2.

2 Western Himalaya
and

i
The Himalayan mountains bind India in the north by 1
one continuous chain of gigantic peaks. The western
half, which stretches from the Kashmir valley to the
Uttarakhand region of Uttar Pradesh, forms the watershed
of the river Indus, its five tributaries and the main Ganga
river. These mountains support a large human population.
Terraced agriculture is commonly practised on the slopes,
and paddy cultivation in the valleys and duns — the wide
valleys that separate the sub-Himalayan ranges from the
middle mountains.
There has been an extensive system of water harvesting
in the western Himalaya. Farmers have had a major
tradition of building canals aligned roughly with contours irrigate an area of 80-400 ha through distributaries or
to draw water from hill streams or springs. These canals are by flooding. The irrigated land, being situated on hill
known as kuhls. The length of a kuhl varies from 1-15 km. slopes, is terraced. The system is common at altitudes from
They have a trapezoidal cross-section, 0.1-0.2 sq m in area, 350-3,000 m in the outer and middle Himalaya. Where there
and usually carry a discharge of 15-100 litres per second. is a significant drop in elevation in the path of a kuhl, the fall
Many kuhls collect rainwater and snow melt running off the is utilised to drive simple machinery like flour mills. The cost
slopes above them, and as a result, occasivnally it is possible of construction of a kuhl varies from Rs 3,000-5,000 per km.!
to find a kuhl whose discharge increases along its length. The Jammu region has also had an extensive tradition of
The discharge also varies with the season. A single kuhl can building ponds.

« Net Area Irrigated by Sources in Himalayan States (1988-88) (Provisional)

Canals Tanks Wells Other | Total
(including sources
Government Private Total tubewells) |
("000 ha) (000 ha) (000 ha) (‘000 ha) (‘000 ha) (000 ha) | ('000 ha)

Arunachal Pradesh - - - - - 32 32
Assam 7 291 362 - - 210 572
Himachal Pradesh - - - - 1 88 99
Jammu and Kashmir 130 159 289 3 3 15 ‘ 310
Manipur - - - - - 65 65
Meghalaya - - - - - 50 50
Mizoram - - - - - 8 8
Nagaland - - - - - 56 56
Sikkim - - - - - 16 16

Total 201 | 450 651 3 14 [ 540 1,208

Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi

In the Himalayan states, as against a total area of 201,000 ha covered by state irrigation systems, the area under private canals accounts for
450,000 ha. In addition, an area of 540,000 ha under the head ‘other sources’ represent private non-governmental systems.

36 Traditional Water Harvesting Systems

 Available data on irrigation sources in the Himalayan
states clearly shows the role that traditional irrigation
systems, managed by the farmers themselves, play in
agricultural production in remote and hilly areas. The hills
of Uttar Pradesh are not included in the data in Table 2.2.1.
However, we know an irrigation potential of 33,200 ha had
been created by state irrigation systems upto March 1985,
and about 40,000 ha by private minor irrigation systems,
with the help of the department of minor irrigation. Data
about privately created irrigation systems is not available.
Table 2.2.1 shows that in the Himalayan states, as against a
total area of 201,000 ha covered by state irrigation systems,
the area under private canals accounts for 450,000 ha. In
addition, an area of 540,000 ha under the head ‘other
sources” may well represent private non-governmental
systems, thereby making a total of nearly 1 million hectare
(mha) under the farmer-managed category. Little is known
about the functioning of these systems, though it is certain
that their productivity levels are equivalent to those of
state systems, probably even better.
1. KASHMIR VALLEY
With its fertile soil and abundant water, Kashmir has, from
time immemorial, practised agriculture. The chief crop of
Kashmiri farmers has for long been rice, which
presupposes that there was an abundance of canals
through which water was diverted from rivers and
streams. There are definite indications of an elaborate
system of irrigation since the first millennium AD, which
shows the antiquity of rice cultivation in the Kashmir
valley. That there was great pressure on land, even in
antiquity, due to a swelling population, is attested to, as
historian M A Stein points rat, by “traces of old irrigation
cuts long ago abandoned, which brought down the water
of the melting snows from the Alpine plateau high above
the forest zone.”2 In his book Rajatarangini (composed from
1148-50 AD), Kalhana (son of king Harsha’s minister) has
written that the construction of irrigation canals played a
significant role in the development of Kashmir.2 The
Suvarnmanikulya canal (modern Sunmanikul), which still
brings water to Adrin pargana, is ascribed to king Suvarna
and is of great antiquity.2 King Lalitaditya (699-736 AD) is
credited with having supplied irrigation facilities to
villages near Chakradhara (modern Tsakadar) through
erection of water wheels (araghatta) which lifted water
from the Jhelum.2
The Kashmir valley was prone to floods and hence
yielded little produce. King Lalitaditya had, with much
labour, drained out some of the water from the flooded
valley, which resulted in the production of better crops.
After his death, however, drainage operations were
neglected and floods started devastating the land again.
King Avantivarman (855-884 AD) thought of several
plans for the relief of the people.3 Villagers of the locality
talk about an interesting story of a man named Suyya
who lived during his reign. Whenever there was talk of
famine, Suyya would boast that he had the powers to
banish this monster of flood-induced famine. King
Avantivarman decided to test him and placed his treasure
at his disposal. Suyya took many pots of gold in a boat
and rowed towards the southern district of the valley. He
threw a pot in a village called Nandaka (Nandi on the
Veshan river) which, at the time, was submerged in
floodwaters. He then went to Yakshdara, a place near
Khadanayar below Baramulla, and threw a handful of
coins into the river. The famine-stricken people who were
watching Suyya, jumped into the river and, in order to
find the treasure, cleared the bed of boulders which had
choked the river. In a couple of days, the riverbed was
cleared. Suyya then had embankments raised on either
side of the river. This accelerated the flow of water that
quickly drained out. The submerged land reappeared.
The pot of gold which he had thrown into the river also
came into full view.
Previously, the Vitasta and Sindhu (Indus) rivers met
near Trigami, turning a large area into a swamp. But
Suyya regulated the course of the Vitasta in such a way
that it flowed into the Wular lake. The water was
channelled for irrigation purposes and each village was
allotted water for its crops. Suyya also had many villages
reclaimed from marshy tracts by raising circular
embankments around them to keep out the water. They
looked like round bowls (kunda) and, hence, were renamed
kundal. Some villages like Utsa-Kundal and Mara-Kundal
retain these names to date. For hundreds of villages,
reclamation led to bumper harvests.3
In medieval times (15th century) too, repairs were
made to these ancient canals or new ones constructed. The
reign of Zain-ul-Abidin (1423-1474 AD) saw several
important irrigation works. Chronicles written by his
functionaries provide lists of canals constructed during the
reign of the sultan.* Among these, canals which distributed
the waters of the Pohar river over the Zainagir pargana
and the canal which carried the waters of the Lidder to the
arid plateau of Martand deserve special mention. Of the
smaller canals, built to serve mainly as communication
channels, the Lacchamkul and the Mar also deserve
mention. The former carried drinking water to the sultan’s
new town of Naushahr. The canal was extended to the
Jama Masjid and then emptied into the Mar canal. The
latter was dug through the old city of Srinagar and carried
a portion of the surplus water to as far as Shadipur at the
confluence of the Jhelum and Indus rivers. No records
have been found of new canals being laid by the Mughals.
They seem to have mainly repaired the existing ones. Their
love for gardens and springs, however, resulted in the
construction of tanks around springs and water channels
to feed the fountains, which incidentally increased
irrigation facilities for farmers.*
2. JAMMU
The Jammu region, which lies largely in the sub-
Himalayan hills and the adjoining plains, also had a
tradition of minor irrigation. Kuhals or kuhls (diversion
canals) probably constitute the most ancient irrigation
system in this region. Kuhls attained a high degree of
efficiency because of a well-developed system of social
management. Unfortunately, with the takeover of these
canals by the government after Independence, the system
of kuhls has suffered a setback.
For drinking water in the submountainous Kandi area,
ponds or tanks have traditionally been the major source.
A detailed study found that ponds have been a part of
Jammu'’s heritage for a very long time. There are several
myths woven around this important water source in a
traditionally water-scarce area. Ponds were the main
Western-Himalaya 37

