Abhishek Sharma

1
TANK REHABILITATION A CRITICAL APPRAISAL

• Abhishek Sharma
• R.Sakthivadivel
• Frank van Weert

2
TANKS- Focusing on Issues

• A lot of money is being spent on rehabilitation
  of tanks and much of it is loans. In light of
  this 2 issues merit examination
• What is the worth of tanks today?
• Is the present method of rehabilitation the best?
  How best to decide upon an appropriate method of
  rehabilitation?

3
Tanks Important Position in Irrigation and in
the local ecosystem

• As an engineering system, it is historically one
  of the oldest, ingenious and yet simple in
  irrigation engineering design.
• As an agricultural system, it is distinct in
  cropping practices, varieties and water
  management.
• As a social system, tank serves and benefits
  various groups and sections of the community such
  as farmers, fishermen, artisans,animal rearers-
  especially women.

4
Performance Of Tanks

• Physical condition of the tanks have deteriorated
• Supply channels have got heavily encroached,
  silted and affected by weed growth
• Siltation of the tank bed has taken place leading
  to significant reduction in storage capacity
• In all poorly performing tanks the condition of
  the field channels, sluices, bund etc. is poor.
  Farmers seem to maintain only those tanks which
  fill up regularly.

5
Performance Of Tanks

• Neglect of tanks by government
• Investment on tanks has
• been an insignificant portion of the total
  investment on minor irrigation
• Control of tanks by the government has alienated
  farming communities from maintenance of tanks-
  especially supply channels
• Legalizing catchment cultivation and myopic
  electricity supply policies have led to the
  decline of tanks

6
Present Practice of tank Rehabilitation
The World Bank funded Karnataka Community Based
Tank Management Project consists of three
components 1) undertaking tank system
improvements 2) establishing an enabling
environment for the sustainable, decentralized
management of tank systems and 3) strengthening
community-based institutions to assume
responsibility for tank system development and
management (World Bank, 2002).

• Formation of tank water user association.
• Participation of stakeholders form the very
  beginning of rehabilitation process.
• Initially tank rehabilitation means
  rehabilitation of the tank proper with its
  distribution system.
• Later supply channel was also included for
  modification

7
Performance Of Tanks

• Coming in of canals schemes and well and tubewell
  irrigation has led to a decline of tanks.
• Tanks have gone dry in areas where tubewell
  irrigation has come up in a big way.
• The catchment area has gone through a massive
  change. All of the catchment in most stand alone
  tanks is being cultivated. In addition rapid
  construction in the catchment in the form of
  roads, buildings etc. have further reduced the
  runoff.

8
Performance Of Tanks

• Coming in of canals schemes and well and tubewell
  irrigation has led to a decline of tanks.
• Tanks have gone dry in areas where tubewell
  irrigation has come up in a big way.
• The catchment area has gone through a massive
  change. All of the catchment in most stand alone
  tanks is being cultivated. In addition rapid
  construction in the catchment in the form of
  roads, buildings etc. have further reduced the
  runoff.

9
Performance Of Tanks

• Socio- Political cum cultural change has affected
  tank management.
• Land holding size in the command has shrunk
• Land holdings have become heterogeneous in terms
  of caste and class compositions through
  transactions of land leading to a breakdown of
  old power relations
• Government has made landownership in the
  catchment legal by giving Pattas

10
Present Practice of tank Rehabilitation

• A Vaidyanathan
• (Rehabilitation) Schemes are designed unmindful
  of the differences in the needs and possibilities
  between tanks. The schemes are planned piecemeal
  . (As a result) The programs for tank irrigation
  in recent decades have been inadequate in scale,
  misconceived in design, poor in implementation
  and dubious in their impact.

11
Factors not received adequate attention in the
present process

• Tank is a multiple use and multiple user system
  with contrasting and conflicting objectives.
  Institutional design is complex.
• The tank system has changed radically and is
  always in dynamic flux. Changes not adequately
  accounted for in the process.
• Tank system is an embedded system in a watershed
  context. Has both on-site and off-site impacts.
  Off-site impact not fully accounted.

