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WORKSHOP 4B: *<•

WATER HARVESTING **s*

Wv4 TER - the key to socio-economic development
and quality of life

STOCKHOLM WATER SYMPOSIUM

AUGUST 10 - 13, 1998
The 8th Stockholm Water Symposium convened by
Stockholm International Water Institute
PAPER 2
SI I
SIWI Paper 2
Published December 1998
by Stockholm International Water Institute
SE-106 36 Stockholm
SWEDEN
LIBRARY IRC
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 Page

CONTENTS

WORKSHOP 4 B: WATER HARVESTING

Preface 2
Mr UlfEhlin, Sweden

Synthesisfromthe workshop on Meeting hydroclimatic variability 3

in the tropics and subtropics: Strategies for drought effect mitigation
Chair: Mr Anders Wijkman, Sweden

Rainwater harvesting in a new age: When modern groundwater 5

andriverexploitation has reached its limits
Dr Anil Agarwal, India

Environmental degradation: A Global dilemma 13

Mr Anna Hazare, India

Rainwater utilization as sustainable development of water 19

resources in China
Professor Qiang Zhu, China

Using rainwater as the key for ecological and economic growth: 29

Regenerating village natural resources with peoples participation
Ms Sunia Narain, India

Rainwater catchment system of Aizawal, the state capital of 35

Mizoram, India
Mr Er. Dunglena, India

Rainwater utilization saves the earth - rainwater utilization and 40

sustainable development in cities
Mr Makoto Murase, Japan

Rainwater harvesting and poverty alleviation, Laikipia experience 44

Mr John Mbugua, Kenya
PREFACE

Stockholm Water Symposium 1998 had the theme "Water - the Key to Socio-Economic
Development and Quality of Life". One of the eight workshops held was called "Meeting
Hydroclimatic Variability in the Tropics and Subtropics: Strategies for Drought Effect
Mitigation". This workshop, was divided into two parts of which one was designated
Rain Water Harvesting. It contained six presentations describing the usefulness of rain
water utilization and describing practical experiences in different geographical regions.
The workshop was chaired by Mr. Anders Wijkman, SIWI, and as rapporteur acted Ms.
Line Gordon, the University of Stockholm.

In the conclusions from the workshop the following is written about rain water
harvesting.

"This workshop presented us with a very hopeful message about the possibilities to use
rainwater much more efficiently to benefit household needs, farming but also to avoid
problems like flooding. People in India have harvested rain-water for centuries. But in
recent time the authorities and water experts have diverted attention from rain-water
harvesting to ground-water and surface-water. Hence traditional and often efficient
harvesting techniques run the risk of becoming forgotten. In dry regions, rain-water
harvesting represents an important potential, also for farming. An international network,
bringing together all those involved in water-harvesting is strongly recommended in
order to facilitate sharing of best practice and to transfer knowledge to regions where
rain-water harvesting is still not part of the culture."

The rain water harvesting part of the workshop was organized in cooperation with
Director Anil Agarwal and his colleagues at the Centre for Science & Environment,
India. The workshop was financially supported by UNEP. SIWI expresses its sincere
thanks to Dr. Anil Agarwal and the staff of CSE for the preparatory work carried out
and to UNEP for the most welcome financial support.

UlfEhlin
Director of SIWI
SYNTHESIS from the workshop on

MEETING HYDROCLBMATIC VARIABILITY IN THE TROPICS AND

SUBTROPICS: STRATEGIES FOR DROUGHT EFFECT MITIGATION

STRATEGIES FOR DROUGHT YEAR MANAGEMENT AND

WATER HARVESTING

Mr Anders Wijkman, Sweden (Chairman)

Ms Line Gordon, Sweden (Rapporteur)

This workshop aimed at identifying actions possible to take for water management in
climatic realities where rainfall inconsistency and recurrent droughts are severe
complications for food production and socio-economic development. The workshop was
divided into two parts. The first part presented reports about strategies for drought year
management and drought predictability. The second part focused on the potential role of
and technique for rainwater harvesting as a way of small-scale protective irrigation
during temporary dryspells. This is a synthesis of the presentations, discussions and main
conclusions of this workshop.

Rainwater is an important target for water management. Presentations in this workshop

were made from a number of different countries and spanned from tropical to temperate
regions and from rural to urban areas. All of them had rainwater management as the main
focus, which implies a focus also on the rainfall partitioning for production.

The key problems in the workshop were related to difficult hydroclimatic preconditions.
One such precondition is the fact that there is no stable amount of rainwater that is
available for human uses. The water resources, especially in arid - semi-arid regions, are
subject to great variability and uncertainty leading to constraints in food production and
water availability for households and industries. This uncertainty requires both intricate
ways of predicting variability and finding ways of coping with uncertain resources by (i)
building up buffer capacity through e.g. water harvesting techniques and (ii) increasing
the flexibility in management systems. Another fact relating to the hydroclimate is that
high evaporative losses can occur due to e.g. high potential evaportanspiration and
crusted soils. In semi-arid and arid farming the evaporative losses of water has been
found very high which presents a great challenge - as well as an opportunity - for
improvement of water use efficiencies to increase yields in rainfed agriculture.

When managing water resources a drainage basin perspective that takes the whole
catchment area into account is needed in order to effectively organize water resources
and to avoid upstream/downstream conflicts. This drainage basin perspective needs to
acknowledge booth the preconditions of the natural resources and different stakeholders.
One such catchment management system were presented from Zimbabwe where a system
of catchment councils are being tried out and where all users of water are included which
also helps bridging between sectors.
Well-managed natural resources are the key to socio-economic development and water is
very often a key factor to improved natural resources management and ecological
restoration. From several case studies we were presented with examples of how well
managed water made it possible for ecological transformation of previously very
degraded lands that helped bring about socio-economic development (as was
demonstrated in the workshop by several examples from India, China and Kenya). Hence
water management is a key issue in any effective development program and poverty
reduction scheme. By greening of the villages in e.g. India employment was created and
the livelihood security enhanced.

A great variety of rain water harvesting techniques were presented and gave a very
hopeful message about future possibilities to utilize rainwater more efficiently to benefit
households needs and farming, but also to avoid problems of flooding, not at least in
urban areas. Some of the rainwater harvesting techniques are very old dating back to
1000 B.C. but new techniques are still developed. Some of the techniques mentioned
was micro-water collecting techniques using plastic on parts of the lands thus
concentrating scares water on remaining land and harvesting water from roof tops for
household needs. The latter is a technique that can be used also in urban areas.

Several ways of predicting water variability and coping with it were presented. In a
presentation of a case from south India of tanks used for irrigation emphasis was also put
on the ability to monitor rainfall patterns to decide choice of crop and how to distribute
water. Some scepticism were, however, raised concerning one study from Sri Lanka
contending that precipitation can be predicted in relation to the declination of the Moon.

Some of the rainwater harvesting cases presented in the workshop clearly indicated the
importance of very intricate institutional settings to handle integrated water and natural
resources under great uncertainty. Today barriers often exist for effective water
management (including rainwater harvesting). These barriers include e.g. systems of
taxation, land tenure systems and centralized institutions. A key to success is to empower
the local population and to have an active participation of the local population. This
shows the need for enhanced integration between natural and social scientists. Society
today is too sectorised to deal effectively with, among other things, water. One
suggestion on international level would be to merge the Rio Agenda and the Social
Summit Agenda to underscore the importance for integrating social development and
natural resources management.

The role of a demand driven process for food production was emphasized and discussed
in this workshop. This was done both in terms of knowledge, i.e. local farmers
understanding the need for better management techniques and requesting them, and
improved market conditions so that it becomes feasible to sell the produce.

An international network bringing together all those involved in water-harvesting is

strongly recommended in order to facilitate sharing of practices and to enhance the
capacity of developing rainwater harvesting techniques in regions where this has not been
part of the culture.
RAINWATER HARVESTING IN A NEW AGE: WHEN MODERN GROUND-
WATER AND RIVER EXPLOITATION HAS REACHED ITS LIMITS

Anil Agarwal, Director Centre for Science and Environment

41 Tughlakabad Instutytuibak Area, New Delhi -110 062, India

1. The world has seen two major discontinuities emerge in the management of water
since the 19th century. One, the State has emerged as a major provider of water
replacing communities and households as the primary agents for provision and
management of water. Two, there has been growing reliance on the use of surface and
groundwater, while the earlier reliance on rainwater and floodwater has declined, even
though rainwater and floodwaters are available in much greater abundance than river
water or groundwater.

2 According to one water balance study of India1, the country receives 400 million
hectare metres of rain and snowfall. Another 20 million hectare-metres flow in as surface
water come from outside the country. These 420 million hectare-metres provide the
country with river flows of 180 million hectare-metres - of which as much as 75 per cent
takes place during the rainy season - and another 67 million hectare-metres is available as
ground- water. Thus, total river flows and groundwater add up to 247 million hectare-
metres, of which a substantial amount (150 mham) must flow out to neighbouring
countries and to the sea. But India still has an enormous amount of water - theoretically
as much as 173 million hectare-metres which is lost as evaporation or becomes soil
moisture - that can be captured directly as rainwater or as run-off from small catchments
in and near villages or towns. Capturing the flood waters of major rivers can further
increase water availability.

3. India's projected use of water is 105 million hectare metres (mham) in 2025 AD, up
from 38 mham in 1974. While the demand for irrigation water is expected to increase
from 35 mham to 77 mham, the demand for domestic and industrial uses, which are
highly polluting uses, is expected to shoot up from 3 mham in 1974 to 28 mham in 2025.

4. Of the 105 mham use projected for 2025, some 70 mham is expected to come from
surfacewater and about 35 mham from groundwater. This exclusive reliance on
riverwaters and groundwater is already leading to a number of problems:

(a) Heavy extraction of water from rivers:

Already, there are numerous rivers that are so heavily exploited that they have no river
flow left during the summer season. The Ministry of Environment and Forests is talking
of the need to legislate "minimum river flows" but none of the agencies involved with
water resource development are listening.
b) Construction of large dams versus small water harvesting structures

This strategy has lead to serious problems of forced human displacement and forest
submergence. With population growing rapidly in India, the numbers of displaced
populations will steadily increase if large dams are to be constructed in the future
whereas the availability of land for resettlement will go down continuously.

(c) Heavy extraction of groundwater

The groundwater table is falling rapidly in many parts of the country.

5. The water crisis created by the above situation is getting further aggravated by the
pollution of ground and surface waters that is being caused by urbanisation,
industrialisation and agricultural modernisation, the three key elements of modern
economic development. An acute crisis can already be seen in smaller river basins like
those of the Yamuna, Sabarmati, Noyyal and Bhavani. The pollution is further reducing
the availability of clean water which means greater stress on the remaining sources of
ground and surfacewaters.

6. If even 20-30 mham can be captured through rainwater harvesting, tremendous

pressure can be taken off the country's groundwater and surface water resources, and
the availability of clean water would be greatly extended.

7. Theoretically, the potential of water harvesting in meeting household needs is

enormous. Rain captured from 1-2 per cent of India's land, depending of rainwater
collection efficiency (that is, the percentage of rainwater that can actually be collected
over a unit area of land) can provide India's population of 950 million as much as 100
litres of water per person per day which amounts to 33,675 billion litres or 3.3675 mham
of water per year. In reality, there is no village in India which cannot meet its drinking
water needs from rainwater harvesting.

8. In case of severe shortage of water, as in the case of small islands, collecting water in
the sea is a theoretical possibility. Let us say the entire coastal population of the world,
which is about 2.5 billion, has to be provided with water at the rate of 100 litres per
capita per day. This would create a demand of 9.12 mham of water a year. Assuming an
average rainfall of 1,000 mm, some 9.12 million hectares of land will be needed to collect
the required water. By comparison, India's land area is 329 million hectares. In other
words, an area slightly less than 3 per cent of India's land area would be needed in the
sea to collect freshwater. Of course, this would require cheap materials to harvest water
over such a land area even though transportation cost may not be high, and there will be
some energy cost in pumping the water from the sea to the cities on the land. But these
figures show the enormous potential of rainwater harvesting which can be utilised in a
situation of crisis.