Notwithstanding the generally unhygienic quality of their water,
ponds have been the main source of drinking water for villages
and cattle in the Kandi region. Quite often, the same pond has
served as a drinking water source for both humans and animals.
Summing up the drinking water problem of the Kandi
region, the Jammu Erosion Committee set up by Maharaja Hari
Singh in 1931 said in its report:
“One cannot even look at the water which is used for
human consumption in this illaga (area). Villages have
got ponds which store rainwater. This water is used by
man and his stock combined for their ablutions, cooking
and drinking purposes. It is not an uncommon sight to
see the buffaloes wallowing in these tanks full of algae
throughout the day adding their quota of filth by dung
and urine to make the dirty water of the pond still more
filthy. In the other comer of the pond, some people may
be found cooling themselves in it while the unconcemed
housewife may be seen filling her pitcher with the same
water for her domestic purposes. This extremely filthy
water is full of bacteria and other germs and the majority
of the villagers are a prey to norwas (threadworm), a very
common disease in this illaga. Human degeneration
cannot go any further...”
Massive investments have been made during the last 20
years to provide potable water. Most areas have been covered
by installing dugwells in the beds of rivulets. But the results are
patchy — of 3,625 villages in the Jammu division, 702 villages
and about 1,300 hamlets remain to be covered. In the so-called
covered villages, water is supplied only two to three days a
week; and, when demand rises sharply in the summer, villagers
very often return to the ponds again for drinking water.
In areas where piped drinking water supply is available it is
supplemented by water tankers; the Public Health Engineering
Department spends about Rs 1 crore every year on water
tankers in Jammu and Kathua districts. Water is carried by
tankers upto 50 km to those living along the roadside. The rest
of the population fends for itself and still drinks pondwater
When the ponds dry up in the summer, villagers trek long
distances to fetch drinking water-
Thus, despite piped drinking water and water tanker services,
there are many villages where people still drink pondwater. Some
of these villages are just on the outskirts of Jammu city and there
are many more in the interior areas of Akhnoor, Samba, Bhalwal,
Dhansal, Hiranagar and Purmandal blocks.
Unfortunately, most of the ponds throughout the Jammu
region are today in a state of utter neglect and disuse. Village
institutions, which organised annual desilting through
voluntary labour and guarded the ponds against pollution,
have since collapsed. New institutions like elected panchayats
have not been functioning in an organised manner. Even in
areas where ponds are still used for drinking water, villagers
prefer to wait for government help rather than maintain their
community assets through voluntary labour. In some cases,
dirty water drains have been diverted into the ponds.
Pollutants from industries in Baribrahamana town and Barian
village have created stagnant, foul-smelling ponds along the
Jammu-Pathankot national highway and the railway line.
High silt deposits have greatly reduced their storage
capacity. With the advent of pucca brick houses, a rural
38 Traditional Water Harvesting Systems
woman'’s need for pond silt to mudwash her house has lessened
and, as a result, this need-driven desilting of ponds is coming to
an end. Water inlet routes of several ponds have been
encroached upon by influential persons. For example, an
ex-policeman has encroached upon the inlet route of one of the
biggest ponds 1n the region, the Badori village pond, and he
stays there despite all efforts to restore the old inlet route. The
old tradition of digging ponds by voluntary labour or
constructing picca ponds as an act of community service is now
almost dead. No big pond or tank has been constructed in the
last 50 years in the Jammu region.
Future relevance
However, now that piped drinking water is available to some
extent, can the ponds, at Jeast the bigger ones, be used for
limited irrigation? This is a question exercising the minds of
several institutions. Some experiments have even been made by
government agencies and concerned individuals. But they have
soon learnt that traditional wisdom is not easy to master. The
first experiment to utilise a Kandi pond for irrigation was made
at Badola-Sanghant village near Akhnoor in the 1970s. A large
new pond, 170 m x 50 m x 7 m in size, was dug with modern
engineering inputs of design and masonry, by expanding an old
pond. The experiment was aimed to irrigate about 100 ha of
land. It proved to be a failure. The structure still stands without
any water. Good rainfall fills up the pond but the water seeps
out in two days. The engineers did not realise that the soil at the
site was too porous. Another agency, the Dryland Agriculture
Research Station of the Sher-i-Kashmir University of
Agricultural Science and Technology in Dhiansar, constructed
an irrigation pond, 47 m x 23 m x 3 m in size, in 1988. This was
a comparatively smaller pond but the end result was the same.
Engineers are now thinking of salvaging these projects by
investing in polythene lining or cement plastering.
No one seems to have studied the folk wisdom that went
into the construction of the old Kandi ponds. Village ponds in
Smailpur, Badori, Barhui and Gurha Slathian still store a good
amount of water throughout the year and theix problem is not
seepage but encroachments on their water inlet routes.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had constituted a
working group on water resources development with a sub-
group on tank irrigation in the Kandi region. The working
group had considered a proposal to undertake pond lift
irrigation at Raya Suchani initiated by Goverdhan Singh
Jamwal, then president of the Jammu and Kashmir Paryavaran
Sanstha. The proposal envisages a sort of gid of Kandi ponds
to provide limited irrigation for raising horticultural plantations
on drip irrigation systems.
Success stories
Some recent efforts have defirutely borne fruit. About 50 km
from Jammu, in Dhora, a small village of about 30 families of
ex-servicemen, each family now has at least 100 fruit plants.
Most plants were planted four years ago. The harbmger of this
horticultural revolution in a dry Kandi village is a 68-year-old
retired army captain, Dhonda Singh, who has not only planted
about 600 plants on his own land but also persuaded all fellow
villagers to shift to horticulture and adopt new irrigation
techniques. Dhonda Singh planted about 50 kinnows (an orange-
like fruit) saplings in 1977. He took up an offer of the soil
conservation department to construct a pond and supplement
his well irrigation during the summers when the open wells dry
Ponds have long been partof Jammu’s heritage and were the main source of drinking water till the early 1960s.
up —now
he gets four to five times more yield.
The Dryland Horticulture Research Station in Raya has
constructed a cement plastered pond, which provides sufficient
water round the year for irrigating 900 frut plants. The pond
arrests the natural water flow downhill and even moderate
rains make it overflow. To deal with the seepage problem, the
pond has been cement-plastered.
The most impressive experiment to harvest water in the dry
Kandi region has been undertaken in Jagh village, 16 km from
Jammu, by the state forest department. A 5.49 m high and
23.79 m long concrete dam has been constructed across the
Bilani nullah. Constructed at a cost of Rs 2.08 lakh in 1988, the
reservor filled in a day because of the heavy runoff from its
4 sq km catchment. Even during high summer the reservoir is
full, The Jagti reservoir is an improvement over the traditional
methods of pond construction in the Jammu region. It has
already brought significant ecological changes in the area. The
old water spring and the village well which used to go dry i
the summer now do not do so. The Jagti reservoir was built at
Tow cost and in a short duration. The Kandi region abounds in
ravine-like structures, where hundreds of reservoirs can be
built. This will not only provide water but also check the runoff,
erosion and floods. These reservoirs can be used for irrigation
with the help of gravity or by pumping.
The old ponds of the Jammu region need to be maintained to
meet the drinking water demand of cattle and the washing needs
of the community. Old water inlet routes must be restored to fill
these ponds to their optimum capacity for ensuring year-round
availability of water. Pisciculture has already been introduced in
some of the old ponds and more could be covered. Ancient
ponds could also be linked to small dammed reservoirs through
a network of pipes to provide limited irrigation. The heavy
annual rainfall of 1,041 mm in the Kandi region holds the
promise that even if a part of it could be trapped, it would meet
almost all water needs of the area.
Ajeet Singh
Western-Himalaya 39
source of drinking water till as recently as the 1960s.
Ponds served not only small village communities
but also the royalty and their armies. Alam Sur, son of
Sher Shah Suri and governor of Lahore during his father’s
reign, built four forts in the interior areas of the Kandi hills
to take shelter when Mughal emperor Humayun, after
Sher Shah’s death, succeeded in regaining the territory.
These forts are situated on separate hills and are very
difficult to reach. Big ponds inside these forts served the
water needs of the soldiers and their masters. Villages
situated inside these forts still drink pondwater as piped
water is yet to reach them.
A popular myth is that the present city of Jammu had
its origin around a mystic pond.¢ According to a legend,
Raja Jamboolochan, during one of his hunting expeditions
in a jungle across river Tawi, saw a lion and a goat
drinking water from the same pond. He decided to build a
city around the place as a symbol of peace. The pond
existed in the Purani Mandi area (mandi in Dogri means
palace), along with several other ponds in the city over the
last 50 years.
Ponds were an important source of water supply in
Jammu city. The Tawi river served the drinking water
needs of those living along the river banks. But the main
city was situated on a plateau high above the river banks.
The city was served by numerous tanks, some of which
were converted into pucca tanks during the 19th century.
The main tanks in Jammu city were the Mubarik
Mandi tank built in 1877, Raghunath temple tank built in
1860, Ajaibghar tank built in 1875 for the visit of the Prince
of Wales, Rani talab built by the queen of Poonch, Rani
Kehloori tank built by a queen of Maharaja Ranbir Singh,
and Ram talai, a small tank built in 1880 by Bua Bhutani,
the royal cook. There were other less significant tanks and
ponds. The present localities of Talab Khatikan and Talab
Tillo got their names from the big ponds there. Except for
Rani Kehloori’s tank and Bua Bhutani’s Ram talai, all
tanks and ponds in Jammu city have been destroyed to
make way for commercial complexes and parks.
The semi-hilly Kandi region is generally devoid of any
springs or baolis, which made ponds an important source
of water to meet community needs in the region. Six rivers
— the Ravi, Ujh, Basantar, Tawi, Chenab and Munawar
Tawi — flow through the Kandi region. These rivers flow
through deep valleys, whereas the villages in the area are
situated high above on plateaus. The people of the region,
therefore, had to take to constructing ponds.¢ Ponds in the
Jammu region are located in a dry, semi-hilly area of about
0.3 mha, which lies between the plains and the hilly
region.” There are 336 ponds measuring 1 kanal or more
each, primarily concentrated in the Jammu and Kathua
districts. There are hardly any ponds in the upper hills of
Poonch, Rajouri and Doda. Udhampur district is
predominantly hilly and has even fewer ponds. There
seems to be some relation between the nature of the terrain
and the number of tanks and their size. Jammu district is
relatively less hilly, with the largest number of ponds,
which are also larger. Ponds are found more in the semi-
hilly region whereas springs are found in the higher hills.
There are three types of ponds in the Jammu region —
chhappris, big ponds, and pucca tanks. Chhapris are small
shallow ponds with hardly any masonry work. They fill
up in a single shower and serve the needs of cattle and
graziers. However, chhapris dry up during summers.
Almost all Kandi villages have one big pond to satisfy
their needs throughout the year. These big ponds are
constructed with masonry work on three sides, the fourth
being left open for the water to flow in. Stone pitching on
the banks of these ponds is of high quality. The pucca tanks
were built by the nobility, and constructed with lime
mortar masonry with well laid out plans for steps and
enclosures. Pucca tanks have four-sided enclosures and are
often found near temples, forts or on highways. It is not
clear which of these were excavated and which were built
through raised embankments.
Sites for the construction of ponds were selected very
carefully. Unlike ponds in the plains, which have their
catchment area all around, Kandi ponds were dug adjacent
to a seasonal rivulet. During high floods, part of the
riverwater was diverted into them.” But this was true only
of big ponds which have embankments on three sides.
A very elaborate community-managed system had
been evolved for the upkeep of these ponds. Strict control
was exercised for the economic use of water and to ensure

