Dr. R.C. Srivastava Principal Scientist, Directorate of Water Management, Bhubaneswar, & Ex-Director, Central Agricultural Research Instt, Port Blair
Preambles
Sustainable management of natural resources requires optimal management of land and water resources
Efficient and economic use of water: an important factor in improving livelihood
Water systems ; Evaluated in terms of their ability to provide water for crop production Valued in terms of the ‘crop per drop’ produced
Low prices of major crops produced on irrigation systems do not lead to substantial increase in overall economic and livelihood scenario of the people
Logical to integrate appropriate farming practices to enhance water productivity through multiple use of water leading to a shift from ‘crop per drop’ to a more holistic concept of ‘food per drop’.
Usage of water only for single purpose can no longer sustain the high cost of creation and management as well as meet the demand of different sectors
Intensification of multiple use has implications for downstream flow both in terms of quality and quantity
Developing technologies and strategies that accommodate different user groups without hampering the rights of downstream users remains a major challenge for improving the overall productivity, as well as equity of water use
Objective Look to available technologies, different constraints in up-scaling of technologies and strategies for refining design and implementation to harness the huge socio economic potential of multiple use system
Constraints in design and implementation
Social impediments (religious feelings, poaching especially at remotely located ponds, theft, local conflicts in case of community water bodies or open access water bodies and water rights)
Pereniality of water availability in the streams and water bodies
Mortality of fish fry due to change in environment, intrusion of snakes and carnivorous fishes
Loss of natural fish feed (planktons) due to excessive water flow
Lack of capital investment and resources in developing the system, provision of aeration & mixing specially for resource poor and socially disadvantaged section of rural population
Lack of awareness, technical know-how and technical and institutional support
Lack of multiple use systems and technologies for different bio-physical, agroecological and socio-economic conditions and crop – livestock – fish – enterprise combinations
Innovations required to overcome constraints
Water harvesting system Canal water Ground water Waterlogged areas
Water Harvesting Systems
Near homestead (for good management practices)
Far off from homestead (Poor management practices and suffer from poaching)
Located in highly permeable soils (water don’t last beyond monsoon season)
Near homestead WHS Combination of aquaculture + horticulture (both fruits and vegetables) on embankment+ duck raising + rudimentary livestock raising + irrigation Constraint Drying up of water by Feb-March Results Reduces growth period of fish and overall productivity
Water for domestic use & livestock Water
Water
Fruit trees
water Fruit trees
Creeper Vegetable on slopes
Creeper Vegetable on slopes
Duck raising
Small scale Vegetable cultivation
aquaculture
Lined tank
Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of multiple use system based on lined tank on top areas of watershed in hills and plateau areas
Options for enhancing the growth period
Enhance the capacity of tank by increasing the depth (high rainfall areas )
Construction of lined small adjunct reservoir along with the main tank
Multi-tank multi-well based irrigation system
The overall economics of use of water from well for continued aquaculture and duck rearing should be compared with summer crop cultivation
Fingerlings in Dec-Jan
Table fish In Dec.-Jan
Frylings in August
Stunted Fingerlings in July
Adjunct tank Runoff pond
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of adjunct tank system for intensive aquaculture
WHS (away from homestead)
Makhana (Euryle ferox) and Water Chestnut (Trapa bispinosa) crops suitable for Eastern India
Aquaculture with specific type of fishes can be integrated with these crops
A suitable system both in terms of design as well as cultivation practices need to be developed
Canal water
Design of floating cage for controlled aquaculture in large water bodies (CIFA,BBSR)
Multiple uses below the outlet in plateau areas
An adjunct service reservoir connected to the outlet and then a network of pipes for conveyance of water will ensure highly improved irrigation efficiency
Conveyance efficiency below outlet is 75% with unlined field channels and a pipe network will improve it to 95-100%( Srivastava et al (2005))
Integrating aquaculture, duck rearing and horticultural crops
Multiple use planning can ensure not only additional returns but also improved irrigation efficiency
Lateral used for irrigation
Another View of Papaya
Harvesting of fish from pond
View of Ducks in the Reservoir
Area between two rivers R i v e r
R i v e r
Runoff Fish and ducks in depressions Embankment
Sluice gate
Fruits, fodder trees and pasture grass on embankments
Embankment
Ground water is saline
Depression
Sluice gate Depressions will be formed due to construction of embankment
Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of reclamation of waterlogged land between two rivers in mouth of delta
SAUCER SHAPED AREA
Cage aquaculture Duckery
Aquaculture
Makhana
Chestnut etc. >1.0m Deep water rice 0.75m-1.0m
Semi DeepWater rice
0.5-0.75 Semi deep water rice
0.25-0.5m Lowland rice
Sluice gate < 0.25m
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of reclamation of saucer shaped waterlogged area
Groundwater
Multiple use of pumped ground water (ICAR, RCER Patna)
Design parameters for the service reservoir, automation in terms of erratic electricity supply and overall economics
Design parameters vary for alluvium aquifers and hard rock aquifers in view of difference in yield of well
Technologies for multiple purposes
Increasing farm productivity/production without any net increase in water consumption
Enabling diversification in higher value crops, including aquatic species
Enabling utilization of otherwise wasted on-farm resources
Reduction in net environmental impacts of semi-intensive farming practices
Ensuring diversification of risk, self-employment, flow of income throughout the year
Satisfying the needs of various sectors with limited water availability
Water rights, conflicts and solutions
Reallocation to take care of efficiency and fundamental issue of equity
Delineation of water rights is further complicated when we take into consideration multiple uses as well as multiple users
The demands of multiple users may be in conflict both in terms of quantity and time
Require a separate understanding of the problem and probably an innovative solution
Conclusion The technology for multiple use systems are more or less standardized for research farm conditions for different water domains Designs require fine tuning and large scale field testing under different agro-ecological socio-economic and management level conditions, before they are recommended for wide-spread adoption Further water rights scenario need to be tackled to take care of conflicting interests both in terms of quantity and quality of downstream water The implementation of the multiple use system will require efforts on two counts, first to integrate them in existing resources and second to modify the design of future projects to make them suitable for multiple use
Thanks