9. What has water harvesting traditionally meant? It has essentially meant valuing
the raindrop. It has meant capturing the rain where it falls or capturing the run-off
in your own village or in your own town. Additionally, it has meant taking measures
to keep that water clean which, in turn, has meant not allowing dirty activities to take
place in the catchment

10. The most beautiful thing about water harvesting is that there is a human-rain-land
synergy as the following table shows:

Region Annual Rain yield Human Land Surface No. of

levels of potential popula- availability quality people
rainfall from one tion for water for water whose
hectare of density harvesting collection water
land (*) efficiency needs can
be met at
100 litres
per person
per day
from one
hectare of
land

Rural- 100 mm 1 million Low High 27

arid litres

Rural- 2000 mm 20 million High Low More 553

humid litres rooftops
available

Urban Very high Very low More

rooftops
and built-
up
surfaces
available
with high
runoff

(*) Assuming rainwater collection efficiency of 100 per cent.

What this table shows clearly is that in less rainfall rural areas, there is usually a smaller
human population and greater availability of land to capture the same amount of water.
In high rainfall rural areas, there is usually a higher human population and a lower
availability of land. But in such areas, much smaller quantities of land are needed to
capture the same amount of water and because there is a higher population density, there
will be a greater area under roof tops which can be used for water harvesting for
domestic needs. In all these rural areas, rainwater collection efficiency will be lower
unless special materials are used to increase runoff for water harvesting. Finally, in urban
areas, human population density will be very high and land availability for water
harvesting will be very low. But the area under built-up surfaces (like roof tops, roads
and paved surfaces) will be very high which will provide high rainwater collection
efficiency. Rainwater harvesting is, therefore, possible in all human-land-rain scenarios.

11. What does water harvesting as a strategy for meeting human needs mean in
management terms?

*It means making water everybody's business. It means a role for everybody with
respect to water. Every household and community has to become involved both in the
provision of water and in the protection of water sources.

*It means making water the subject of a people's movement

*It means re-establishing the relationship between people and their environment
Turning water into a sacred element of nature.

*It means the empowerment of our urban and rural communities to manage their
own affairs with the state playing a critical supportive role and civil society playing a
critical role in encouraging equity and sustainability in the use of water.

12. Water harvesting can bring many benefits. In physical terms, water harvesting can be
used to:

* meet household water needs

* meet irrigation water needs, especially for supplemental irrigation

* increase groundwater availability through recharge mechanisms

* reduce stormwater runoff in urban areas (thus, preventing urban floods and
overloading of sewage treatment plants in cities where stormwater drains and domestic
sewerage are combine)

Apart from increasing water availability and reducing the pressure on available
groundwater and riverwaters, water harvesting systems developed by local communities
and households, can greatly reduce the pressure on the state to provide all the financial
resources needed for water supply systems. As governments are often short of funds,
this approach will greatly reduce limitations posed by financial considerations.

The spectre of unending state subsidies on water supply systems will also get reduced
with communities and households making their own investments in meeting their own
water needs.

Involving people will also give the people greater ownership over water projects and will
probably go a long way towards reducing misuse of government funds. Moreover, when
communities and households develop their own water supply systems, they will also take
good care of them - the spectre of unrepaired, broken down systems and wasted funds
will haunt us less.
With households and communities owning their own water supply systems and paying
the full or near-full cost of developing and maintaining the water supply systems, water
will also be used more carefully instead of being squandered away as most people do
when they receive subsidised water from state water supply systems. .

Thus, water harvesting makes ecological, financial and political sense.

13. As rainwater harvesting was an old tradition in many parts of the world, is there
something that we can learn from these traditions? A recent study published by the New
Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment entitled Dying Wisdom shows that
indeed there is a lot to learn from the past traditions in water management. In India, this
tradition goes back to nearly 4,000 to 5,000 years, dating back to the Indus Valley
civilisation, a highly urban civilisation of the pre-Christian era. It is in the nature of Indian
ecology which forced Indians to develop rainwater harvesting techniques. Though India
gets a high amount of rainfall (an average of about 1,100 mm), it is not evenly spread
across the year. Most of the time, even in a normal rainfall year, the country faces a
drought. Eminent meteorologist, P R Pisharoty, points out that in most parts of the
country, there is precipitation during not more than 50 days. Even on days, when rainfall
does occur, it does not fall over the entire period of 4 hours. Heavy showers of a short
duration are common. Most of the country, therefore, receives rain for just 100 hours in
a year. The remaining 8,660 hours in a year get no rain. Therefore, if rain is not
harvested in those 100 hours when it falls, on in those few hours when the rivers and
streams swell up, then there is little water to capture to meet human needs.

14. In response to their meteorological conditions, Indians developed a wide variety of

water harvesting techniques:

Region Type of water harvesting Use

system

Arid plains 1. Artificial catchments to Drinking water

capture rainfall (called
tankas or Jcundis in
Rajasthan)

2. Tanks (called sarovars or Drinking water or Drinking

talabs in Rajasthan) to water and Irrigation Water
capture surface runoff often
in conjunction with wells or
stepwells (called bawdis and
jhalaras in Rajasthan) to
capture seepage from the
tanks

3. Embankments thrown Irrigation water

across drainage channels to
capture surface runoff and
moisten the soil for
 cultivation (called khadins
andjohads in Rajasthan)

Semi-Arid Plains 1. Tanks to capture surface Irrigation water and

runoff (called eris in Tamil Drinking Water through
Nadu and keres in recharge of groundwater
Karnataka) accessed through wells,
sometimes made adjacent to
tanks or even in tank beds

2. Chain of connected tanks Irrigation water and

depending on diverted Drinking Water through
stream flows and surface recharge of groundwater
runoff from individual accessed through wells,
catchments (to increase sometimes made adjacent to
dependability of water tanks or even in tank beds
supply)

Floodplains 1. Mud embankments which Irrigation water and

were breached during the Drinking water
flood season to carry away
the crest of the floodwaters
containing rich, fine silt and
fishlings into channels which
would irrigate farmlands and
fill up village ponds

Hill and mountain regions 1. Diverted stream flows Irrigation water

(called kuhals in Jammu,
kuls in Himachal Pradesh,
guls in Uttarakhand and
pats in Maharashtra)

2. Diverted stream flows Irrigation water

stored in tanks (called zings
in Ladakh and zabo in
Nagaland)

3. Diverted stream flows Manured irrigation water

taken to farms through
animal yards

4. Springs Drinking water

15. The water harvesting tradition was so well developed in India in the medieval period
that British administrator, that Colonel Thomas Munro (who came to India in 1803, was
later knighted and made Governor of Madras in May, 1820) had the following to say
about the irrigation system of the Vijayanagar kings who ruled southern India from 1336

10
AD to 1614 AD, "To attempt the construction new tanks is perhaps a more hopeless
experiment than the repair of those which have been filled up (through siltation), for
there is scarcely any place where a tank can be made to advantage that has not been
applied to this purpose by the inhabitants."

16. How and why did the Indian kings promote water harvesting systems?

When the British first came to India it was a land of extensive riches and a high level of
urbanisation compared to the rest of the world, especially Europe. The wealth was a
result of successful natural resource mobilisation. Surpluses generated at the village level
supported the towns and cities. These surpluses resulted from an intelligent and
sustainable use of land-water-vegetation resources.

A large part of this prosperity came from the water harvesting systems that ensured an
assured supply of water for irrigation. The kings and rulers down the ages had developed
a system encouraging people to develop water harvesting systems. Their water policy
consisted of three elements:

(a) The kings rarely ever built tanks themselves. If they did it was largely to meet
their own water needs. Therefore, they did not have any water bureaucracies. They
encouraged people, just about anyone, to build water harvesting structures to meet his or
her own needs and that of his or her own community.

(b) They encouraged people to build water harvesting structures by providing

them fiscal incentives. The tradition in India was to take land taxes in kind which was
equivalent to one-sixth or one-fifth of the farm produce. Therefore, if agricultural
production fell in a drought year, the king too would be poorer that year, and therefore
had a vested interest in promoting irrigation systems to ensure stable and high
agricultural production. The king would, therefore, offer anybody interested in making a
tank a grant for an unlimited or specific period in time during which no taxes would be
collected from the land irrigated by the tank. Thus the person making the tank and other
people in his or her village would benefit not just from increased agricultural production
because of the new irrigation facilities but also because of the fact that the king was not
collecting a part of the produce as land tax.

The fiscal incentives were known by many names: dasabandhini inam or dasavanda or
katu kodage. The Vijayanagara kings in the South used these grants to encourage the
building of tanks and so did the Gond kings in central India.

(c) The third thing that the kings did was to make their decisions and their
agreements transparent. In southern India, the kings would often have their agreement
inscribed on the temple walls so that all people in the locality would come to know who
has received such a grant and for the benefit of which village or villages. This ensured
social pressure on the person who received the grant to stick to his promise. Or else the
people could complain to the king.

In many ways, these policies are the same as those advocated today as the modern
principles of good environmental management.

11
 17 The British rule unfortunately laid waste to this entire heritage. They failed to
understand the Indian resource management system. They did not make grants of tax-
free lands and believed that this was the result of poor revenue collection. In their desire
to maximise their revenue from this rich land, the British steadily impoverished the rural
communities and led to the destruction of their resource management systems. Their
revenue system impoverished the land and the peasantry because it deprived local
communities of the financial resources needed to build and maintain the water systems.
Moreover, the British fixed the land taxes instead of leaving them variable and demanded
the tax in cash. As a result, the British land taxes often reached a point in drought years
when the fanners had to hand over his entire crop to pay his taxes. As payments had to
be made in cash, this meant the peasantry could be manipulated even further by vested
interests. As a result, many rural people became landless and destitute and the water
harvesting systems went defunct.

18. Once the British began to realise their mistake, in order to resurrect the water
management systems of the country, the British started building state water
bureaucracies to manage the diverse and decentralised water harvesting structures. But
these bureaucracies failed miserably to manage and maintain these structures.

19. In the case of the flood irrigation system of Bengal, according to Sir William
Willcocks, a British irrigation expert who was invited by the British government in the
1920s to advise it on irrigation systems needed for the region, after the once prosperous
was beginning to face famines, the British did not even understand the technological
nature of the traditional flood irrigation system which had made the region so
agriculturally rich in its heydays. The British misunderstood kutcha irrigation
embankments (which were regularly breached during the flood season to drain off water
into farmlands and ponds for irrigation purposes), according to Willcocks, for flood
embankments and, thus, destroyed the entire irrigation system by turning the kutcha
(non-permanent structures made of mud) irrigation embankments into pucca (permanent
structures) flood embankments. The decline of the irrigation system led to a rapid decline
in agricultural production and, ultimately, to the famous Bengal famine of 1943 in which
anywhere from 1.5 million to 3.5 million people died, which shocked the nation and the
world. In addition, malaria took stronger control of the region because of waterlogging
created by the flood embankments which did not have the benefit of larvivorous fish that
floodwaters traditionally brought to the village water bodies.

20. Worse the British educated an entire class of people who could no longer appreciate
and understand India, its monsoon and its ecology. So that when India became
independent it turned its back on these systems and invested almost exclusively in mega
irrigation systems. Other changes, over a period of time, which have promoted private
irrigation systems like tubewells have further eroded community-based water harvesting
systems except in remote areas of the country where the state apparatus is still very
weak.

1
B.S. Nag and G.N. Kathpalia, Water Resources of India in Water and Human needs, proceedings of the
Second World Congress on Water Resources, Vol 2, Central Board for irrigation and Power (CBIP),
New Delhi.

12
ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION : A GLOBAL DILEMMA

Mr. K.B. alias Anna* Hazare, Village: Ralegan Siddhi, District Ahmednagar
Maharashtra 414 302, India

INTRODUCTION

Over decades, man has exploited natural resources for purposes of development. This
kind of unabated exploitation has led to the pollution of air, land and water, the extent of
which has reached alarming proportions. The imbalances created in the environment due
to the pollution has resulted in serious problems such as its effect on the ozone layer in
the atmosphere. The harmful effects of the over exploitation of natural resources do not
confine themselves to the country where the exploitation is taking rooouroca do not
confino themselves to tho ouuiili/ WIIUL the exploitation is lAing place. The negative
impact can be felt in adjoining countries as well; in fact, pollution does not recognize
national boundaries.

Science and technology has made the world grow smaller. Highly developed forms of
communication has brought mankind closer. Similarly, dissemination of advanced
technologies for development, have not only spread the good effects of development,
they have also spread the negative impacts of exploitative development. When forests
disappear in one continent, the effects are felt through atmospheric changes in another
continent. What does development mean to all of us ? What kind of development has
negative impact ? How does this chain reaction take place ? Inspite of years of debate
and many summits later, we have yet to find and more importantly, accept the true
answers. For the answers lie within us! Unless we all agree to curb our own needs,
positive development cannot take place.