PONDS IN JAMMU DIVISI

A | |
Total ponds: 336 Total area of ponds: 1,340 kanals Average size of ponds: 4 kanals
| |
| e ;. |
502 |
|

‘ 4 = ‘
335
| ) | 2
: 186
1
o ol |
(58) Jammu Kathua ~ Udhampur |

e 199, A Sy of he Fonds o s Region,CS5mimeo

Jammu division has 336 ponds, measuring 1 kanal or more each, concentrated in the Jammu and Kathua districts. However, there are no
ponds in the upper hills of Poonch, Rajouri and Doda. Udhampur district is predominantly hilly and has fewer ponds.

40 Traditional Water Harvesting Systems

The local community managed the ponds in Jammu and maintained their upkeep, ensuring cleanliness of the surroundings and appointing
guards to prevent animals from polluting the water.
that it did not get dirty or polluted. Community leadership
ensured a clean catchment for drinking water ponds. In
many villages, there were exclusive ponds for humans and
guards were appointed and paid by the community to
prevent animals from using them. In several villages, a
person from each family served as a guard on rotation.”
The construction and regular repair of ponds were often
through voluntary labour. This tradition is still prevalent
in villages where ponds continue to be the major source of
drinking water” But elsewhere, it has declined due to an
erosion of community leadership.
Though Kandi has an average annual rainfall of about
1,000 mm, it faces acute water scarcity in the summer due to
an uneven distribution of rainfall, and also due to a very
high runoff. A large portion of rainwater in the monsoon
months is lost as a result of the high denudation of the Kandi
region. Due to the fragile ecosystem of the Kandi region,
which is very prone to erosion, ponds face a high rate of
siltation which necessitates periodic desilting. Earlier, a day
would be decided, usually by the village elders, for this
purpose and every family would send one person for labour.
If a family could not send one member, it sent a paid
labourer as a proxy.” On auspicious occasions also, people
‘would desilt a portion of the pond. In village Shamachak,
about 15 km from Jammu, devotees of Baba Jitto, a spiritual
peasant leader of the 15th century, still desilt the pond
during the big annual Jhiri fair in November.”
Construction and management of ponds was an act of
folk wisdom for the people of the Kandi region.
Construction of ponds in the highly porous soil of the
semi-hilly Kandi region gave the local community
technical experience about their location, size, construction
materials, methods for desilting and maintenance. For
instance, construction of ponds meant exclusively for
drinking water had to be done in such a way as to keep
animals away. A dug-in pond in Jalada village on the
Balli-Gulaba Chapar road is a fine specimen of the type.
The pond was dug deep enough with nearly straight
kuchcha or stone-pucca walls, only a small path over steep
stone steps leading to the water about 6 m below. No
animal could enter the pond because of the steps. All
ponds in the Balli-Gulaba Chapar area of Akhnoor block
have two structures outside the pond — a flat stone for
washing clothes and a stone trough to be filled with
drinking water for animals. This practise is still prevalent.
Ponds in this area are very small and most of them have
little masonry work.
All Kandi ponds had banyan and peepul trees on their
banks. These trees were accorded religious significance,
which served an important ecological function alongside.
These large trees provided shelter to travellers and
domestic animals and checked evaporation losses from the
pond’s surface.
The local people had also learnt through experience
that desilting a pond beyond a particular depth was to be
avoided as it would expose the highly porous soil strata of
the Kandi terrain and allow seepage of water through the
bottom of the pond. The fine silt served the purpose of
checking water seepage. Only permissible amounts of silt
could be excavated from ponds for use as fertiliser. Silt
Western-Himalaya 41
—
clay was also used to plaster the roofs, walls and floors of
kuchcha houses in the Kandi region. The walls of some of
these houses, with their colourful designs, are a beautiful
sight even today.
Ponds played a crucial role in the highly fragile
ecosystem of the Kandi region. Most ponds were so
designed that a part of the runoff from adjoining rivulets
could be trapped. This reduced runoff, erosion and
downstream floods. Second, the ponds helped in
improving the level of underground water in the
surrounding area. These ponds were located in forts, near
temples and along highways, and their construction
technique and management was perfected over time. Over
the years, the design of ponds, stone pitching of their
berms, and the role of clay in checking heavy seepage in
the highly porous Kandi region evolved. By the mid-19th
century, the technique of constructing pucca tanks with
ornamental designs first came to be practised during the
reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh (1856-1885). His son
Maharaja Pratap Singh (1885-1925) continued the tradition.
Unfortunately, by the middle of this century, piped
drinking water supply led to the neglect of these ponds.
Pressure on land and a decline in community institutions
further speeded their decline.
Jammu'’s ponds were not used for irrigation purposes,
crops being largely rainfed. They did help keep the micro-
climate cool.” An indigenous system of drip irrigation,
however, existed in earlier days. A pitcher with a small
hole in the bottom used to be buried in a trench adjacent to
a fruit sapling. The pitcher would release water in a
controlled manner, keeping the soil moist near the roots of
the plant to help it tide over the stress period in summer.
The pitcher was filled manually by lifting water from some
nearby pond.”
3. HIMACHAL PRADESH
The Sutlej, Beas, Ravi and Chandrabhaga rivers, along
with their tributaries, flow through Himachal Pradesh
amidst deep valleys.s No well irrigation is possible in
this region due to the steep mountain slopes, except in
the Sirmur area where a few wells are utilised for
drinking water. Drinking water was always a problem
for people in the region. It was obtained from natural
streams and springs, and the supply was often deficient
in the lower reaches. At the turn of this century, even
the town of Nahan had insufficient water during the
summer.?
However, kuls or kuhls were used extensively for
irrigation. In the Kangra valley, irrigation traditionally
depended on making cuts from the streams that fed the
larger torrents. Sometimes, as many as 15-20 independent
channels would be diverted from a single stream. The
heads, which supplied high fields, lay deep in the hills.
Water was taken across steep slopes through tortuous
channels, which were constructed and maintained
laboriously. The embankments, which would help to draw
water into the channel, were usually made of crude piles
of stone kept in place by stakes. Sometimes they stretched
across the stream but, more often, a favourable turn was
selected, where the excavation of a new channel, assisted
by a partial barrier of stone, was sufficient to divert the
water required.!® In the erstwhile Sirmur state, in areas
where the spring was far from the fields and water was
42 Traditional Water Harvesting Systems
not abundant, a pond (called khall) was dug out a little
below the spring and used as a reservoir for irrigation.?
Kuhls were generally of the same nature as those of Kangra
valley, across the region.
Documents prepared by British officers in the early
part of this century show that kuhls were generally
constructed and repaired by the people themselves. Before
Independence, the annual repairs were generally carried
out in the erstwhile Sirmur state after the monsoons. State
aid for repair of kuhls could be obtained either in the form
of takavi or remission of revenue for a limited period. But
applications for such aid were rare.? No kuhls in Mandi
state were made at government expense. In the Harabagh
Circle, several kuhls were made by Brahmin and Khatri
Malguzars.1!
In Kangra district, most kuhls were constructed and
managed by the people themselves. They mainly supplied
water to the fields of the villagers who had dug these. A
few, which irrigated a wider area, were, for the most part
constructed by the rajas of the old states or with their
assistance. Their management rested entirely with the
people, without any assistance from the government. They
maintained an organised staff of officers, every village
supplying its representative, to stop leakages and to
distribute the water. One of the streams, the Gaj, after
piercing a sandstone range, emerged upon the Haldun.
Here irrigation facilities were even more widespread than
in the Kangra valley.
Five canals, designed by a princess of the Goler family,
supplied water to 15 villages. The system of management
was, however, the same as in the higher valleys, but
instead of village officers there was a superintendent with
eight deputies or guards and eight beldars or excavators.
The farmers contributed in proportion to the water they
received and paid Rs 300 every six months to the
superintendent who, after paying all expenses, kept the
surplus.10
The kuhls in the Balh region of the erstwhile Suket state
— a small fertile plain enclosed by low hills lying in the
Beas basin — belonged to the state which appointed a
kuhli-nala to look after each kuhl. This official was paid in
kind in the form of grain and revenue-free land. Irrigated
lands were charged a special rate (sagahi), which was
collected in kind. In Karsog, people owned and managed
their own kuhls, and so separate water rates were levied.2
Since Independence, the government of Himachal Pradesh
has earmarked considerable resources for the development
of kuhls. The Irrigation and Public Health Department has
been steadily taking over the remodelling and management
of these kuhls. But the result has not been positive and
many kuhls have decayed under the impact of modern
social changes (See box: Tapping Mountain Rivers).
4. UTTAR PRADESH
The hill region of Uttar Pradesh covers about 15 per cent of
the total geographical area of the state. The average
landholding of about 75-80 per cent of the population is
about 0.8 ha. And irrigation is not available to more than
10 per cent of the cultivated area. The best crops are grown
at an altitude of about 915-1,525 m.
In the Tehri-Garhwal region, the average rainfall is
1,946 mm, about 85 per cent of which falls during the
monsoon months of July to September. About 40 per cent
Himachal Pradesh:
Snowfed rivers provide a perennial
source of water in Himachal
Pradesh. In the foothills, there are some monsoon-fed rivers
with seasonal flows, Despite abundant water resources, the hilly
terrain poses problems in developing irrigation facilities
Historically, local kings, chieftains and village communities
evolved the traditional irrigation system of kuhls — surface
