Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions and Recommendations

Appropriate Technology

The water scarcity problems affecting “tanker villages’ and hilltop villages in the northern
talukas of Thana District, as well as in other areas with similar problems, cannot be solved
by adopting standard types of technologies like drilling or digging wells, and construction
of small bandaras. For each village, in addition to the evaluation for the implementation of
these activities, consideration should be given to other solutions according the geological,
climatic, morphological and socio-economic conditions of individual villages.

Inventory of Water Resources

A complete inventory of the water resources of the hilly areas is highly recommended and
should have, as main scope, the identification of promising sites suitable for the
construction of earth dams, masonry dams, bandharas, dams to store water in artificially
created aquifers, location of springs, seepages and other potential water sources including
also the suitability to drill boreholes, construct hand dug wells and infiltration galleries, as
well as alternative technologies, such as roof catchments, rock catchments, or other
water-holding structures briefly described in the paper. The identification of promising
sites can be done with the help of air photography and satellite imagery interpretation.
During the field check, the participation of local people is essential in order to locate
springs, seepages and identify potential sites for water-holding structures.

Water Development Plan

Once the inventory is completed, it will be possible to elaborate a “Water and Soil
Development Plan for the Northern Talukas of Thana District and for Tanker
Villages” to be implemented in various phases, according to the identified water needs.

Improvement of Technical Aspects for Dam Construction

During the surveys of hilly villages in the northern talukas of Thana District, the author
had the opportunity to visit some small nala dams constructed by the Panchayat Samiti.
The following problems have been identified:
In most cases, the material used for the construction of the nala dams was removed from
the catchment area and dumped on the dam site. Such material consisted often of highly
permeable gravely soils derived from granular weathered rock surfaces.
No masonry or concrete wall, as well as no impervious clay core plug had been inserted
to prevent fast water drainage.
The loose material used for the dams had not been compacted by machine or other
means and no water had been used for this purpose.
Lack of proper investigation, inadequate technical capability on dam construction and
design appeared quite evident as the reservoirs were never filled up during the rainy
season.

Better Design, Supervision and Control of Water Works

Based on these observations, it seems essential to implement a better supervision and
control during the construction of soil and water conservation works as well as during the
construction of nala dams carried out for these poor Adivasi villages. Proper soil and
water conservation planning, coupled with the appropriate water work structure design,
will help to retain large amounts of water in properly constructed water-holding
structures. At present, most of the copious yearly rainfall moves away from the northern
taluka as run-off water, while people suffer from lack of water during many months of the
year. Some of the water works require just simple technologies, possibly low-costing,
appropriate to local conditions.

Supervision, Training, and Co-ordination

There is also a great need to train and supervise young professionals and contractors
during the construction of the programmed water works. A better co-ordination and
collaboration amongst the various government services dealing with the water
development programs in rural areas is essential. This also applies to the maintenance of
the water works and to the construction of appropriate structures to secure safe water to
people. In this respect, a full involvement of the Groundwater Survey and Development
Agency (GSDA) in carrying out the inventory of the water resources, the identification of
the promising sites for the construction of water structures, and the identification and
promotion of simple, appropriate technologies is much needed. GSDA should expand its
activity also in training young professionals in diversified simple technologies, as well as in
co-ordinating rural water development activities.

Technical Institute for Simple, Low-Cost, Appropriate Technology

The many Indian states have developed over the centuries a rich experience on simple,
low-cost indigenous water technologies; unfortunately, there is not much interchange of
information among the various states about it. The creation of specialised institutes to
teach young professionals on diversified water development aspects by technologies
appropriate to the natural conditions, is essential. Net-working and interchange of
information through seminars, workshops, and regional conferences will surely help in
spreading the information and stimulating the interest for further research.