Poverty is one of the causes of over exploitation of natural resources. Just as national
efforts focus on alleviating the causes of social, cultural, and economic differences
through welfare and development programms, special efforts need to be made at national
levels to alleviate the imbalances in the environment. It is our duty to the coming
generations in our countries to leave for them natural wealth to inherit. It is this
sentiment that has brought us here together in Stockholm at the Water Symposium to
discuss issues related to rain water harvesting. Through this symposium, there will be an
exchange of ideas and experiences. Such efforts to discuss issues internationally are
important, but what is more necessary is that we renew efforts in our own countries to
conserve water resources and utilize them in a sustainable manner by creating awareness
amongst our people.

Just as the sea swells in full tide, so is our world swelling due to a fast growing
population. With the increasing population, we seem to be losing our humanity, and our
moral responsibilities towards the preservation of the environment. Selfish motives result
in excessive exploitation of natural and human resources. Environment and moral
responsibility goes hand in hand. Infact, one is the shadow of the other. And we are
neglecting both today, in order to pursue development. Is this true development?

13
Science has made amazing and_wonderful progress in its attempts at bringing happiness
to mankind. But if progress has been achieved at the cost of natural and human
resources, then it cannot bring true happiness. This is destructive development, a
development that will eventually destroy the happiness. Every person should imbibe the
values of humanity and regard for the environment. These values will lead to a balanced
development. This is a lesson we all have to learn and put into practice from today.

Situated in a drought prone area in India, in the State of Maharastra, is a village called
Ralegan Siddhi with a population of 2000 persons. In their battle with the vagaries of
nature the people of Ralegan Siddhi emerged strong and relentless with an awakening in
respect of morality. I am putting before you the example of Ralegan Siddhi and of all
those villages in the other Indian States of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat
and Karnataka, where similar transformation is taking place.

Ralegan Siddhi, with a rainfall of barely 400 m.m. to 500 m.m. used to be parched with
thirst in the summer. Fifteen years ago, 15 to 20 percent of the population would get
only one meal a day. 55 to 50 percent of the people would buy food grain from outside
the village. Men would walk 5 to 6 kms. everyday in search of wage employment. When
it became difficult to find work, people began brewing liquor for sale. Soon there were
35 to 40 liquor brewing units in the village. People from neighboring villages came to
Ralegan Siddhi to buy and drink liquor.

Today, 15 years later, the people are the same, the land is the same. Without taking any
donations of foreign aid, all we attempted was to awaken the people and develop a
caring relationship with nature. The result is evident. This village which at one time had
no water to drink, and where people were unemployed, is now exporting vegetables to
Kuwait, and Muscat. Where the annual income was Rs. 200 to Rs. 225** per head, the
income is now Rs. 2100*** per head. And land under well irrigation has increased from
70 to 80 acres, to 1200 acres.

WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT : A REVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAM.
Migration of people from rural to urban areas in search of employment is a problem that
exists in many countries. Large scale migration leads to over-crowding of cities, and the
growth of slums. Increasing population pressures, crime and delinquency, and a
breakdown of the social and cultural fabric are becoming and characteristics of towns
and cities. The only way to curb this, is to arrest the migration from rural to urban areas,
by creating employment in the rural areas. Employment can be created in villages only if
water is available for agriculture. This can be made possible by harvesting rain water by
"trapping where it falls", through watershed development. When rain water is harnessed
it percolates into the ground, raises the level of the water table, making it available for
agricultural and domestic use.

OVER-EXPLOITATION IS NOT DEVELOPMENT

Over exploitation of ground water has led the drying up of wells. In the past, before the
use of electric pumps, there was a limit to the exploitation of ground water. Today,

14
water levels gone down to 1000 to 1200 feet. Even then, bore wells are used to exploit
these reserves of water. Wherever large numbers of bore wells have been sunk, today
there is no water to drink. The same thing will soon happen with other fossil reserves.
Future development practices will have to take this into consideration.

DANGERS OF LARGE DAMS

Large dams have been built to meet the needs of the urban population; water, electricity
and industrial growth depends upon these large dams. However, not enough attention is
given to the preservation and restoration of the catchments of these large dams. Large
scale felling of tress and destruction of grasslands in the catchment areas has resulted in
the siltation of dams. Every year, tons of top soil flows into the reservior with the rain
water. It takes 200 years to produce one inch of top soil. This is a wealth which cannot
be easily replaced. Besides, just as death is inevitable for us, so is death inevitable for
dams. With siltation, the dams will fill up with tons of soil, forming a mountain which
man will not be able to remove. Ultimately, there will be no sites left for building dams.
Every village lies in the catchment of some dam, whether big or small. Conserving soil
and water through within the villages through watershed development will arrest the
siltation of dams.

WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT IS BEST FOR RAINFED AGRICULTURE

Seventy-five percent of India's agriculture is rainfed. Which means that effective

measures need to be taken to harvest rain water for irrigation. Watershed development is
the most efficient alternative to large dams. Large dams are also necessary, but should be
built only after taking into consideration various factors such as the rehabilitation of the
displaced. In any case, large dams can be built only at specific locations. Local water
harvesting structures can be used more widely and efficiently. The following points
demonstrate the relative advantages of local water harvesting structures:

1. The cost of building large dams is approximately Rs. 55,000 to Rs. 60,000 per
hectare, whereas the cost of watershed development is less than Rs. 10,000 per
hectare.

2. It takes many years to build large dams. The results of watershed development can
be seen within two to three years.

3. A larger number of people can benefit from watershed development than from large
dams. Watershed development results in more equitable distribution of water within
a community.

4. Use of excessive irrigation when water becomes available through canals results in
water logging and salinity. Watershed development makes available a scarce
resource in a manner that encourages it to be used more rationally.

5. Large dams have a limited life span. Watershed development can be practiced over
centuries. The limitations of watershed development can be overcome with the
participation of the people.

15
THE IMPORTANT OF TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF
WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT

It is important to implement the watershed development in a scientific manner. The

technical aspects of watershed development are very important.

1. It is important to consider the village as the unit of development. And within each
village every micro-watershed should be developed from "top to bottom", i.e. the
watershed should be treated completely. For example, contour trenches, percolation
tanks, gully plugs, check dams, should be used as appropriate. Efforts should be
taken to regenerate grasslands, and trees should be planted.

2. Care should be taken to ensure that the structures installed are technically sound.
For example, the foundation of the percolation tank and check dam should be laid
properly with compressed black soil and prevent leakage. It is important to line the
structure with black soil to the expected level of water that will be collected,
otherwise no percolation will take place due to the seepage of water through the
structure.

IMPORTANT OF PEOPLE'S PARTICIPATION

Watershed development cannot be successful if it remains a technical program.

Installation of structures alone will not make the program successful. Watershed
development is not a program that can be undertaken by the government alone, or by
agents outside the village community. Scarce natural resources need to be developed and
utilized in a sustainable manner, which is possible only if the villagers believe in the
program and participate in its implementation.
There are five principles which can be followed in order to make the watershed
development program successful. These principles are :

1. Restriction of family size,

2. Removal of all forms of addiction.
3. Restrictions on open grazing of livestock.
4. Restriction on tree felling.
5. Contribution of one day's voluntary labor by every individual for development of
their community.

These five principles have evolved out of the philosophy of conservation, and sustainable
development, from the learning at Ralegan Siddhi village where these principles have
been put into practice. These principles can lead a village towards self-reliance and self-
sufficiency by enabling the villagers to meet their needs of water, food, fuel and fodder,
within their own village.

WATER MANAGEMENT

In order to restrict the exploitation of ground water reserves, it has become increasingly
important to bring into effect laws that prevent unrestricted use of bore wells, both for
agriculture as well as industrial purposes. Watershed development makes available a

16
scarce resource, that needs to be utilized carefully. Community wells could be developed
rather than private wells. This would not only restrict the use of water, but would make
the distribution of water more equitable in the community. Drip irrigation could be
practiced for optimum utilization of water resources. Cropping patterns could be
adopted that include crops requiring less irrigation.

When a community resource is developed, its benefits should reach all members of the
community. Equitable distribution of resources is possible when the members of the
community who have greater access to productive resources are willing to share them
with those who do not own or have access to these resources. In Ralegan Siddhi there
are many examples of how the benefits of watershed development have been shared by
the people.

a) In the village there are a few families belonging to the "scheduled caste"
(untouchable caste). These families had taken loans which they could not repay. The
villagers got together to farm the land of these families and helped them to repay
their loans.

b) The villagers of Ralegan Siddhi have built a residential hostel for school children
entirely through voluntary labor. The school in this village is unique. Admission is
given with priority to those students who have failed their classes elsewhere. These
students are admitted here in the belief that with proper care and teaching, they can
become productive citizens. The success of this education system is evident from the
fact that every year all the high school students graduate, there are no failures.

c) In order to reduce the financial burden on poor farmers, group marriages are
performed in the village. All families participate in these celebrations, whichever
group or community they migh belong to.

d) The village had 40 liquor brewing units, but since alcohol was banned eleven years
ago, there has been no sale or consumption of liquor in the village. Along with
alcohol, there is also a ban on smoking, and chewing of tobacco.

e) No donations have been accepted for any of the development projects in the village.
All community work is completed through voluntary labor. The school, community
centre, temple, playground have been constructed by the villagers.

SPREADING THE MESSAGE

Every year thousands of visitors come to Ralegan Siddhi, not only from different parts of
the country, but other countries as well. Farmers, researchers, journalists, politicians,
teachers, people from all walks of life find something to learn in Ralegan Siddhi.
Ministers from Oman, China and Germany have visited Ralegan Siddhi. The sotry of the
development of this village has been telecast in Australia, Germany, and Canada. During
the year 1997 to 1998, 36,000 visitors have stayed for short periods in Ralegan Siddhi.

Where earlier villagers used to migrate in search of wage employment, people from other
villages come here to look for work. Although the economic conditions in the village

17
have improved, there are still some families, who are not able to meet their requirements
for food grains all through the year. To help these families, the villagers have started a
Grain Bank, from where poor families can "borrow" grain. This grain is not given free.
The borrowers return the grain with interest after one year. The interest is 25 kgs, per
quintal. Every year farmers contribute 25 to 100 kilos of grain to the bank, as per their
capacity to do so.

Watershed development in Ralegan Siddhi has brought about social reforms and taught
people to share the benefits equitably in the community.

* The term "Anna" in the regional language means "elder brother". It is pronounced
differently from the proper noun "Anna" in the English language.
** Equivalent to US$ 4.6 to US$ 5.8
*** Equivalent to US$48.8

IS
RAINWATER UTILIZATION AS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF
WATER RESOURCES IN CHINA

Qiang Zhu
(Gansu Research Institute for Water Conservancy, Lanzhou, 730000, China)
Changming Liu
(United Research Center for Water Problems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,
100101, China)

1. Rainwater utilization - necessity for human's existence and development

China is one of the largest countries having huge amount of water resources. Ranking
6th most in the world, the total precipitation on the continental is 6190 km3, which
produces 2710 km3 of river runoff and 130 km3 of groundwater. However, owing to the
large population, the water resources per capital are only 2300 m3 1/4 of that in the
world. If sharing water resources to the cultivated land, the average depth in China is
2100 mm, while it is 3500 mm in the world. Moreover, the water resources are
unfavorably distributed both in spatial and in temporal. In south and southwest China,
water resources occupy 81% of the state total, but the population and cultivated land
only occupy 54.7% and 35.9%, respectively. Water resources per capita can be more
than 20000 m3 in the southwest China but only 200 m3 to 300 m3 in the north. While
there are flooding disasters in the south, draught often occurs simultaneously in the
north. On the temporal aspect, China is known as its monsoon climate. The distribution
of river runoff is very uneven within a year or between years. Sixty to seventy percent of
runoff concentrates in flood period from July to September. This kind of distribution
pattern causes seasonal water shortage even in the semi-humid and humid area.