channels diverting water from natural flowing streams (Khuds)
After Independence, the Irrigation and Public Health
Department of the state also earmarked considerable
resources for developing flow irrigation through kuhls. In
recent years, it has been taking over, remodelling,
maintaining and managing community kukls as and when
required. A typical community kil services six to 30 farmers,
irrigating an area of about 20 ha. The system consists of
temporary headwall (constructed usually with river boulders)
across a khud for storage and diversion of the flow through a
canal (usually kuchcha and rectangular or trapezoidal in cross-
section) to the fields. By modem standards, building kuhls
was simple, with boulders and labour forming the major
input. The kuhl was provided with moghas (kuchcha outlets) to
draw out water and irrigate nearby terraced fields. The water
would flow from field to field and surplus water, if any,
would drain back to the kiud.
This field-to-field irrigation deprived farmers at the tail-
end of the kuhl water. Inadequacy of watercourses and poor
land development made matters worse. At the end of an
irrigation season, when water would no longer be required,
the temporary headwall in the khud would be demolished, to
be reconstructed during the next cropping season.
The construction and maintenance of kuhls was
undertaken by the village community under the leadership of
a designated member of the community known as the kohli
(water tender). This person derived his powers from the
community and acted on behalf of the community, which
respected his authority and judgement. In a community kuhl,
the kohli's post was hereditary and responsibilities were
usually passed from father to son. As a member of the
community, the kohli would also be a farmer and one of the
irrigators. For his services, the kohli would generally get paid
in kind; at harvest time, the irrigators would give him grain
equal to the weight of the seeds sown.
At the begmning of the irrigation season, the kohli would
organise the irrigators to construct the headwall, repair the
kuhl and make the system operational. The kohli played the
role of a local engineer. Any person refusing to participate in
construction and repair activities without valid reason, would
be denied water for that season. Since denial of water was a
religious punishment, it ensured community participation
and solidarity. A person was also free to participate by
providinga substitute for his labour.
The distribution and management of water from a kuh!
swas also the kohli's task. During periods of scarcity, he would
decide on the quantity of water to be allocated to each farmer.
The flow would be controlled by the width of the opening at
the moghas, and the kohli would employ indigenous methods
to measure the discharge. Any person not getting his or her
due share of water could approach the kohli to seek justice
and, generally, these disputes were examined and resolved on
the spot. The successful management of the community kuhl
was based on faith and trust in the kohli. If a conflict arose
between the irrigators and the kohls, which did happen at
times, the matter would be referred to the village panchayat
and, if the kohli was found guilty, he would be punished
Community kuhls served a useful role in providing
irrigation in remote areas of Himachal Pradesh. An analysis
of the benefits from a typical community kuhl shows
economic rates of return of about 20 per cent. However, there
has been a progressive shrinkage in the area earlier irrigated
by kuhls and declining benefits due to a decay in the systems
built years ago. Sizeable investment is necessary to
rehabilitate these kihls, after which a self-sustaining system,
resources for operation and maintenance would have to be
generated by the community, either through enhanced water
rates or other forms of voluntary contributions.
Emerging trends
With Independence, changes have taken place in the villages
of Himachal Pradesh because of new economic opportunities,
introduction of panchayati raj institutions and community
development programmes. These have generally had an
adverse effect on the functioning of community kuhls. Most of
the older irrigators have handed over their land to the
younger generation, whose value system places a low value
on labour. They are willing to pay the fine or labour charges
in lieu of work. The younger generation generally looks
forward to alternatives to traditional farming. Consequently,
it is less dependent on the kuhls and less vulnerable and
sensitive o reciprocity and social control.
In the changed social and economic environment, a
committee of nominated members with a kohli is set up to
manage the community kuhls. Instead of denying water to
delinquent irrigators, a fine is imposed on persons who do
not participate in the construction of kuhls. This fine, which
was initially levied on a per day basis for the delinquent, is
now a fixed amount on a per acre basis. With the fine so
collected, the kohli hires substitute labour for construction
work. Any person willing to work on construction is paid
daily wages from the contributions collected. The system is,
thus, becoming progressively formal with cash as a medium
of exchange. Participation, which was the basis for
community irrigation systems, is declining.
With the introduction of panchayati raj institutions, block
development officers have provisions for ad hoc grants to
panchayats for repair and maintenance of the kuhls, provided
the parichayats can muster contributions, including labour,
from the beneficiaries. Repair expenses are usually larger than
the grants given, and the panchayats are not able to mobilise
the required labour. The kohlis continue to do their best
but community members increasingly feel that the
government should give additional help. The panchayats have
the option to hand over the community kukls to the
authorities, and this option is being increasingly exercised.
But in other cases, the community is reluctant to relinquish
control over the system.
Contributing to the decay of community kuhls is
progressive reduction in stream flow, deforestation in
catchment areas and increasing competition for withdrawal of
water supplies from more locations. Consequently,
investment and operating decisions in a given kuhl are
influenced by similar decisions in other kukls located
upstream and downstream. Thus, decisions taken in one
community kihl may have an adverse effect on kuhls serving
neighbouring communities.
The inclination to approach the government for
management of resources is gaining ground. Ways should be
identified to reverse this trend.
C Gopinath
- Western-Himalaya 43
 rtaken through the Kumaon Water Rules, 1930.14
of this is lost as runoff. Irrigation is unde Guhls are used extensively in Nainital and Dehr
adun
known as guhls).
guhls or kuhls (in Uttar Pradesh kuhls are districts. In Dehradun, strea ms are damm ed by tempo rary
1-10 litres per
The discharge of these guhls varies between diagonal obstr uctio ns made of trees and branc hes, which
The guhls are full
second but it fluctuates with the season. are used to direct the water into contour chann
els along
disc harg e gets sharply
during the monsoon but their hillsides. Due to the geological character of Dehr adun,
is lost
reduced during winter. A great deal of water near perennial
discharge at well construction is impossible except
through seepage. According to one study, the streams. The canals get their supply from local
springs. Tt
1.5 litres per secon d but at its tail-
the head of a guhl was was earlier believed by gover nment exper ts that masonry
end it was only 0.6 litre per secon d.”? loss due to the porou s soil of
ly canals would reduce water
Agriculture in the Uttar Pradesh hills is large Maso nry canals , unles s lined with lime
enta ge of the the Dun valley.
dependent on rainfall. But a small perc and stone, deteriorate very rapidly. The area
is infested
ation. JOB
cultivated area has always enjoyed irrig with land crabs which bore through the ordinary
boulder
Beckett’s settlement report of 1863-73 mentions the
oximately masonry set in white lime to get to the water. This
existence of 26,925 bisi (one bisi equals appr ruins the canals, so they had to be replaced
by open
13 per cent of
1 acre) of irrigated area, approximately earthen canals.
which
the total cultivated area in the 10 parganas Dehradun also has canals built by individuals, deriv
ed
ion of today.
constitute the hill areas of Kumaon divis from hill torrents, and from peren nial strea ms and rivers .
area between
Four of these 10 parganas had an irrigated Mountain streams almost always sink unde
rground on
The extent of
35-48 per cent of the cultivated area. reaching the base of the hills. Large r river s are of a
later as indic ated by
irrigated area must have increased torrential nature, and follo very steep
w
runoff in the Garhwal region. As a slopes in descent. In Nainital, the canals are
About 40 per cent of the heavy rainfall is lost as managed by a sirgiroh or headman. The
ls called guhls, which are full during the
result irrigation depends on diversion channe
monsoon but whose discha rge gets sharply reduce d during the winter. A great amount irrigating capacity of the canals varies
of water is lost through seepage wherever
they are unlined. according to the extent to which they are
lined with masonry and also the type of
soil used to build them.
Cultivation in the hills is less dependent
on the composition of soil and more on its
altitude, aspect, lie, slope and, above all,
soutrce of irrigation. A tract of good quality
land may not produce as much as one of
poorer quality with irrigation facilities.
Availability of water also determines the
cropping pattern.ts In the hills, if rich, deep
soil gets good irrigation, then the “class of
crops and care bestowed on the irrigation,
manuring and terracing of fields are
worthy of the best of Indian cultivators.”1é
Early gazetteers report that a hill farmer
t
would harness even the most insignifican
water source which could be diverted to
the fields. Since rainfall was heavy in the
Kumaon hills, with 85 per cent falling
between July and September, even a small
water source could swell to a large size and
provide.irrigation for paddy. The water
source may not have carried enough
volume during the non-monsoon period to
support a good rabi crop but the farmer
would still harness it. Historically, villagers
who had sufficient irrigated land did not
migrate to the plains.i>
The traditional irrigation systems before
Independence had been almost entirely
initiated and managed by communities of
irrigators. While the British government
developed numerous irrigation systems in
the plains, it did not develop any such
systems in the hills. Hardly any
government assistance was given for
irrigation works in the hills except during
the famine periods, and that too as loans."”
Sir Henry Ramsay in his report of 1874,

