Rainwater Harvesting - Idkidu, Karnataka, India

In addition to two rainwater harvesting (RWH) awareness workshops involving slide-shows, ASFSF conducted two group Jalayatras, or visits to RWH achievers. One site visited was Kanavu in Sullia Taluk, where a large percolation tank has increased groundwater levels.

In an effort to determine the actual water status of the village, an in-depth survey was conducted house-to-house by 15 volunteers from June to August, 2002. In the process, volunteers tried to make households aware that their water source is dwindling rapidly and to suggest different remedial measures to ensure that dug-wells do not go dry, including minimising water use, constructing check-dams, and harvesting rain that falls around houses.

Separate committees will follow up on this door-to-door campaign, exploring roof-water harvesting, construction of check-dams, and ways to spread RWH education to schools. They will work toward long-term projects including the construction of a dug-well for each house. In the short term, they will ensure that, during the monsoon, water is no longer removed from borewells, thereby reducing the load.

Agriculture, Environment.

Although Idkidu has a natural supply of ample groundwater, borewells were dug indiscriminately when cultivation shifted from paddy to arecanut (betel nut) (and when prices for the latter cash crop rose steeply). According to the water status survey conducted by ASFSF, 1/3 of the 2100-acre village has irrigated crop (676 acres) and 364 borewells belonging to 230 farming families. Of 303 dug wells, only 10% (34) have water year-round; 50% (152) of the wells are dry for a period of 3 months or more and 10% of the borewells (35) are completely dry. Yield of more than 50% of the borewells (184) has been reduced by 30% or more in recent years.

Shortly after the Jalayatras, Idkidu farmers constructed four new check-dams. Furthermore, organisers claim that, as a result of the door-to-door awareness campaign, more than 20 households started collecting rain. Some households divert the roof-water to the dug-well/borewell; others dig trenches, percolate the water in a drying yard, or recharge groundwater. At Shanmukha temple, all the roof-water is now fed to a borewell as well as a nearby dry well.

In a public meeting called "Peoples' Planning for Water Sustainability", Idkidu citizens described their RWH experiments and released a report based on the water status survey to peoples' representatives. A photo exhibition containing blow-ups of RWH experiments was held as a part of the function. Volunteers for the survey and rain harvesters were honoured through gifts of books on RWH.