Along with the ceaseless population growth and rapid development of social economy,
China is facing more and more serious water problems. Three hundred cities out of the
total 600 in the state are lacking of water. Among them, the water shortage is very
serious in 144 cities. The daily water deficit in urban areas amounts to 16 million m3,
causing an economic loss of 24 billion USD each year. On the agriculture aspect, the
water shortage in agriculture for the whole state reaches 77 billion m3 each year.
Statistics shows that in average, there are 19.5 million hectares of land, 25% of the total,
suffering from drought every year. Among the 50 million hectares of irrigated land in the
state, 6.7 million hectares of irrigated land, 1/7 of the state total, cannot get enough even
no water supply for irrigation, causing annual loss of grain production up to 15-20
million tons. Water quality is another serious problem. Tests for the main river section
indicate that 68% of water samples were at below class 3 standard according to the
national specification of environmental water quality. In the nation, 170 million people
drink water polluted by organic matter, 110 million people drink water with high mineral
content, 50 million people drink water with high fluorine content. Moreover, about 60
million people cannot get enough potable water supply, mainly in the loess plateau of
northwest China, islands and costal area and Karst area in southwest China, All these
situation indicate that water shortage has seriously hindered the social and economic
development in China.

19
To solve the water problem, there are many ways. One common measure is to build
water resource project, for example, reservoirs and/ or inter river basin water diversion,
which are aiming at making fully use of river runoff. However, many of the favourable
sites for project easy to develop have already been used. Building of the projects at the
remaining site face increasingly difficulty. The construction cost becomes higher and
higher. Initial input and operation fee for diversion of 1 m3 of water in some project can
be as high as 1 to 2 USD and 0.3 to 0.6 USD, respectively, which cannot be afforded by
most water user. Besides, many large projects often cause environmental problem: large-
scale inundation and settlement, negative impacts on the hydrological and
hydrogeological conditions as well as on the ecological system. In many regions of north
and northwest China, water is negatively balanced on a yearly basis. Over exploitation of
groundwater becomes a common measure to get the water supply, which has caused a
series of ecological-environmental problems. Water table continuously drop down,
accumulation of which in some areas reached 20-30 m; in many arid areas, trees relying
on groundwater supply deteriorate in the lower reach of river basin; ground surface
subsided badly, sea water invaded in coastal area and worsened the water quality, etc.
On the other hand, utilization of precipitation is in a low level. When water becomes
more and more critical for the human's existence and development, it is necessary to pay
more attention to the direct use of precipitation. Especially in those areas where the
surface and subsurface water are short of or their abstraction are very difficult and
rainwater is the only potential or easy-to-exploit water source, rainwater utilization
(RWU) should be the major pattern of water resources exploitation. Indeed, it has been a
long history for the human using rainwater. Today, when we are facing the urgent
problem of water shortage, it is very significant to pay attention to RWU and to add new
idea into the traditional techniques.

2. Progress of rainwater catchment and utilization (RWCU) in China

Since the end of 1980's, RWCU has made rapid development in the loess plateau and
hilly area located at the northwest and north China. This is one of the driest and poorest
areas in China, with area of 627000 km2, 1/15 of the continental. In this area, runoff and
groundwater is very scarce, the water resources per capita is only 540 m3, 1/5 of that in
the state. The topographic condition is very unfavourable for water diversion from the
river to the land. Crisscross distributed ravines and gullies and the high altitude of land
make the water conveyance system and irrigation network almost impossible to build.
The agriculture in this region mainly relies on the natural rain. Although the annual
precipitation reaches 440 mm in average, but owing to its unfavourable distribution,
usually the crops water demand cannot be met and drought occurs frequently, resulting a
very low yield. In the dry year, the yield even cannot compensate the seeds. The cash
crops cannot be planted because of lacking of water. The people held a poor life. The
annual income for a family is as low as 250-300 USD. Moreover, most of the people in
the region have been suffered from thirst for centuries. In most years, the government
has to dispatch trucks to transport water from far distance for the drinking water supply.
In the winter and spring time, many animals died just because lacking of drinking water.
Water shortage became the root of poverty.

The state 9th five-year plan set up an objective to eradicate poverty before the year of
2000 for 65 million people, whose present living standard is still in the impoverished

20
 level. To realize the above target and to promote the social economic development as
well as to improve the people's life, the key measure is to change the water condition. As
pointed before, the only potential water source in this area is rain. It is estimated roughly
that on the total land of loess plateau, the annual precipitation amounts to 275.7 km3,
which is more than 8 times of Yellow River flow at the Lanzhou section. However,
utilization of rainwater faces very unfavourable condition. Firstly, rain in this semi-arid
area is mostly small rain, which cannot produce runoff on a natural soil. Secondly, the
deep layer of loess soil has a high vertical seepage coefficient, most rain infiltrates into
the soil and then evaporate under the low RH condition. Finally, a large part of rain
cannot be used owing to the uneven temporal distribution patterns. It is estimated that
5%-8% of precipitation can form the runoff, about 15-20% of rain is absorbed by the
crops, the remaining 75-80% is lost without any use. This forms a sharp contrast with
the serious water shortage in the region. The local people has a tradition to use rainwater
as their drinking source, which can be traced to thousand years ago, but the water
harvesting efficiency is too low that the problem was not solved. Under the support of
the local government, the Gansu Research Institute for Water conservancy (GRIWAC)
has carried out systematic experiments on rainwater catchment and utilization (RWCU)
in this area and set up numerous demonstration projects since the year of 1988, which
aimed at supplying water for drinking and courtyard irrigation (Zhu et al., 1995).
Several types of material for harvesting field were tested to find out the rainwater
catchment efficiency (RCE) versus the characteristics of rainfall and the moisture in the
material before rain. New RWCU system composed of catchment field that is hardened
or treated for anti-seepage, water storage and the water supply and irrigation facilities
and its design procedure is suggested. A special kind of tile made of cement mortar on
the roof and concrete slab in the courtyard as the water harvesting field were verified to
be most optimum. Underground water cellar and kiln with cement mortar or concrete
lined inside were recommended to replace the old storage. It was proved that RCE of
the new system can be increased by 10 times as compared to the old one. Testing and
pilot projects gave successful results at the area with annual precipitation of 250 to 400
mm. To the end of 1994, in the loess plateau of Gansu province, 40000 family based
RWCU systems were built up. In 1995, a once in 60 years dry year happened, families
having a RWCU system got sufficient water for drink while the other families have to
rely on the government's rescue trucks. On the base of the successful experiment and
demonstration, the Gansu Provincial Government decided to carry out the "121" project,
namely, to support each family to build one rainwater collection field lined with anti-
seepage material, two storage with each capacity of 15-20 m3 and one piece of land
planting cash crop or fruit trees. From the year of 1995-1996, total fund of 12 million
USD, half of which from the social donation were raised, which helped 200 000 families
with one million population building up their own RWCU system. The project not only
solved the drinking water problem that has puzzled the local inhabitants for generations,
but also created a better living environment. Moreover, farmers now can irrigate cash
crop of fruit tree in their courtyard to increase the income. Total area of courtyard
irrigated by rainwater catchment system amount to 10000 ha. by the end of 1996 in the
loess plateau of Gansu province.

A follow up project aiming at improving the dryland farming by using rainwater for
irrigation has been carrying out on a larger scale in Gansu province. At the same time the
similar project has been carried out in the neighbor areas such as Ningxia Hui and Inner

21
 Mongolia Autonomous Region (Ren et al., 1996, Cheng et al., 1996) under support of
the provincial government. In Ningxia, only in the autumn season of 1995, 16000 water
cellars were built to store rainwater for next spring irrigation. In Inner Mongolia, from
1995 to 1996, the pilot projects including 1584 water cellars were built to irrigate 386
hectares of land for 1452 families in 32 villages. In the project, people use highway,
country road, threshing yard and sometimes the artificial seepage controlled field for
water harvesting. The water storage has the same type with drinking project but larger
volume, from 30 to 50 m3. Owing to the very limit amount that can be harvested by the
RWCU system, the water is used in a very saving way. High efficient irrigation but very
cheap methods were adopted. For example, during seeding, a water tank installed on the
sawing machine supplies water in the seed dibbles. The amount of applied water is only
45 to 75 m3/hm2. During the growing period, dibble irrigation by manual is also adopted
with applied water of 100 to 150 m3/bm2. Plastic film covering is another technique
adopted to save water. Furrow or land is covered with plastic film with holes at the
plant. Irrigation water flows into the holes and is kept under film to prevent from
evaporation. Sometimes, water flows in the furrow under the film without holes. If the
farmer can get support from the government or loan from the bank, then movable pipe
system for drip or seepage irrigation is also adopted, which can save labor during
irrigation. Another water saving aspect is to adopt the concept of supplemental irrigation
and limited irrigation. Usually, from July to September, rain is available almost every
year, which can meet the water demand of the crop. In normal, two or three application
at the critical stage to mitigate water deficit are enough for most crops to get a satisfied
yield. For maize, experiment showed that the optimum time for irrigation is at seeding
and early earring stage. The RWCU irrigation project has a miraculous result. According
to Chen et al., (1995) the experiment carried out in Ningxia during 1984-1995 show that
supplemental irrigation for spring wheat with 120-165 m3/hm2 can increase the yield by
19-29%, the WUE reached 19.8 kg/mm hm2. Ren et al. (1996) reported that in 1993,
yield of maize in the Nihao village of Ningxia Autonomous Region after applying 315
m3/hm2 of water by dibble method reached 6.2 t/hm2, a melon land irrigated by rainwater
harvested 3.75 t/hm2 and gained income of 130 USD/hm2. By using the RWCU
technique, four demonstration families got a yearly income of 700 USD in average,
doubling that before the project. Hoe et al. (1996) reported that in a semi-arid
Jingmucha village with 274 population in Gansu province, China, the RWCU project,
harvesting 12760 m3 of rainwater for irrigation in 1995, has increased the grain
production by 27.25 t, value by 6566 USD. This means each one m3 of harvested
rainwater can produce 2.1 kg grain, 0.5 USD, which are very significant to the fanners in
such a poor area.

In the semi-humid and humid area in southern China where the seasonal drought often
occurs, RWCU has also made big progress. Successful practice has been carried out in
Xuzhou, east China (Zu et al., 1996). The natural river and artificial channel were
widened and deepened and linked with the reservoirs and ponds to form a network for
retaining rainwater. The controlled rainfall-runoff has been increased from 348 million
m3, in 1980's to 600 million m3 in the middle of 1990's to ensure irrigation water supply.
In China, there are 433 islands inhabited by 4.53 million population. Most of the islands
and the coastal areas have yearly precipitation more than 1000 mm. However, owing to
the steep slope and lacking of Quartenary stratum, the natural water storing capacity is
very low. Fresh water supply is a big problem. People have to transport water from the

22
continental by boats and the water cost is very high. Since 1980's, people has built water
tanks to collect rainwater from roofs for domestic and industrial use and is proved to be
very successful.

3. Technical points of RWCU system

The RWCU system is one kind or RWU. It is well known that all kinds of water in the
earth are from the precipitation. In this meaning, any water resources project uses water
only from rain and may be included in RWU. However, RWU project with specific
implication denotes the use of rainwater in its original form or in the initial stage of
transformation from rain to runoff, groundwater and soil water. It may be called as the
primitive use of rainwater. There are many types of RWU. It can be divided into the
following aspects:

• Measures to raise the efficiency of soil water use in the rainfed agriculture, such as
deep plough, harrowing and raking, soil surface plastic covering to keep moisture,
inter ridge ditch cultivation and ridge cultivation covered with plastic to concentrate
runoff, etc.
• Soil and water conservation techniques including terracing, contour line ditching, fish
scale pits and small watershed management.
• RWCU - one kind of micro-wter resources project to collect, store, regulate and
use rainwater under artificial and/or natural condition. It can be used to solve
drinking problem and to develop courtyard economy and small plot irrigation using
water saving techniques.

The RWCU system is usually composed of 4 parts, namely, rainwater collection

subsystem, storage subsystem, water supply and irrigation subsystem and agriculture
facility (Gansu Bureau of Water Resources, 1997, Zhu 1997).

3.1 Rainwater collection subsystem

The rainwater collection field has the following types:

1) Roof: roof is the most common water collection field for drinking water. The mostly
common used roof is tiled. Recently, in Gansu, a new tile made of cement mortar
has been developed. It has the advantages of high RCE, saving coal and low price.
2) Concrete lines surface: in the semi-arid area, when water collected by the roof is not
enough to meet the demand, then concrete slab in the courtyard with a thickness of
3-4 cm is used, which RCE can be 0.75-0.8.
3) Cement soild lined surface: when gravel and sand is not available locally, cement
soil, a mix of cement, water and soil can be used to replace concrete.
4) Plastic film: the plastic film can be used in two ways: exposed or covered with sand
or soil. The former one has very high RCE but easy to be damaged. The latter has a
good protection to the film but efficiency is lower (0.45).
5) Compacted soil: this is the cheapest kind but with low efficiency (0.15-0.25) and
short life.

