams, tube-wells and dug wells. After that Haritika worked on Integrated Water Resource Management and focussed on NRM through partnerships, collaborations and networking with multiple organizations: NABARD, Coca-Cola Foundation, Water-Aid, Vegfam, SDTT etc. On assessing the gravity of the problem HARITIKA has chosen the villages of Bijawar block that falls in Banne river sub basin and villages of Jaitpur block that falls in Karpia river sub basin.

For coping with water scarcity problem, Haritika with partnership of Coca-Cola Foundation has started “Unnati Projects” that emphasizes on integral development through Water Conservation and Security in 12 villages of Bijawar Block of Chhattarpur District, Madhya Pradesh, India & 14 villages of Jaitpur block of Mahoba District, Uttar-Pradesh. The villages of Bijawar Block are Agra, Jharkuwan, Meherkuwan, Ramnagar, Tipari, Purva, Garda, Ganeshganj, Amarpura, Singrampura, Chandanpura & Kupia having total population of 4291 & 1039 households, situated at the bank of Banne River basin while the villages of Jaitpur Block are Narwara, Pathari, Saguniya, Saithwara, Jateora, Budkhera, Khori, Indrahata, Pasanabad, Ladpura, Baghora, Chamarua, Aari-1 & Aari-2 situated at the bank of Karpia River basin thus here HARITIKA has adopted river basin approach for Integrated Water resource Management. According to a study conducted by GreenSync Solutions Pvt Ltd in Karpia River Basin, the analysis of the satellite imageries has reflected that the project interventions have made a significant impact on water availability and area under cultivation and preference of the crops.

Area under water reservoirs after the monsoon increased significantly (approximately to 468%) due to the construction and promotion of water harvesting structures in the watershed area.
The surface water storage area has increased approximately to 468% (from 0.6 sqkm to 2.84 sqkm)
The area under the rabi cultivation has increased approximately by 36%
The area under Rabi increased and spread away from the drainage line, which was limited to nearby drainage line before the project interventions
Cultivation has increased in downstream side (lower reaches of the watershed), The simulation of groundwater flow through MODFLOW – 2005 has reflected that in the changed scenario, the average rainfall of more than 800 mm could be enough to keep the ground water by January in most of the open wells (73 % wells) in the watershed area. In case of the average annual rainfall reduced to less than 800 mm, still 20% of open wells are expected to remain operational till December, which otherwise lose their yield by the end of October.
- Similarly in Banne river basin, Golder Associate India has conducted an impact assessment study, the same river basin under project Unnati-4, with the support of Coca-Cola foundation in 6 Villages Patna, Agra, Ramnagar, Kupia, Jharkuwa and Meherkuwa, water conservation structures had been constructed that created storage capacity of 74,30,29,400 litres, Unnati-5 had added on the impact in the same river basin. Through the construction of 4 Check-dams & 2 ponds in the project 2,23,85,47,060 Liters storage capacity has been created under this project. Thus in the continuation under Unnati-4 & Unnati-5 Project with the support of Coca-Cola Foundation, in 11 villages of Bijawar Block, Chhatarpur Disrtict, Madhya-Pradesh through the construction of Water Conservation Structures storage capacity of 2,98,15,76,460 liters have been created that resulted in approximately 8,700 acres irrigated land in the area and thus improved income of the farmers in this region due to increased agriculture production because before this project due to rainfed agriculture only single cropping was adopted but after this project multiple cropping along with vegetable farming has also been started and this has been validated by third party assessment by Golder Associate India. Due to construction of these water conservation structures with support of NABARD wadi development project has been implemented in 3 project villages under which 275 acre wadis have been developed and its sustainability without irrigation was not possible thus the success of Wadi in such barren region itself shows the impact of Unnati Projects in Bundelkhand Region.

Haritika’s extensive work in the area of watershed, water management and hygiene promotion has made it a major organization with strong understanding of community needs and methods to overcome them.