a4 Traditional Water Harvesting Systems

Revision of Settlement in Kumaon District by | O B Beckett,
says: “There are many parts of the district where land
might be irrigated but in consequence of want of
unanimity and the inability of anyone to advance the
money, nothing is done.” Development of irrigation in the
hills was left to the cultivators and not considered a
responsibility of the government.
After Independence; the irrigation department in the
Uttar Pradesh hills modernised some of the traditional
irrigation systems in the early 1950s, and created a few
new ones. The traditional systems still exist in large
numbers though they do not fit the norms laid down for
state irrigation works. They are usually small in size
(2-50 ha) and are of simple design. Some experts are of the
view that the farmer-managed irrigation systems are on
the verge of extinction in India.’® But it is more correct to
say that we do not have enough data about their existence,
particularly since they represent a body of small-sized
systems, so simple in their design, that they may go
unnoticed by someone looking for sophisticated
engineering structures.4
The Kumaon Water Rules of 1930 modified the rules of
1917 and codified the traditional practises prevalent in
Kumaon. The rules also regulated the procedure regarding
construction of new irrigation channels and watermills.¥
The first of these rules reads: “Government will raise no
objection to the construction of new irrigation channels by
any landholder. Such channels must not reduce or
otherwise injuriously affect an existing right of use of
water belonging to any other party” .20
The rules confirmed the then prevailing practise of
allowing development of irrigation without the
government actively participating in the process. Water
rights remained largely with the irrigators and the
principle of prior water-use was safeguarded by the rules.
Arbitrary acts
In the post-Independence period, it was found that these
rules sometimes prevented the government from
Since antiquity, the hillfolk of Uttar Pradesh have drawn
water from small wells or ponds, locally known as naula
or hauzi. Naula is a method of groundwater harvesting
typical of the Uttarakhand region of Uttar Pradesh. Water
is collected by making a stone wall across a groundwater
stream. Depending on the village population and
available water resources, there are two or more naulas
per village.
Naulas were traditionally held in deep reverence by
villagers and the rituals observed while constructing a naula
were similar to that of a temple. For treatment and
purification of naula water, leaves of medicmal plants and
fruits like anwla were added periodically. Big shady trees
were planted near naulas to reduce evaporation. It was a
custom of the local people to worship naulas and trees. This
had a two-fold effect — it taught villagers to keep the naula
clean and conserve water.
The technology of naula construction is very old. For
livestock, a hauzi would be made using stones. These naulas
implementing irrigation and drinking water schemes in
the hill areas. With the acceptance of a planned approach
to development, creation of state irrigation works started
in the Uttar Pradesh hills in 1952. The need to provide
drinking water to the hills was considered to be a matter of
priority. The enactment of the Kumaon and Uttarakhand
Zamindari Abolition Act of 1950 confirmed that
ownership of a private well (that is, a pond-naula or nauli)
vested in the owner of the land in which it was located.
Rules framed under the Act established this by giving the
right of transfer of the pond to the owner of the land “who
will not be liable to be ejected and shall have the right to
use the site (of the pond) for any purpose.” Under rule
41(vi) of the Act, it was also stated that “tanks, ponds,
ferries, water channels belonging to the state shall be
managed by the gram sabha or any other local authority
established.”2! The Act, thus, affirmed the ownership of a
water source within one’s land and also provided
modalities for managing, through the local authority, any
state-owned water channel or pond.
Against this background, the Uttar Pradesh government
passed the Kumaon and Garhwal Water (Collection,
Conservation and Distribution) Act of 1975, which covered
the entire area of the eight hill districts, excluding the Terai
and Bhabar plains. Section 3 of the law terminated the’
current and customary rights of individuals and village
communities. Under section 4 of the Act, the state took over
the power to frame rules for collection, conservation and
distribution of water and control of water sources. It,
however, provided for giving priority to such village
communities from whom the powers had been withdrawn.
The state further empowered itself to create a water
system, pond or reservoir, and set up a pumpset or
pipeline on land belonging to any person. Additionally, no
one was allowed, without receiving prior written
permission of the subdivisional magistrate (SDM) of the
area, to create an irrigation system, including a pumpset or
pipeline. It was also stated that the Kumaon Water Rules of
1930, insofar as these did not contravene the provisions of
this Act, be treated as rules under the Act.
and hauzis would always be full of water. However,
deforestation and road construction have today caused nearly
95 per cent of the naulas and springs to dry up and push the
rest also to the verge of extinction. Ironically, every third
village today is affectedby an acute water shortage. The state
government has already spent Rs 1,000 crore on distribution
of drinking water in the hill region. It is also possible to
rejuvenate the naulas. Temporary stone bunds, porous and
check dams can be made. After stopping the flow.
of water, cement bunds of 5-15 m high can be constructed so
as to create micro-streams. With the help of these small
streams, naulas can be regenerated. A good vegetative cover
would further protect them. Unfortunately, because of
uncontrolled development, pine forests are replacing banjh
(oak) and burans (rhododendron) forests which would absorb
ramwater, and growing population is further resulting in
diminished vegetation.
‘The Himalaya Paryavaran Evam Gram Vikas Sangathan is
developing water harvesting measures in 22 villages of
Khirsu Vikas Khand in the Garhwal district.
G P Kala and Dinesh Joshi
Western-Himalaya 45
)
 boulder is placed so that the largest stone obstructs the mouth of
each but the last turnout, the stone size of the obstructing
successive turnout mouths getting progressively smaller. Some
Many of the traditional irrigation systems continue till today in measure of equity is thus ensured in water distribution.
the Uttar Pradesh Himalaya, and they are effectively managed Water distribution in the Ladyura gram sabha is carried out
Dy the local communities themselves. The gram sabhas (villages by an irrigation committee (sinchai samiti) which was registered
assemblies) of Ladyura and Bayala Khalsa in Almora district in 1956, It has 10 members, including a chowkidar (guard).
manage their own irrigation systems. In the Ladyura gram Members of the gram sabha are concurrently members of the
sabha, three villages, Ladyura, Salonj and Hitoli, receive irrigation comumittee. Yet, this was not so in the first decade of its
irrigation water from two sources to cover an area of 40 ha existence when, except for two to three gram sabha members, the
between sunrise and sunset. The Bayala Khalsa gram sabha, remaining were elected from amongst the residents of the three
which s in the downstream segment, has three villages with an villages. Even today many non-elected members who are
irrigated area of 24 ha, and water 1 available to them between familiar with water distribution arrangements are co-opted as
sunset and sunrise.! members for meetings. Major decisions are taken in a general
‘Both these villages have a long history of conflict over the use body meeting which is open to every resident of the village.
of water. The earliest court case between them dates back to 1855, The three villages of Ladyura gram sabha are entitled to water
when the principle of prior use was established by supply during the day — after sunset, the water can only be used
by the downstream
the competent judicial
| - i | villages. While the
authority. In 1944, these two upstream gram sabha
villages again approached 'SUNSET TO SUNRISE ‘ has an irrigated area of
the court for a settlement. WATER VSAGE HAS
TURNED HIM INTO A
/% 24 ha served by two
The court then gave the ‘ guhls, the downstream
ruling that “there is nothing | NOCTURNAL FARMER 7
to prove that the right of use //// /// /| gram sabha has an
‘ A" 4 irrigated area of only
of Ladyura village in the \f s 16 ha. The bone of
water is prior to that of contention has been
Bayala in point of time,” and l that the downstream
stated that the Ladyura villages, despite their
village is entitled to the total smaller area, get the
water from the stream same number of hours
between sunrise and sunset ‘ for irrigation and,
and the downstream villages therefore, have an
between sunset and sunise. ‘ advantage over the
Ladyura village has upstream villages.
a formally constituted and | Since the canal
effective irrigation orga- passes through the
nisation dating back t0 1952.
AT NRAN