23
Selection of the above types should according to the local condition. For RWCU system
aiming at drinking problem, roof and concrete surface in the courtyard are
recommended. For RWCU irrigation, the existing less permeable field such as the paved
highway, road, threshing yard, etc. are used. When irrigation is for high value crop, then
use of plastic film, concrete could be feasible.

The area of rainwater collection field is determined according to the water demand and
RCE of material used. For the domestic use, in rural area, quota of 20-40 liters is
adopted for daily consumption of each person. In the extremely dry year and/or arid
area, lower quota could be used. For instance, for the "121" project in Gansu province,
daily quota of 10 liters in the normal year and 6 liters in the extremely dry year for human
was suggested. For supplementary irrigation, according to the experiment results in Inner
Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, for autumn crop, two applications each with 150 m3/hm2-300
m3/hm2 are enough. As for the RCE, GRIWAC had conducted systematic tests. The
result is shown in table 1.

Table 1 The yearly RCE of various types of material in different frequency years of
regions with different annual precipitation (unit: %)

Annual Frequen Concret Cement Buried Compact Ceme Clay Clay

Precipita- cy e soil plastic ed loess nt tiles tiles tiles
tion film machin hand
emade made
400-500 50% 80 53 46 25 75 50 41
(mm) 75% 79 51 45 23 74 48 38
95% 76 42 36 19 69 39 31
300-400 50% 80 52 46 26 75 49 40
(mm) 75% 78 46 41 21 72 42 34
95% 75 40 34 17 67 37 29

200-300 50% 78 47 41 20 71 41 34
(mm) 75% 75 40 34 17 66 34 28
95% 73 33 28 13 62 30 24

3.2 Storage subsystem: there are different types of storage in China.

1) Water cellar: a kind of underground water tank that fully uses the self sustain feature
of the soil. The soil inside the cellar is drawn out without taking away the topsoil.
Inside the cellar, to avoid seepage, a thin layer of cement mortar is paved on the
wall. The cellar capacity ranges between 15 and 50 m3 even more.
2) Water kiln: the shape of a water kiln is similar to the dwelling cave commonly used
in the northwest China. In most cases, kiln is usually excavated at a precipice
without taking away soil of the upper layer. Inside the kiln, the masonry or concrete
wall and arc roof are built to support water and overburden pressure.
3) Water tank: One kind of tank is underground tank which shape is similar to water
cellar but different in excavation method and the inside structure, for which thick

24
 concrete or masonry wall are used. Another type of tank is built in a building which
capacity is round 5 m3.
4) Water jar: This is made of steel mesh reinforced cement mortar of 2 cm thick.
Water jar is very popular in the coastal areas of south China especially in Zhejiang
Province (Yi, 1995).
5) Pond and reservoir: This is the simplest and cheapest (according to the cost for unit
storage capacity) type of storage. However, it has a big loss in the semi-arid area by
the high evaporation rate.

The accurate way to determine the storage capacity of RWCU system is to conduct a
computer simulation model with long series of precipitation on the event base and the
water use history curve. However, in common, it is not necessary to use such a
complicated method for a small RWCU project. Some simplified methods were
recommended. The storage capacity can be calculated by multiplying the daily water use
with number of days in dry period that can be taken as 100 in south China and 180-240
in the north for drinking purpose. Another method is to multiple the yearly water
amount by a coefficient that can be roughly taken as 0.5 - 0.8 for drinking project and
0.4 - 0.6 for irrigation project.

3.3 Water supply and irrigation subsystem

In China, for the water supply subsystem, hand pump is commonly adopted and proved
to be good enough and affordable by the farmer. For irrigation project, the simple and
appropriate methods such as hole irrigation, dibble irrigation together with sawing,
irrigation (especially the furrow) under film cover, etc. Under the support of
Government, semi-stationary drip and seepage irrigation method has been widely
adopted.

4. Some theoretical consideration

Based on the research and practices of RWCU done in China, the authors have
suggested the following ideas:

4.1 The progress in RWCU would probably lead to a innovation in the concept of water
resources in China. Precipitation is the original form of all kinds of water resources.
However, in China, the term "water resources" is regarded and evaluated as the sum
of river runoff and groundwater that is not repeated with the surface water. These 2
parts only occupy about 44% of precipitation in China's continental. When water is
becoming increasingly critical for the existence and development of human beings,
why not we extend our attention to the other 56%? Water resources can be divided
into two types (Liu et al., 1996): One is the "concentrated" type with the feature of
high intensity of water flow rate in a short recovery period for replenishment, such
as river water and easily recharged shallow groundwater. The other is the discrete
water resources with the feature of low intensity of water flow rate but covering a
large area such as the rainwater resources. The former is the object developed by
large water resources projects while the latter is for decentralized water demand. If
the former is always diverted to other places for use while the latter is mainly
collected, stored and used on the spot. If the water flow rate of concentrated water

25
 resources is measured by unit of 1 m/s, then 1 mm/min is for discrete water
resources like rainwater. It is clear that there is a difference of 105 in order of
magnitude. So, it might be reasonable to call the former "strong" water and the
latter "weak" water. Although the intensity of "weak" water is very low, it can be
intensified by artificial concentration measures to meet the purpose of water supply.
The concentration measures include the spatial and temporal aspects. On the spatial
aspect, it includes to raise the rainwater collection efficiency (RCE) and enlarge the
collection field (Zhu et al., 1998). On the temporal aspect is to retain water in the
flooding time for use against a drought, to store water in the unused period for the
growth period. With the above-mentioned measures, rainwater could be "strong"
enough to become a necessary supplement to the surface and subsurface water. This
is the process to turn rainfall into a usable resources (Mou, 1996). Practices and
pondering of turning rainwater as usable resources could create many new ideas and
methodology of water resource evaluation and utilization and make advance to a
mature discipline of new and independent branch of water science.

4.2 RWCU could be a new orientation for the water resources engineering. The modern
water resources technique is characterized by their large scale, huge capacity in
water volume and power generation, etc. However, most population (in China, it is
more than 60%) in the mountainous area cannot get direct benefit from it because
the long distance, unfavourable topography, etc. and finally, the high water cost. A
huge project can only divert water to several spots (Power plants, cities, a
concentrated land, etc.) or to several lines (river valley, land along a mountain ridge,
etc.) but hardly can it distribute water to the vast mountainous area. On the
contrary, rainwater is everywhere available, easy to collect and use with low input.
In despite of the complicated topographical conditions, RWCU can be built at any
places only where certain amount of precipitation is available, without need of the
expensive water conveyance system. RWCU is an on-the-spot form for exploitation
of water resources. Furthermore, the deterioration of eco-environment system is
very often associated with the big water resources projects, while RWCU has very
little negative impact on the ecology and environment. We may call it
"environmental friendly" project. When we are entering into 21st century, poverty
alleviation becomes an increasingly urgent issue, while poverty and water shortage
are usually a pair of twin, improverishment mostly exists in the hilly area, it can be
expected that exploitation of extensively distributed rainwater would become a new
trend, a "growing point" of water resources development in China, even in the
world.

4.3 RWCU would be a breakthrough for the development of dryland farming. In China,
more than half of the cultivated land are rainfed agriculture. In the past half century,
scientists, engineers, agronomists and the farmers have made great efforts to raise
the agriculture production within this scope. The key points is how to keep the soil
moisture from rainfall as much and as long as possible. The measures include: 1) the
cultivation measure: leveling the land, deep plough, harrowing, applying fertilizer,
mulching, sand or plastic covering, etc.; 2) the soil and water conservation measure:
to build contour line, fish scale pits, terracing (level terrace, terrace with inverted
slope, terrace and steep slope in between), small watershed management. All of
these are effective in retaining soil moisture and increasing the yield. However, when

26
 demands on the agricultural production has become higher and higher, people found
the role of traditional rainfed agriculture and soil and water conservation is limited
and cannot meet the demand of further enhancement of agriculture and improvement
of their life. Especially in the semi-arid areas, where the rainfall is unevenly
distributed and the evaporation is high, the moisture received in the autumn can
hardly be kept up to meet the water demand of seeding in the next spring, still less
the growing period before the rainy season. The concept of RWCU is to reallocate
the rainwater for moisture supplement in the critical stage, to concentrate more
rainwater to the plant to meet the crop water demand. This is a new idea to
overcome micro environment or to change crop characteristic to enable the plant
adapting to the rainwater condition, while the former try to control the rainwater to
meet the crop demand. Progress of RWCU in China convinced that only with this, a
high yield, high quality and high value agriculture with the local special is feasible.

Acknowledgement Part of the study was funded by the China National Natural Science
Foundation and the Gansu Bureau of Water Resources.

References

Chen Guoliang, Xu Xuexuan, et al., 1996, The bases and potentialities of developing
cellar water harvest and water saving agriculture in sourthern Ningxia hilly area,
Proceedings of the First National Conference on Rainwater Utilization (1st
NACORU), Lanzhou, 1996. (in Chinese)
Cheng Manjin, Cheng Zhengming, 1996, "112" rainwater catchment and water saving
irrigation project in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Proceedings of 1st
NACORU, Lanzhou, 1996. (in Chinese)
Gansu Bureau of Water Resources, Gansu Bureau of Technical Supervision, 1997,
Gansu Provincial Technical Standard for Rainwater Catchment and Utilization,
Gansu Technology and Science Press, Lanzhou, 1997. (in Chinese)
Hou Xinmin. Hou Baowen, 1996, Experiment on the rainwater catchment and water
saving irrigation techniques in semi-arid area, Proceedings of 1st NACORU,
Lanzhou, 1996. (in Chinese)
Liu Changming, Mou Haisheng, 1996, The water resources problem and the significance
of rainwater utilization in China, Proceedings of 1st NACORU, Lanzhou, 1996.
(in Chinese)
Mou Haisheng, 1996, The history, progress and tendency of rainwater harvesting on the
world — On the implication of rainwater resources and rainwater utilization,
Proceedings of 1st NACORU, Lanzhou, 1996. (in Chinese)
Ren Zhenxi, Wang Xinhua, et al., 1996, Research on the agricultural system under
supplementary irrigation using rainwater stored in water cellar in the semi-arid
area of Ningxia, Proceedings of 1st NACORU, Lanzhou, 1996. (in Chinese)
Yi Yongqing, 1996, Application of cement-mesh water jar in rainwater catchment
system, Proceedings of 1st NACORU, Lanzhou, 1996. (in Chinese)
Zhu Qiang, Wu Fuxue, 1995, Rainwater catchment and utilization in the arid and semi-
arid area in Gansu, China, Proceedings of 7th International Rainwater Catchment
System Conference, Vol.1, Beijing, 1995.

27
Zhu Qiang, Li Yuanhong, 1998, On rainwater catchment and utilization, paper on the
International Symposium and 2nd National Conference on Rainwater Utilization,
1998, Xuzhou.
ZU Zhenhua, Wang Kailin, et al., 1996, Making full use of rainfall-runoff is an effective
way to develop irrigation agriculture in areas lacking of water, Proceedings of 1st
NACORU, Lanzhou, 1996. (in Chinese)

28
USING RAINWATER AS THE KEY FOR ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC
GROWTH; REGENERATING VILLAGE NATURAL RESOURCES WITH
PEOPLE'S PARTICIPATION

Sunita Narain
Centre for Science and Environment
41 Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 100 062, India
Email: sunita%cse@sdalt. ernet. in

Local water management and rainwater harvesting can provide the key to transforming
the ecological and economic base of villages. However, this demands fundamental
changes in water management strategies. Community control and participation will have
to be an essential component of any strategy that seeks to use local water resources. But
as successful village level experiments in India show, this participation is not possible
unless the institutional framework for governance is amended. Over the 1980s, India has
seen a number of microexperiences of successful community resource management.
These microexperiences are remarkable as they are testimony to the potential of
generating wealth and well being from rainwater harvesting. What is also remarkable is
the short time it takes to transform a poverty stricken, destitute and ecologically
devastated village to a rich and green village. This wealth can be used to create more
wealth by investing in resource management - a cyclical system of sustainable growth.
The community sees a stake in the good management of the resource as it benefits from
its development. The fragile natural asset that is created as a result of better management
of water must be sustainable. But this sustainability of the asset base will only be possible
if people are involved in the management of the resource as is evident from the number
of microexperiences in the country. These examples of community management of
natural resources teach us what happens when people are given the right to manage their
natural resource base.

