Time and again- the troubles of the farmers comes to the fore. There is only one solution.
1'- 4' tall bunds/dams every 2/5/10 kilometers on every river that runs around farmlands.
STOP THE RUN OFF. NOW.
I want one senior Govt official or Minister to read this and force it on every PWD and CPWD engineer to get a plan in the next two months and start executing in the third month.
The Govt is full of people who want a city like Mumbai to do rain water harvesting when it is just not feasible to trap water- and that its meant to be done in arid areas or areas of erratic rainfall. In a city, no matter what you do, it will take three days to fill your reservoir and being surrounded by saline water on all sides, precious jack seepage achieves.However- in the interiors- where it is life and now reaching generation saving proportions- it is critical that we act on this.
Simplest pyramidal shaped- gravity held bunds/dams will arrest the flow of runoff from the so critical monsoon that most of our nation depends on. Force the water into the fields by pumps, or then the rest into ground water by seepage.
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Pic 1- Different dams depending on locally available material (1)
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So what happens next is- you will get backwaters created where fresh water prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and quick growing (Catla, Catla catla and Rohu, Labeo rohita) and where mud banks permit- vegetables (Bitter gourd, okra, ridge gourd), tuber crops and pulses (Pigeon pea)(2) can be grown before the water either is consumed, evaporated or seeps completely into the ground. Either ways- the benefits are humongous. Boating and other water-based recreational facilities can be developed where possible. Endless are the possibilities for 'detained' water bodies.
Superb examples of blocking waters span almost 90 years- starting from the 60's! Examples like- the 'Fifteenmile Creek' area in Wyoming, USA, and Mexico City's 29 Detention Dams for reasons from sediment control to flood control abound.
And likewise what needs to be looked into the future- at the 11th International Conference on Urban Drainage, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 2008 two members of the Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México presented a model study of the Mexico City dam system- extrapolated to the Year 2050(4).
What is interesting is that the Wyoming project was carried out in the 60's as Fifteenmile Creek, though contributing just 1% of water to the Big Horn riverine system, gave 75% of its sediment content. Over a 10-year period, the following structural controls were implemented: 34 sediment detention dams, 110 reservoirs, and 21 spreader dikes. In addition, 2486 ha were contour-furrowed- and this is just an example of breathing life into the flora and fauna of Big Horn(3).
Tragically our countrys' planners neither have had the vision for the future nor are they 'suffering' from 20/20 hindsight. Every year that we delay the implication of blocking run-off, we imperil our farmers. To give you a small perspective- the about 20% agrarian base of our GDP is what prevents us from tipping and tossing everytime a Greece teeters and totters. Our new found wealth in the 'Services' Sector is making us blind to what is our countrys' economic seat-belt and air-bag system. We cannot afford to ignore the very base that protects our economy.
IF this is not done- the less rain/more rain trauma that shows farmers committing suicide will just increase Y-O-Y. The vagaries of the monsoon cannot continue to hold our country to ransom.
Issues like malaria and other mosquito driven diseases that come with bunds are just as well tackled by use of guppies in water, and start surrounding populations with anti-malarial drugs- or introduce them to 'gin and tonic-' for its quinine content.
Over which I would be willing to discuss this further.
References-
1. Pic 1- https://civilsolution.wordpress.com
2. Success Stories. http://www.crri.nic.in/crri_sucstory.htm. Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, India.
3. Effectiveness of sediment control structures relative to spatial patterns of upland soil loss in an arid watershed, Wyoming. Richard A. Marston, Lawrence S. Dolan.Geomorphology 31 1999 (313–323)
4. Runoff control modelling on a detention dams system. H.L. Cisneros-Iturbe, I.J. Pelczer. 11th
International Conference on Urban Drainage, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 2008
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