12
Various Rehabilitation Alternatives

• No one approach seems to be workable in all
  parts.
• Traditional rehabilitation agenda
• Innovations like Percolation ponds
• Catchment rehabilitation
• There are instances of combining new with old-
  South Bihar , Narmada canal Tambraparani, the
  Vaigai and Palar basins

13
Questions arising out of present tank
rehabilitation process

• What should be the framework under which tank
  rehabilitation be looked into?
• How should tank rehabilitation be planned,
  designed, implemented and managed?

14
Pre- requisites for answering the issues- A
Knowledge Based Approach

• A clear understanding of the existing water
  cycle within a tank system and in the watershed
  in which it is embedded.
• An understanding of the use rights of water among
  different users and between the systems in a
  watershed context.
• Institutions now existing and operating at the
  tank and watershed level.

15
Components of Water-Use Cycle (Gundlur Tank)
Losses-9 ham
Runoff-60 ham
ET Irrigation-26.4 ham
16
Changes in Gundlur tank and command/catchment
areas

17
Components of Water-Use Cycle (Gundlur Tank)
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Component 1 Watershed Profile

• Purpose
• Understanding the system in respect of socio-
  economic profile, existing institutions and water
  use rights.
• Implications
• Age distribution of command area farmers
• Caste and class wise land holding patterns
• Kinds of water allocation mechanisms- within
  agriculture and between sectors- drinking,
  livestock, agriculture etc.
• Method
• Broad questionnaire survey
• Focused group discussions
• Secondary data

20
Component 2 Water Accounting

• Purpose
• Understanding the present water use cycle status
  and water accounting parameters.
• Implications If water is not reaching is it
  because-
• Rainfall has changed
• Supply channels are damaged
• Cropping patterns have changed
• Method Evolving
• Secondary data
• Group discussions
• Primary data collection on physical parameters-
  measurements of selected wells etc.
• Matching primary data with softer information
  collected

21
Component 3 Analyzing Alternatives

• Purpose
• Setting up different scenarios arriving at an
  acceptable rehabilitation plan for each tank
  system through participation.
• Implications
• More awareness for the stakeholders
• Conflict resolution
• Building up better and appropriate institutions
  for tank management
• Method
• Simulation model for decision support
• Comparative analysis
• Evolving

22
Component 4 Decision Turnover

• Purpose
• Turning over the scheme to stakeholders for
  operation, maintenance and management
• Implications If water is not reaching is it
  because-
• Strengthening of stakeholders
• Reduction in institutional capital requirement
• Method
• Using stakeholders, NGOs and Government for
  implementing the scheme
• Evolving

23
Implications of a Knowledge Based Approach

• Choosing between various rehabilitation
  alternatives- A tank in the upper reaches of the
  watershed may need traditional rehabilitation
  while a downstream tank might need to be
  converted to a percolation pond.
• Coming up with innovative solutions for scarcity
  management-
• Tank water markets aided by the fact that there
  are existing, clearly defined water rights in
  tanks.
• Growing crops in only a small area if the tank
  has not filled up and then sharing it according
  to land holdings. Eg. Sri Lanka
• Alternating between channels for water supply.
  Eg. Andhra Pradesh

24
Implications of a Knowledge Based Approach

• Doing appropriate rehabilitation- In a piecemeal
  approach the chances of overdoing rehabilitation
  is high because it ignores offsite impact of
  tanks.
• Understanding the worth of tanks- Only when
  linkages between all components of watershed are
  understood can the actual worth of tank systems
  be understood- eg. For drinking water needs, as
  flood regulators etc.

25
TANKS- Focusing on Issues (Dr. Shakthi)

• A lot of money is being spent on rehabilitation
  of tanks and much of it is loans. In light of
  this 2 issues merit examination
• What is the worth of tanks today?
• Is the present method of rehabilitation the best?
  How best to decide upon an appropriate method of
  rehabilitation?

26
Thank You