But even after their astounding success, these microexperiences remain scattered and
isolated. Critics use this to condemn these examples as creations of remarkable
individuals who have persevered to bring change. They say these examples are not
replicable. But that is not the true picture. These examples have remained scattered
because the governance system that would foster people's control over natural
resources does not exist in the country. The current microexamples exist despite the
system and not because of the system. It therefore, takes enormous perseverance of an
individual to bring change at the micro level. However, if the system of governance was
one which enabled local communities to improve and care for their resource base, it
would be easier to bring change.

The current success stories of village level resource management teach us that a bundle
of policy measures are needed for good resource management. These measures include
changes in the current institutional, legal and financial framework towards systems that
engender local democracy. It is only once this policy package is implemented that these
"isolated" microexperiences will bloom into a "million" villages.

29
The Sukhomajri experience: common water is the key
Sukhomajri has the distinction of being the first village in India to be levied income tax
on the income it earns from the ecological regeneration of its degraded watershed.

The village of Sukhomajri near the city of Chandigarh has been hailed for its pioneering
efforts in microwatershed development. Its inhabitants have protected the heavily
degraded forest that lies within and around the catchment of its minor irrigation tanks.
The tanks have helped to increase crop production by nearly three times and the
protection of the forest area has greatly increased grass and tree fodder availability. This,
in turn, has increased milk production. In just about five years, annual household income
increased by an estimated Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,000 ($ 100 to $ 200) - a stupendous
achievement by any standard, especially as all of this was obtained through the
improvement of the village natural resource base and self-reliance1.

A combination of public, private and community investments and the participatory efforts
of the villagers has produced, according to one cost benefit analysis, a rate of return of
the order of 24 per cent. The Sukhomajri project proves that it is possible to get
sustained development with limited financial investments from the outside. Between
1979 and 1980, fuelwood availability and milk yield per animal increased by 30 per cent
and wheat and maize yields more than doubled. One of the most impressive savings
resulting from the project is in the cost of desilting the Sukhna lake which supplies water
to the downstream city of Chandigarh. The inflow of sediment has come down by over
90 per cent. This saves the government Rs. 7.65 million ($0.2 million) each year in
dredging and other costs.

In Sukhomajri, the main reason why the villagers protect their watershed is because they
have an assurance from the forest department that they have the right to the usufruct of
the land. Earlier, the forest department would auction the grass in the degraded
watershed to a contractor who in turn would charge the villagers high rates to harvest
the grass. The villagers argued that as they were protecting the watershed, they should
get the benefits from the increased biomass production and not the contractor. The state
forest department agreed to give the grass rights to the village society as long as the
villagers paid the forest department a royalty equivalent to the average income earned by
the department before the villagers started protecting the watershed.

The villagers pay their village society a nominal amount to cut grass in the watershed. A
part of this is used to pay the forest department and a part is used to generate community
resources for the village. If the forest department's assurance, however tenuous, was not
available, the entire Sukhomajri experiment would collapse overnight.

A crucial role in this entire expertise was played by a village-level institution that was
specifically created for the purpose of watershed protection. The Hill Resources
Management Society, as this institution is called, consists of one member from each
household in the village. It provides a forum for the villagers to discuss their problems,
manage the local environment and maintain discipline amongst its members. The society
makes sure that no household grazes its animals in the watershed and in return it has
created a framework for a fair distribution amongst all the households of the resources so
generated, namely, water, wood and grass. Today, the entire catchment of the tank is

30
green and the village is prosperous and capable of withstanding even serious droughts.

The Ralegan Siddhi experience: rainwater harvesting with people's participation

Ralegan Siddhi is a model of development in a drought-prone area of Maharashtra where
average rainfall is 400 mm per year and where the villagers were not even assured one
regular crop. In summer, they would regularly take the state-sponsored drought relief
measures. Today not a single inhabitant of the village depends on drought relief. Per
capita income has increased substantially. Ralegan Siddhi has solved its scarce water
conditions through an elaborate system of small dams and watershed development.

Anna Hazare - a retired driver from the Indian army - began work in the village by
constructing storage ponds, reservoirs and gully plugs. Due to the steady percolation of
water, the groundwater table began to rise. Simultaneously, government social forestry
schemes were utilised to plant 400,000 trees in and around the village. The total area
under farming increased from 630 hectares to 950 hectare. The average yields of millets,
sorghum and onion increased substantially. Water is distributed equitably. As cultivation
of sugarcane, which requires a large quantity of water, was forbidden in the early years.

There is an impressive system of decision making in the village. Some 14 committees

operate to ensure people's participation in all decision making. For many years the
elected village council was only composed of women. All families get water in turn. One
farmer will not get a second turn of irrigation until all families have been served. Since
the commons belong to all, even the landless families - four to five in the village - have a
right to the water. Even where individuals have dug wells, they have been persuaded to
share water with others.

Ralegan Siddhi has now even got a branch of a major bank of its own. The savings of
Ralegan Siddhi alone is Rs. 2.3 million (about US$ 60,000). For a village that was less
than two decades ago, a drunkard's den with a badly degraded environment, this is
indeed a miracle2.

Gopalpura; where building checkdams was illegal

Gopalpura is a poor, drought stricken village, located at the base of the Aravali hills in
the state of Rajasthan. In 1986, assisted by the Tarun Bharat Sangh, a local voluntary
agency, the villagers built three small earthern rainwater harvesting structures - locally
called johads - on their fields and village grazing lands to store monsoon rains, irrigate
their fields, increase percolation in the ground to recharge wells.

But as soon as these were built, the state irrigation department declared the structures
"illegal" under the existing water laws. The villagers were asked to "remove" these
structures as all drains and small streams are government property.

The irrigation agency first argued that a downstream dam would get reduced water
because of these village structures. Later it changed its stand to say that these
unauthorised structures could get washed away and flood local villages. The next rains,
ironically, saw several "official" structures being washed away but not the johads built by
the people.

31
After a protracted fight, the charges were dropped by the administration. It is clear that
people would not allow their johads broken down.

Policy lessons for the future: what micro-experiences teach us about macro-policies
for rainwater harvesting and rural natural resource management

The South faces a major challenge over the next few decades. With a growing
population, land and other environmental resources will become scarce. Over the coming
years, the demand for food, firewood, fodder, building materials like timber and thatch,
industrial raw materials and various such products will grow by leaps and bounds.

These growing demands can be met only if highly productive systems can be found for
growing all forms of biomass, from foodgrains to grasses and trees which will be at the
same time ecologically-sound and sustainable - not merely technical systems that give
bumper yields today but discount the future. The limited land and water resources will
come under increasing pressure to meet these diverse biomass needs. The South has to
find a strategy to optimise the use of its natural resources in a way that it can get high
productivity as well as sustainability. Micro-experiences in resource management at the
village level provide lessons for action at the national level.

The following points need to form the policy for village rainwater harvesting.

1. The starting point for better resource management in a village community is water.
The microexperiences show that the common property of water provides the crucial link
to improve the productivity of private property of croplands. But it is vital to maintain
the use of local water as a community resource and not to allow water distribution to
follow the inequity in land holdings. In Sukhomajri and Ralegan Siddi it has been
asserted that water which is captured from common watershed areas is common property
and belongs to the entire village.

2. Local water management demands integrated thinking. Since most biomass needs in
Third World villages are met from the immediate environment, the 'village ecosystem'
usually consists of several integrated components: croplands, grazing lands, forest and
tree lands, local water bodies, livestock and various energy sources. What happens in one
component invariably impacts on the others. The village ecosystem is held in a fine
ecological balance. Trees of forest lands provide firewood. This helps villagers to avoid
the burning of cowdung, which in turn helps them to maintain the productivity of
croplands where this dung is applied as manure. Simultaneously, trees and crops help to
complement the grasslands in the supply of fodder for domestic animals. This intricate
web can be easily torn apart through adverse land use changes leading to land
degradation and susceptibility to floods and droughts.

Microexperiences show that what is needed is the holistic enrichment of the ecosystems.
In other words, an approach in which attempts are made to increase the productivity of
all the components of the village ecosystem - from its grazing lands and forest lands to its
croplands, water systems and animals - and in such a way that this enrichment is
sustainable. Current rural development efforts are extremely fragmented - they focus

32
mostly on agriculture - and often the efforts are contradictory and counterproductive.
Holistic planning can be attempted only at the village-level, village by village.

3. People's participation in the regeneration of village assets is crucial. All new

plantations and grasslands have to be protected. But since all common lands have intense
users, any attempt to enclose a patch of degraded land will be strongly resented by the
people, however underproductive it may be to begin with. If people's support does not
exist, then the survival rates of village assets like check dams, tanks will be extremely
poor. It is important to note that ecologically vital but fragile rural resources like trees,
grasses, ponds and tanks cannot be created and maintained by any bureaucracy. This
task can be carried out only by the local people.

4. People's participation will not be possible without the strengthening of village

institutions. Rational use and maintenance of village land and water resources needs
discipline. Villagers have to ensure that animals do not graze in their protected
commons, the catchments of their local water bodies are conserved and properly used,
and the common produce from these lands is equitably distributed within the village.
Villagers can do all this, and more, only if there is an effective village-level institution to
energise and involve them in controlling and managing their environment. Deepening
democracy at the grassroots is a critical determinant for ecological regeneration and
local water management.

5. No village institution can function within a legal framework that prevents it from
taking care of its environment. Laws dealing with natural resources like land, water and
forests will have to be changed to give people the right to improve and develop the
village natural resource base. Currently, the government owns a substantial portion of
land and water resources in India. Natural resources are thus largely government
property and not community property. The result is that village communities have lost all
interest in their management or protection. This alienation has led to massive denudation
of forests, overexploitation of grazing lands and neglect of local water systems. This will
only change if the people get a stake in the improvement of the natural resource base by
reforming the current legal structure of control over natural resources.

The legal framework should clearly be such that people are encouraged to take the
initiative to develop their natural resource base and not wait for the government to act.
In other words, a government for self-governance is desperately needed in villages of the
South.

6. No village institution can function without money. In the present system, various
functionaries and agencies of the government control finances for village development.
Ultimately, only a small proportion reaches the community and is spent on projects over
which it has no control and for which it has not set any priority.

Village institutions can raise substantial sums of money for the common village good,
especially if they can organise their common property resources to attain a high level of
productivity. This money can be used further by village institutions to develop and
increase the productivity of common land and water systems. The commons will support

33
the economic growth of the village through supply of food, fuel, fodder, artisanal raw
materials, wood and monetary resources for development. But the village should also
save and invest in the ecological improvement of the commons. This will lead to a kind
of cyclical growth, pushing the rural economy into an upward spiral.

Conclusions

The primary goal of water management in the rural South is to restore the survival base
of the vast population, especially those sections living in ecologically fragile regions.
Considerable experience has been gained through numerous grassroots efforts of both
governmental and voluntary agencies. These efforts show that the involvement of the
people is crucial for success and that equity and sustainability must go hand in hand.

The only way this objective can be achieved is by deepening systems of participatory
democracy and expanding people's participation at the village-level as much as possible.
Every settlement must have a clearly and legally defined environment to protect, care for
and use, and an open forum in which all can get together to discuss their problems and
find common solutions. By strengthening and emphasising the importance of open
forums, common solutions and common natural resources, the developing world can
make a determined bid to revive the dying community spirit and to rebuild its devastated
environment.

1
Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain, 1989, Towards Green Villages: A strategy for
environmentally sound and participatory rural development, Centre for Science and
Environment, New Delhi;
2
Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain 1997, Creating Sustainable Livelihoods, Putting a floor to
rural poverty through labour investments in managing the natural capital, Centre for Science
and Environment, New Delhi, mimeo.