upstream villages, the

There is no organisation of
its level of efficiency in the
previous report of a region. 1n Almora district, the court ordered that the three villages of Ladyura gram
The recotds of its meetings sabha were entitled to water supply only during the day, and after sunset
the water could be used by the downstream villages.
conducted every six months
are very meticulously
maintained. But the downstream village does not have a
comparable organisation.
Ladyura gram sabha consists of three villages, and the total
number of households are 163. Of the three villages, Rajputs are
in majority in Ladyura and Hitoli, and Brahmins and Harijans in
Salanj. The sabhapatt (chairperson) of the irrigation system comes
from Ladyura, and is usually a Thakur, Most of the agricultural
land is owned by the Brahmins and Rajputs but the Brahmins
have leased out their land to the Rajputs and Harijans.
The normal irrigated crops are wheat, barley, mustard and
potato. Occasionally, lentils are grown during the rabr season
and paddy during the kharif. During the rabi season one to two
waterings are available to each field compared to three to four
during the kharif season, along with adequate rainfall from July
to September. For wheat or other rabi crops, water is available
first in October for pre-sowing irrigation and again between
December to February. For kharif paddy, two waterings are
made in July and August for transplanting, and thereafter
continuously upto September end.
To avoid excess water being drawn by a channel at its head,
thereby leaving less water for downstream users, a simple
device has been adopted. At the mouth of each tumout, a small
consequent seepage
losses and the chances
of theft of water at
night provides the
upstream villages with
an advantage. There is a mechanism to resolve disputes, under
which the irrigation committee members of the two gram sabhas
sit together to discuss the matter, and fry to tighten observance
of the day-night water sharing arrangement. In winter, the
downstream villages benefit on account of longer nights. But it
is not an advantage because in winters farmers mostly irrigate
fields only once and that too for a short time: When the days
grow longer and warmer, water supply gets reduced but the
demand rises. The upstream villages then have an advantage.
The sinchai samiti of Ladyura gran sabha is better managed
and has an effective irrigation body. Records of attendance and
of meetings are meticulously recorded. Considerable
minutes
interest is taken by villagers and committee members in the
‘proper running of the committee and the irrigation system. The
committee declares the dates of irrigation, canal clearance and
repair work. The meetings during which decisions are taken are
held sometime before the start of the cropping season. The
committee also settles disputes on water sharing between
persons of the two gram sabhas at these meetings. If necessary, a
special meeting is called!
The meeting is held at the village dhun, a spot generally
utilised by itinerant sadhus. The dhuni has a covered shed and a

