Jharkhand team exposure cum training on perspective building on use of Hydro-geology for water securities

A group of 9 people from PRIA and Sathee visited Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT), Bhuj for Jharkhand team exposure cum training on perspective building on use of Hydro-geology for water securities. It was the best time to visit Bhuj to understand the availability of safe drinking water in the draught prone areas, and even in this strong situation basic drinking water facility is available for the villagers. The training also talked about the traditional ways of safe drinking water and the modern techniques for providing safe drinking water in the village.

7 wells were also built to store the rain water The pond covering 1.5 acres of land were built with a big catchment area.

The team visited Kosh, Bedi, Rampur Gadh, Mohadi, Neemadivand villages in Nalliya block of Bhuj in which we got to know about traditional and modern ways of safe drinking water from surface and sub-surface water. In Kosha village a traditional pond was built with a bigger catchment area and with 7 wells inside the pond. During the rainy season all six wells and the ponds are covered with rain water. People use the well which doesnât come under the pond during the rainy season. After the rainy season when the pond starts drying, the people shift to the other six wells for drinking purpose, which was recharged during the rains in the area. An underground barricade was built 450 years back to stop the saline water of Arabian Sea to enter the pond.

There was also a live example of a well which used the sub surface water. The well was recharged by the check dam and at the same time villagers received the water via motor pump and pipe line spread to 1.5 km with 3 stand post and each had 3 taps.  In most of the villages which we visited people can use the surface water for more 2-3 years even if they havenât received the rainfall from last 1 year.

The team also visited the urban areas of Bhuj regarding the safe drinking water facility. The team visited the slum Khadi Bagh and understood that any intervention is possible only when the community decides to work on the issue. The well in the Khadi Bagh was closed after a boy committed suicide in the well, but after the ACT team intervention the people started using the well water and at the same time the water was also distributed to nearby area i.e. Shivra Mandap Vistar via motor pump and piped water.

The team also visited a primary school in Shiv Nagar slum was the rain water harvesting model can be experienced. The rain water was used in two ways via two pipes. One pipe covered the underground water tank of 25,000 litres and the other pipe ending was to the ground were the ground water recharging was done as it was sandstone soil. The school principal informed that the water is safe for drinking purpose.  The team also noticed the efficient use of rain water in Jubilee colony were the people started recharging the ground water through wells and other sand construction in the area.

While the training we were also able to drive a relation between climate condition and rainfall. While visiting the various wells and water recharge centre we came to know how to keep water balance in all season and mostly in summer season. A very important part of the training was on type of soils and their relation with ground water and surface water for example sandstone act as an aquifer1 i.e. absorb rain water and recharge the ground water at the same time clay sand does not absorb any water so the rain water gets only on the surface area. The team also got a clear understanding on the different type of rocks and aquifers which gave a clear picture on what type of intervention needs to be done keeping in mind about the soil and rainfall in the area. For example the team saw a fault in Bhuj were after the earthquake the flow of the ground water was stopped at a point due to the tectonic disturbances called fracture as one rock gets lifted up stopping the flow of the ground water to the other side.

Key Learnings

1. Efficient use of water even when Bhuj has an average rainfall of 330 mm which is very less as compared to 1400 mm of average rainfall in Jharkhand. In Bhuj there were live examples which taught us that traditional ways of water management of storing rain water has saved the villages from drought conditions.
2. Different types of soil and rock and their relation with water recharging for example sandstone absorb water and are a good source of storing water as compared to clay soil which doesnât absorb water.
3. Disadvantages of hand pumps as the ground water is getting depleted and no recharging of the ground water happens in hand pump at the same time the hand pump water is contaminated.



The black colour proves that this change is due to any natural calamities. This rock was lifted up after the Bhuj earthquake. And this stopped the flow of ground water in this area.

4. I also came to know that the ground water flow can be stopped if any natural calamities happen like fault and fracture.
5. The local communities should be empowered first to make the water management in the area a successful model, for example the slum we visited, there the people living around are managing the water issues with a success after a small intervention from the  ACT group.
6. I also learned about the water recharging points and how the rain water harvesting can solve the issue of drinking water in schools.

The pipe transferred the water to the nearest point where the ground water can be recharged as it was sandstone. The school had rain harvesting water this pipe trasfered the rain water into 25,000 litres underground tank.

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