34
RAIN WATER CATCHMENT SYSTEM OF AIZAWAL
THE STATE CAPITAL OF MIZORAM, INDIA

Mr. Dimglena, Rtd. Secretary to the Govt. ofMizoram, India

1. Mizoram: The State of Mizoram is located in the extreme North-East corner of

India bordering Myanmar in the East and Bangladesh in the South-West. Mizoram
State having an area of only 21,000 sq.kms. is entirely mountainous covered with
green vegetation. The hill ranges mostly follow North-South directions and the
rivers flow either in North or South directions. The highest peak namely Blue-
Mountain is only 7100 feet high. The climate is moderate throughout the while year
which temperature varying between 7°C and 30°C. The State being in the South-
East monsoon area enjoys abundant monsoon rainfall. The average annual rainfall is
about 250 cms.

Mizoram State is thinly populated and all the towns and villages are on hill-tops or
on the upper reaches of the hill slopes. The people are mostly engaged in agriculture
and horticulture for their livelihood. Major industries are yet to come. The
atmosphere is free from pollution and rain-water is clean and ideal for domestic uses.
One fourth of the 7 lakh population of Mizoram live in Aizawal, the capital of
Mizoram, the rest are scattered in 800-small towns and villages.

The geological formation of the hills are of sedimentary rocks comprising mostly of
hard shales. Due to this geological formation the rain water run-off is very rapid.
The traditional means of water supply is rain water collection during the rainy
season and storing them for use during the dry days. The other traditional means bf
water supply is tapping of spring water from the rock layers on the lower areas.
These sources give surplus water during the rainy season but dry up when the rains
stop. Inspite of heavy monsoon rains the dry season always has acute water scarcity.

2. Aizawl: The history of Aizawl dated back to 1894, only 100 years back when the
British established the first administrative unit at Aizawl. Water supply to the British
post was from a 12 lakh gallons capacity underground rain water reservoir
constructed with stone masonry. A rain water catchment sloped roof was
constructed with galvanised corrugated iron sheet (C.G.I) around the reservoir. To
suit the climate, buildings are mostly constructed with sloping roofs using galvanised
Iron sheets ideal for rain water catchment. Roof top rain water catchment system
has been practised as the most convenient and economical water supply system.

Aizawal has a population of over, 1,50,000 (1991). The public water supply system
by pumping from a perennial river (R. Tlawng) involves pumping through a static
head of 1040 metres using 8 kms. long 305mm. dia pipeline. The water supply
system was designed for 80,000 people with 135 litres per capita per day rate of
supply. The population of Aizawl increased rapidly due to migration from rural areas
and the population doubled every decade. The present population is almost 3,00,000
and the public water supply system is grossly insufficient. The shortfall of water

35
 requirement is met by rain water. Even after pipe water supply system is constructed
in Aizawal in 1988 rooftop rain water continues to play a very important role as
public water supply system by pumping water from perennial river is extremely
costly.

3. Rain water: Rain water is water in the purest form, free from undesirable chemicals
in places like Mizoram which is free from pollution. After prolonged storage
bacteria can develop in rain water tanks. A study conducted by Industrial
Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow on water quality of different sources of
water revealed that rain water stored for long period of time without treatment
developed bacterial growth but is free from undesirable chemicals. Such bacteria can
be removed by simple chlorination. An occasional dose of chlorine or bleaching
powder once in a month is considered sufficient.

The rainfall data of Aizawl in different years and the rainfall distribution during the
twelve
months of the year is given in the following tables:

RAIN FALL

(a) Annual Rainfall (cm)

Year 1988 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Rainfall 265.6 282.7 261.4 194.5 322.8 207.0 250.1 236.3
(Cm)

(b) Monthly Distribution of Rainfall (cm)

Year 1988 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

January 0.06 0.16 0.11 0.5 1.8 0.3 0.4 0.8
February 2.8 2.4 3.0 6.8 12.9 1.6 1.0 3.7
March 6.4 17.7 2.8 0.7 9.9 23.3 3.7 16.9
April 13.7 26.0 13.7 5.0 10.8 16.0 4.0 10.7
May 33.3 39.8 20.2 16.1 48.2 15.9 36.7 29.8
June 49.7 31.7 40.2 27.7 64.1 30.2 44.9 34.7
July 55.2 41.6 71.1 37.4 70.9 41.7 40.5 36.7
August 44.4 55.2 45.3 38.2 46.2 43.4 47.4 35.1
September 32.7 42.2 34.6 31.6 33.9 21.0 34.9 43.6
October 23.1 9.8 30.2 25.6 21.7 11.0 17.1 20.5
November 4.1 12.4 0.13 3.9 2.4 2.6 19.5 3.4
December 0.1 3.7 0.1 1.0 ~ 0.02 0.05 0.4
Yearly 265.6 282.7 261.4 194.5 322.8 207.0 250.1 236.3
Total

36
4. Design Parametres: Rain water catchment depends on two things -

(i) Rain fall (ii) The area on which rain falls. The catchment areas may be of three
types of surfaces. Hard surfaces like roofs and rocks gives a total run-off (100%);
semi-hard surfaces like roads, compound around houses give half run-off (50%) and
loose soil catchment such as country side gives only quarter run-off (25%).

To arrive at the quantity of rain water available the following simple formula may be
applied:

Catchment Area x Run-off factor x Rainfall = Quantity of water.

For example: If a roof area is 10m. long and 5m. wide and Rainfall 250 centi-metre
Rain Water available in a year is:-

10 x 5 x 250 x 1000 =1,25,000 litres.

100

b) For a family of 8-persons this can give water daily:-

125000 - 42 (lpcd) litres per capital per day

8x365

The bare minimum Domestic water consumption by an average Mizo family having
water reservoir next to his house without internal pipe connections is assumed as 10
litres per capita per day only. The longest period of dry days without rain or very
little rainfall is assumed as 120 days. Thus, the quantity of rain water required by an
average family of 8 persons to last the dry season period can be calculated as-

8x10x120 = 9600 litres

Say = 10,000 litres

One or more tanks of 10,000 litres capacity rain water tank is considered for one
family at present.

In Mizoram, majority of the rain water tanks are constructed with galvanised Iron
sheets. The tanks are mostly made in cylindrical shape. To catch rain water from the
roof galvanised Iron semi circular rain gutters are normally used. In the recent past
other materials like RCC tanks, ferro cement tanks and plastic tanks are also used.
In order to avoid entry of dust and other dirty things accumulated in the roofs during
dry days, the first one or two showers are let off without letting it enter the
reservoir.

5. Spring Water Catchment: Rain water percolating in the soil on the hill slopes
conies out as spring at outcrops of rock layers during the rainy seasons and many
weeks after rainfall. Small catchment tanks are constructed with stone masonry or
concrete masonry at convenient locations. The tanks are provided with roof
protection. The water collected in such spring catchment tanks serve very useful

37
purpose of water supply. In some locations water is available the whole year round.
But water from spring sources normally has chemicals and bacterial contamination
rendering them unfit for drinking. Spring water is used for washing and cooking.
Boiling is required if Spring water is used for direct consumption.

Programme of Government: Rain water resources both surface and underground

are depleting rapidly due to developmental activities. Environmental Pollution is
increasing day by day which adversely affect the water quality. Use of rain water has
to be encouraged by all water users. Rain water catchment system is a simple
technology appropriate to under-developed and developing countries. It is
economical as well. The Government of India at the Centre and States are reviving
use of rain water for solving the water supply problems. The State Government of
Mizoram has taken up Rain water catchment system from roof-tops as well as from
springs as one of the major schemes for solving the problems of water supply in
rural and urban areas.

Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission aiming at giving drinking water
supply to every village chalked out a nation wide programme covering all the States
of India. Under Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) and
Technology Mission Programme, Rain Water Harvesting is one of the programmes
in Mizoram. As many as 5993 individual house rain water tanks costing Rs. 600.00
lakh have been executed in 198 villages. These rain water tanks in the villages are
provided with Government grant to be maintained by the individual family at their
expense. This programme is found to be very encouraging in solving the drinking
water problems in the rural areas.

Aizawl the capital of Mizoram State has pipe water supply system from 1988, Prior
to this, rain water was the main source of water supply in Aizawl. Some of the
remote localities of Aizawl are not yet connected by pipe lines. Their only source of
drinking water continues to be Rain Water Harvesting. Even in localities where pipe
water connections are available, water supply is insufficient and rain water still plays
a very important role to supplement the community water supply from the
Government. At present Aizawl has more than 10,000 rain water tanks in individual
houses. These tanks are constructed by individual family at their own expenses
without Government assistance. The sizes of individual family rain water tanks vary
widely depending on the financial capacities of the family. There are rain water
tanks as small as 500 litres capacity and some of the bigger tanks are over 5 lakh
litres capacity.

Developments under the Government is increasing rapidly. The use of community

water supply through pipe lines are being encouraged. Better facilities of individual
pipe connections are available in private houses. Multistoried buildings with re-
inforce concrete (RCC) and flat roofs are also coming up. Use of rain water is on
the decline in the urban areas. Dependence of the Government which gives heavy
subsidy in water supply has an adverse effect on use of the traditional system of Rain
Water Harvesting. The high cost of producing drinking water by pumping and
distribution through pipe lines are not passed on to the consumers as the cost is
mainly borne by the Government. Moreover, use of rain water in modern kitchens

38
and toilets is not convenient unless the individual family resort to pumping in the
over-head tanks at their own cost. This present situation is prevailing as there is no
clear-cut Government policy in management of water supply by Rain Water
Harvesting. In India, Government still plays the role of provider of water supply,
that too with heavy subsidy on water tariff. If a consumer is to pay for the full cost
of production rain water will be much more economical than pipe water supply
system.

Pollution as a result of developmental activities is slowly damaging surface water

sources and the quality of water. Demand of water is increasing day by day. Surface
water sources are getting deficient pumping and transportation cost of water to the
consumers is getting more and more expensive. Use of rain water as source of water
supply will gain more and more importance in the coming years. The minds of the
people have to be trained and people encouraged to use rain water to meet their
water requirements. A policy on conjunctive use of surface water, ground water and
rain water is the need of today.

39
RAINWATER UTILIZATION SAVES THE EARTH
RAINWATER UTILIZATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN
CITIES

Dr Makoto Murase, Director (Urban Programs) of IRCSA

Environmental Protection Department
Sumida City Office, 1-23-20 Azumabashi, Sumida City, Tokyo 130, Japan

1. Rainwater as a Valuable Reusable Resource

The average yearly precipitation in Tokyo is about 1,400 mm. This is about twice the
German average. However residents in Tokyo have under-appreciated rainwater as a
resource for a long time. They have overlooked rainwater flow into drains and
considered that more dams are needed to be built upstream when they run short of city
water supply. They have felt that rain falling in reservoir areas is a "must", whereas rain
falling in their communities a "nuisance."

I have continued to advocate that cities must obtain the water they consume on their
own as far as circumstances permit, and that rainwater falling in cities should not be
wasted. Thus numerous "mini dams" collecting and storing rainwater should be built in
cities, The stored water contributes to decreasing the city water demand, providing
drinking and non-drinking water in emergencies, and helping prevent disasters including
fires.

Tokyo has been inflicted with water shortage and floods alternately every few years. I
therefore consider that it is necessary to appreciate the fact that more than 2 billion m3 of
rain falls in Tokyo every year and, at the same time, about the same amount of water is
consumed every year.

Sumida city has been actively promoting rainwater utilization policies with three aims:
developing water resources in communities, restoring regional natural water cycle and
securing water supply for emergencies. Sumida City strongly asked the Japan Sumo
Association to introduce rainwater utilization concepts into its newly designed Sumo
wrestling arena, Kokugikan in 1982. Since then the city has shown its initiatives in
utilizing rainwater in the city's different facilities and constructing Rojison, a simple
rainwater utilization system, in many communities of the city hand in hand with
residents.

Following the example of Kokugikan, nearly 500 buildings in Tokyo have introduced
rain water utilization system. The number of houses adopting fullscale rainwater
utilization systems is gradually increasing, too.

2. Tokyo International Rainwater Utilization Conference

News of the efforts made by Sumida City and its residents have traveled far to The
United States and the International Rainwater Catchment System Association (IRCSA)

40
approached the City proposing to hold a conference on rainwater utilization. So the
Tokyo International Rainwater Utilization Conference (TIRUC) was held in August of
1994 in Sumida City and I served as the secretary general of the organizing committee
for TIRUC.