=
46 Traditional Water Harvesting Systems
room which serves as the office of the sinchai samiti. This location
is easily visible from almost every part of each of the three
villages, and a full-throated call by the samiti chowkidar from this
spot is enough to inform the inhabitants of the villages of the
date of a meeting or, on the date itself, for summoning them.
Notice for a meeting is circulated to comunittee members and
other important villagers, and their acknowledgment received in
a regjster, which also carries records of minutes of the meeting,
Twice a year, usually on a Sunday, villagers jointly
undertake the cleaning and repair of the irrigation system
which consists of removing silt and vegetative growth from the
various guhls. Those who are unable to join the work provide
hired labour. Widows and handicapped persons are exempt
from participating or providing hired labour.
The chowkidar's responsibilities include supply of water to
each individual’s field and protecting crops from damage by
cattle. In Ladyura gram sabha, distribution of water starts from
upstream to downstream one year and in the reverse direction
next year. Occasionally, this arrangement may last for two
continuous years, with water rotation starting from upstream and
then for two years from downstream. Such matters are decided by
the sinchai samiti. Whenever a rotation change is to be made, the
entire village community sits with the committee, No significant
dispute has arisen regarding water rotation and once a decision is
taken everyone abides by it. For the purpose of field level
irrigation, the villages have been divided into 13 segments, cach
of which is served by a network of field channels.
The chowkidar ascertains that water reaches the field and
ensures that no one is obstructing the flow. If someone is found
obstructing the flow or taking water out of turn, the chowkidar
has to stop it. Should the defaulter persist with this illegal
activity, he calls out the name of the person, informing the
villager. This calling out itself is deemed as filing a complaint. If
no one else is able to hear the complaint, the evidence of the
chowkidar and the person affected is considered adequate for the
complaint. The nyaya panchayat then proceeds to penalise such a
person. The date on which the nyaya panchayat is to be called is
set in advance and notice given.
For performing his duties, the chowkidar is paid one nali
(equivalent to 1.5-2 kg) grain by each cultivator. In the event of
a good crop being harvested, the chowkidar may be given more
and, when the crop is poor, he may be given less than due.
Apart from this, a part of the penalty money received from
water distribution conflicts as also half of the fine levied in case
of cattle trespass are given to the chowkidar, which keeps him
quite alert. The annual accruals from penalties are used either
for repairs, for improvement of the irrigation system, or for
purchasing such items which are used by the entire community.
Most villagers think that it is in their best interest that the
irrigation department does not interfere in the present
arrangement of the two gram sabhas. Villagers argue that if the
guehl is handed over to the government it would get destroyed.
Even if a new guhl is made, there will be no one to maintain it.
Hara system
There are also other types of farmer-managed irrigation
systems in the Uttar Pradesh hills. A contract system is found in
the Saryu valley near Sheraghat on the boundary of Almora and
Pithoragarh districts. These systems were created by some
entrepreneurs in the early 1920s, though the earliest of them
reportedly started in 1896. Contour channels were constructed,
operated and maintained by contractors who entered into long-
term contracts of 30 years with the farmers to provide irrigation
water. In return, a part of the produce was paid to the
contractor, which in the early years of the contract system was
as high as one-third of the produce. In the older channel
systems, which are still running, the contractor’s responsibility
is now limited to running the system efficiently. The current
rate varies between one-tenth to one-eighteenth of the produce.
The beneficiaries expect the contractor to keep the system in
good repair, operate the system, provide water at the head of
the field, and in some cases take the responsibility of irrigating
it. The modalities of water distribution are decided by the
farmers either in consultation with the contractor or amongst
themselves according to a pattern which has now become
established after a long period of trial.
There is generally a written agreement between the
contractor and the beneficiaries, affixed with a revenue stamp of
appropriate value, and the contract is registered, usually after the
initial trial period of two to four years. The contractor is
empowered to cut off irrigation supplies to a defaulting farmer
who reneges on payments. Earlier contractors had invested
substantial sums of money in creating new irrigation systems.
The community can remove the contractor if he fails to provide
adequate quantities of water. The contractor may himself leave
the assignment after payment of a fine, if provided for in the
contract. This system has many advantages. Disputes among the
farmers concerning both water distribution and maintenance are
avoided. In longer canals, with fluctuations in the flow caused by
the rise and fall in the water level at the diversion point, the
Iikelihood of a breach being high, closer surveillance is needed,
which a contractor provides. This is important in situations of
acute labour shortage. Under the hara system, the system size
wvaries between 15-50 ha. Excellent crops can be observed in areas
served by such systems. The hara system is being practised even
in the only state irrigation system in the region.
Multiple systems
In Mansari valley of the Almora district, a cluster of farmer-
managed systems can be seen operating from the same water
source. Such clusters are seen almost everywhere in the remote
parts of the Uttar Pradesh hills. Mansari Gadhera 1s a perennial
stream which emerges from the hills after traversing about
12 km on the eastern side of the Kosi river. The gadhera (stream)
is between 10-15 m wide and serves agriculture along the entire
Iength of the valley, which on an average is 400-500 m in width.
All along its length, this stream irrigates numerous villages
through some 30 farmer-managed systems. The systems have
primitive diversion and conveyance structures which permit
water sharing in such a manner that the needs of all villages are
adequately met. No major conflict in water sharing between
upstream and downstream villages exists anywhere in the long
valley. The systems cover over 350 ha of land. The irrigation
department does not have any system of its own in the valley.
Water is diverted at the head of each system by means of a
temporary bund through which enough water is permitted to
flow into this and subsequent systems. The limited channel
<capacity of each system ensures that only a certain quantity of
water can pass into it. The diversion structure gets washed away
frequently during monsoons but is quickly repaired by the
beneficiaries who act collectively. Cleaning the channel within
one’s fields is the responsibility of the owner farmer. For paddy
irrigation, water is allowed to flow from the higher to the lower
field, and the need for an extensive network of field channels is,
thus, avoided. Farmers in this area plant cash crops like garlic,
potato, coriander and berseem, apart from paddy and wheat.