This conference was unique from three points. First, it was much larger in scale and was
supported by a greater variety groups of people than any other previous conference on
rainwater utilization. Over 800 people participated in the sessions and several thousand
attended accompanying activities and exhibition. From overseas, we had 26 participants
who have been actively promoting rainwater utilization in their countries. They were
citizens, representatives of NGOs, employees of local governments, scholars and
researchers from Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Denmark, Finance, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States,

Secondly, the conference was the first one especially focusing on the role of rainwater
utilization from the urban perspective, particularly from that of a "mega-city". This is
interesting for several reasons. The most notable reasons is that the primary advantage of
collecting and storing rainwater in urban areas is not only producing additional water
supply but also controlling storm runoff and preventing urban floods as a result.

Thirdly, the conference was organized and supported by citizens and was funded through
the efforts and enthusiasm of people in Sumida city and its neighboring areas.

The following five points were confirmed at TIRUC.

(1) Population in Asia, Africa and Latin America will continue to concentrate into large
cities and as a result, those cities will confront the problem "Urban Droughts and
Urban Floods" which Tokyo faces now.

(2) The lessons of Tokyo has learned thoroughly rejecting rain and continuing to dump
rainwater into sewers, and Tokyo's newly acquired wisdom on rainwater use
techniques will undoubtedly contribute to resolving "Urban Drought and Urban
Flood".

(3) Rainwater utilization is an internationally shared responsibility considering the

"sustainable development" of cities;

(4) Rainwater utilization is directly related to acid rain and air pollution.

(5) Creating new rainwater culture in which cities can live more harmoniously with rain
is required.

This conference has produced constructive results in techniques and policies regarding
rainwater utilization, and has changed people's way of thinking toward rain. Among
them the largest product was networking of rainwater utilization information on global
scale.

41
3. Subsidies for Rainwater Utilization

Sumida City also closely examined the potential of rainwater utilization as part of its
policies between 1992 and 1994 based on its achievements over the previous ten years.
The results showed that increasing the number of city facilities using rainwater will
resolve water shortage and urban flooding, and will also help in emergencies. Thus
Sumida City compiled "Guidelines for Rainwater Utilization" in March of 1996. The
guidelines feature three principles.

(1) The City will install rainwater utilization systems in all its new facilities.

(2) The City will guide or advise to residents and companies planning to construct
houses or buildings in a tract of land more than 1,000m2 to install rainwater
utilization systems.

(3) The City will subsidize residents and companies planning to install rainwater
utilization systems.

In October of 1996 the city launched the subsidies for encouraging rainwater utilization.
In recent years an increasing number of local governments including Okinawa
Prefecture, Takamatsu City, Toyota City, Kamakura City and Kawaguchi City have
begun subsidizing or loaning funds for installing rainwater systems. This movement is
spreading nationwide driving companies to develop rainwater utilization devices.

4. Local Government Council for Rainwater Utilization

The Tokyo International Rainwater Utilization Conference was held in Sumida City,
Tokyo in 1994 when many cities in Japan suffered from serious water shortage in the
wake of a long dry spell. This problem spurred local governments to proceed with
rainwater utilization policies.

In July of 1996 municipal and prefectural governments established a council in

accordance with a proposal by Sumida City, which had already been actively promoting
rainwater utilization. Sumida City is now serving as the council's organizer.

The council has two aims. The first is discussing how to utilize rainwater in talking water
shortage and urban flooding problems, and for emergencies; and how to improve the
regional and global environment through such different measures as the restoration of
regional natural water cycle. The second aim is exchanging information on policies,
and networking local governments nationwide and spreading the network worldwide.
Seventy-seven municipalities and six prefectures in Japan have so far joined this council.

An annual forum (Rainwater Fair) by citizens and local governments was held in August
of 1997 in Okinawa Prefecture, and island in the southernmost part of Japan that has
been afflicted with chronic water shortage.

Rainwater Utilization Forum for Local Governments and Citizens will be held from
August 7th to 9th, 1998 in Sumida City.

42
The UN Conference on Human Settlements in 1996 (Habitat Conference II) warned that
"water shortage and flooding" will come to the fore as a critical issue in many cities in
developing countries early in the 21st century. Thus it is extremely important for
authorities on different levels to network worldwide for exchanging information and
options regarding their policies.

5. Activities of "People for Promoting Rainwater Utilization"

The Organizing Committee for the 1994 Tokyo International Rainwater Utilization
Conference (TIRUC) was reborn in April of 1995 as "People for Promoting Rainwater
Utilization", an NGO based in Sumida City. Its aim is spreading rainwater utilization
among people and communities worldwide following the successes of the 1994
conference. This NGO has been engaged in many activities regarding rainwater
utilization such as consultation, technology development, fact-finding inquiries, cultural
research and environmental education. Some members of the group also visited China in
1995, Germany in 1996 and Iran 1997 spreading its network overseas.

In March of 1995 after the Great Hanshin Earthquake the NGO's predecessor, the
Organizing Committee for TIRUC, presented one hundred 200 rainwater tanks for
storing drinking water supplied by water wagons to communities in earthquake-
devastated Kobe City.

43
RAINWATER HARVESTING AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION, LAIKIPIA
EXPERIENCE

JohnMbugua
(Former Vice-president Interntional Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (IRCSA)
and also former Chairman Kenya Rainwater Association (KRA)

Introduction

Water supply coverage in Kenya is about 42% only. This leaves a large number of
people without this important basic need. This has social and economic consequences.
Particularly people living in the vast rural areas situated away from rivers and nearly
always under-developed with regard to water. It is common that every time there some
money available to be used for water supply development drilling of bore-holes and
piped water are usually given preference. On many occasions the bore-holes yield
insufficient water or contain salty water. The cost of operating and maintaining bore-
holes, pumps and the associated equipment and fuel is usually about the capabilities of
the department responsible for water and/or the community involved.

In-spite of its potential, rainwater harvesting has not received adequate interest among
policy makers, planners and water project managers in Kanya and the continent as whole.
Low cost options which people can afford and use for improving their standards of living
is often overlooked. These attitudes and actions have hampered the development of
institutions necessary for the promotion of rainwater harvesting on a nationwide scale.
Yet the potential for increased use of rainwater for drinking as well as agricultural
production is high and the technologies involved within reach of the local economy.

Over the last ten years individuals and institutions who are committed to more water
supply coverage through utilization of rainwater have increased rapidly. Interested
individuals and groups have organized themselves into organizations to coordinate their
activities. Most relevant among them is Kenya Rainwater Association (KRA).

Poverty

Figures that describe poverty in Kenya are not so easily available due to its political
implications. However just recently the minister of finance gave a figure that describes
Kenya living under poverty line as 13 million about 50% of the population. This large
number of Kenyans are therefore living in life characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy and
diseases and are living generally beneath any reasonable definition of human decency.
This category of people have a daily struggle to access food, clean water, education and
health care. This people therefore live in confusion and hopelessness. In such a situation
victims are known to be highly dependent and all the time looking on the outsiders for
handouts.

To mobilize these people to become part of a process of overcoming this dehumanizing

state and start a journey to self-reliance, ten years ago the Laikipia water project was

44
started Anglican Church of Kenya. This paper therefore gives experience gained in
Laikipia which has shown that capacity building that includes skills, knowledge,
information and other social and physical infrastructure support can help to alleviate
poverty. During the mobilization the root causes of poverty and under-development such
as injustices, isolation, alleniation etc. are analyzed with the target communities. In this
case water for drinking, water for food increase and livestock production have proved
very successful mobilization strategies for poverty alleviation. This is because the
conventional water sources like the ground and surface water are not available in many
places as rainwater is when it rains. This is why Kenya Rainwater Association was
formed and today several small consulting firms have been set up and registered with the
Government and affiliated to KRA. Such private sector groups include Land use
Consultants who use rainwater harvesting as catalyst to mobilize and build their capacity
of this target communities towards self-reliance, determination and confidence.

Role of the Government

In Kenya today food security, basic health care, water, education and housing have
become too costly for the public budget to provide. Political and institutional
arrangements in Kenya have failed to supply raw materials to meet the needs of the poor.
This is partly due to the enormous strain on the public purse by debt servicing. Other
factors are those caused by constraints brought about by poor management, leadership
and policies.

Kenya compared to many other countries of the world is a resource poor state. There are
no minerals like precious stones or petroleum. Moreover use of modern technologies is
limited. Without mining or manufacturing base Kenya is forced to rely heavily on
agriculture for its economic production. Unfortunately 83% of Kenya is arid and semi
arid and so of very limited agricultural value with the existing technologies and attitudes
of the policy makers who only use the limited ground water and surface resources and
ignore rainwater harvesting.

Case study from Laikipia in Kenya

Laikipia district lies on the leeward side of Mount Kenya and has an annual average
rainfall of approximately 700mm. Rain falls in two seasons, the long and short rains.
This area is categorized as a semi-arid. The communities in this area are subsistence
farmers growing crops (mainly maize and beans) and keeping livestock (cattle sheep and
goats). There are frequent droughts, resulting in frequent crop failure and decimation of
livestock.

Survey and assessment

A participatory rural appraisal (PRA) was used as a tool that was most suited for the
task of taking stock of the circumstances prevailing in the target area. Both social and
physical environmental circumstances were investigated. The PRA results pointed out to
the need for a human centered approach in which peace, security, raising of the quality of
life, preservation of the environment, justice and democracy were to be importent

45
elements of mobilization. The PRA also revealed that the practiced land use and farming
methods were not suitable and therefore not sustainable.

INTERVENTION

Rainwater utilization

A rainwater harvesting program was introduced starting small with an ordinary oil drum
200 liters and a few Ix3m galvanized iron sheets. Then to others the 2.5 cubic meters
water jars were introduced. As awareness improved and therefore willingness to pay for
increased water access, other tanks sizes were introduced. They included ferrocements,
masonry tanks, rubble stones and finally the huge 50 to 100 cubic meter underground
tanks was introduced. All the above provided the most needed domestic and livestock
water needs and some limited vegetable growing.

As results of this rainwater harvesting continued to impress on the local communities

runoff farming was introduced to use excess water that was not being harvested into the
tanks using already introduced is the all in one package watershed management
approaches. However the ground has been set.

Ten years later yield of crops has increased for example maise the local staple food
increased from 8 number of 90 kg bags to 20 bags. 250% increase. With this also is the
reduced crop failure rate associated with additional water harvested through a number
approaches like the terracing, composting, afforestation and generally suitable land use
and good farming practices. This in turn has been possible by the fact that 5 hours on the
average lost while fetching water now goes to fanning. In addition lost labor due to
frequent diseases related to use of unsafe water is now available. There is extra income
from the excess farm produce sold and in general living standard has become better and
poverty greatly reduced.

Experiences gained in this project has been used to build capacity of many rural and
scattered communities in Uganda Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.

In all these cases communities are organized in community based institutions called
Community Based Organization (CBOs). This institutional arrangements provides the
needed vehicle for development at the grassroots level in many developing countries.
This has proved useful particularly in Kenya where increased costs of living and collapse
of several public services due to mismanagement of the little resources there might be,
unequitable distribution of these meager resources and opportunities are rampant.

Conclusion

1. Rainwater harvesting technology has high initial capital costs but negligible recurrent
costs. However the choice of technology is the single most important decision that
determine cost of the service chosen.
2. Lack of markets and marketing skills has made communities who produce food or
livestock products for sale face financial problems as they leap ahead out of poverty.
3. Among many groups who have done rainwater harvesting activities there is

46
• Marked increase of better stewardship or resources
• The CBO level projects are better managed due to increased Organizational and
management skills
• There is increased community knowledge information and use of local skills
• Communities participate and contribute to their projects more than before
• The projects have fostered more community solidarity and caring by sharing the
benefits of the projects with poorer households

Recommendations

1. Poverty alleviation through introduction of the most needy projects that provide the
most basic need will succeed if technical and environment issues will be balanced
with equity and justice.

2. Water is a very important basic need and all the major water resources ground and
surface, rainwater is the most widely spread and accessible resource. Therefore
when this is approached from an integrated water-shed approach there is better
chances of achieving more suitable land use and therefore sustainable and eco-
fiiendly well being of the people.

47
SI I
T H E S T O C K H O L M INTERNATIONAL
WATER INSTITUTE (SIWI)
The Stockholm International Water Institute is
a scientific, technical and educational organization that
contributes to international efforts to combat the escalating
global water crisis. SIWI facilitates research, raises awareness
and stimulates action on world water issues.

SIWI's work is based on the knowledge and experience

gained during years of innovative water-related activities
in Stockholm and on close cooperation with universities,
technical societies and scientific institutions from
around the world.