U C Pande
= Western-Himalaya 47
Terraced agriculture is commonly practised on the hill slopes of Uttar Pradesh.
command area of less than 2,000 ha. The picture shows terraced fields at Bemru village in Chamoli district.
In effect, the Act of 1975 took away the jurisdiction of
individuals and village communities over all water
sources and vested these in the government. Thus, there is
a conflict between the legislations of 1950 and 1975. This
would have created a furore if the state had actually gone
on to deprive the existing private irrigation systems of
their source of water. The provisions of the 1975 Act have
probably been questioned in specific disputes but its
validity does not seem to have been subjected to strict
legal scrutiny in the higher courts of the land.
Disputes over the Act have not surfaced because of a
number of reasons. New irrigation systems serving a
moderately large area (150-200 ha) cannot be planned and
constructed by village communities for several reasons.
The state irrigation department in the Kumaon and
Garhwal hills has expanded at a rapid pace since the late
1960s. The annual Plan allocation for the state irrigation
sector in the hills has also increased during this period.
Private minor irrigation works, which are generally
created by individuals and cater to areas of 1 ha or less are
supported by the department of minor irrigation, which
itself has grown substantially in a span of 10 years. These
departments do not face much difficulty in obtaining the
required permission for use of a water source. In fact, for
state irrigation works, prior permission is generally not
requested. The Act has, thus, not made any difference to
the overall picture of irrigated agriculture in the area.
Trrigation systems in the hills are generally of a type to
fall into the category of minor irrigation, with a command
area of less than 2,000 ha. Only two medium-sized and one
major irrigation projects have been taken up in the past
15 years. Generally, minor irrigation systems in the Uttar
48 Traditional Water Harvesting Systems.
Minor irrigation systems are undertaken in the hills, with a
Pradesh hills do not command areas larger than 300 ha
and a majority of these cover between 50 ha and 150 ha.
Private minor irrigation systems sometimes cover as little
as 1 ha, though some cater to 60 ha or more. Some of the
larger, private irrigation systems, which were taken over
and modified, are now owned by the state.
Lined gravity contour channels constitute the most
common irrigation source in the hills. Privately-owned
small tanks and gravity channels (partly lined or plain
earthen channels) are managed and operated either by
individuals or groups of farmers. Some of the villages
have rainfed earthen tanks large enough to'serve as
watering ponds for two months for the village cattle. There
are numerous naulas, which are lined with percolation
storage tanks that collect clear subterranean flow. In
heavily populated centres, naulas were the only source of
drinking water before piped water supply came into
being. Even today these supplement potable water.
Trrigation channels rarely take off from a major
river stream because this would demand construction
of sophisticated diversion and control structures,
very expensive. Traditional systems
which are
receive water from smaller perennial streams, which
descend down steep hill slopes to meet the main
drainage, and can be tapped at various heights during
their downward journey. H G Walton has recorded in
The Himalayan Gazetteer (1911) that in Almora, “water is
supplied from long channels cut along the hillsides or by
diverting water from the hill streams as required. Springs
are also used.”22 This remains unchanged till today.
There were, however, established water rights and only
surplus water or return flows could be captured by
subsequent beneficiaries.2
Hill canals are prone to frequent damage during
monsoons. The report on Norms for Operation and the
Maintenance of Irrigation Works states:
“The maintenance of hill channels in the state is very
problematic. The hills belonging to the Shivalik range are
fragile and, therefore, frequent slips are a common
phenomenon. The entire section of the channel is washed
away and has to be rebuilt. The transportation expenses
of materials and labour and supervision charges to the
remote sites for comparatively little work in magnitude
are very high.”
What it does not indicate is that the time lag between
the occurrence of the damage and the restoration of the
channel can take months because of bureaucratic
procedures. Sometimes, due to delay in repair works, not
only may the monsoon kharif crop have to go without
water but pre-sowing irrigation for the winter wheat
crop may also be delayed, thereby reducing yields
substantially.
Community organisations
A large number of organisations support irrigated
agriculture in the Uttar Pradesh hills. Totally informal yet
effective village organisations have survived for
generations. The irrigation department usually has
between one and three executive engineers in each hill
district working directly under a superintendent engineer,
for construction of irrigation works and flood protection.
Since hill channels are small and are spread all over the
geographical area of their jurisdiction, and are in difficult
terrain, senior officers rarely visit the channels with any
regularity. Therefore, the lowest-level functionaries, like
the beldars, lord it over hill channels. The department of
minor irrigation provides technical guidance to farmers for
their private works. In recent years, this department has
begun to construct lined gravity canals. The work is of
poor quality and the beneficiaries generally wash their
hands off a channel which, before it was taken over by the
department for improvement, used to be community
property subject to rules in force in that village.
A breach in a distributary or a minor channel of an
irrigation system in the plains activates irrigation
functionaries at all levels, leading to quick restoration of
the system. No such compulsion appears to bother their
counterparts in the hills, where frequent floods and
landslides demolish parts of irrigation systems regularly
during the monsoon. Restoration of temporary diversion
bunds is done more often by the cultivator-irrigators than
the departments concerned. The users of a state irrigation
system also generally run the system and distribute water
amongst themselves, particularly during the paddy
growing season, as the official responsible for the job may
not be available regularly.
Even though a major change was introduced in water
rights in the 1975 legislation, the users have not been
affected in a majority of cases where individual or
community irrigation systems were already operative.
Changing water rights have, however, influenced
the irrigation behaviour of farmers served by some
new state irrigation systems. In Kumaon, where the
majority of villages are practically unicaste or unilineage,
and where water rights had remained attached to the land
before 1975, conflicts relating to water sharing in state
irrigation systems are seldom based on caste structures
within a village or between upstream and downstream
villages, but rather on the dilution of the rights of an
upstream village as a result of the extension of an irrigation
facility to downstream villages. The difficulty experienced
in feeding tail areas of comparatively long (longer than
3 km) systems even during the rainy season is largely
attributable to the damage caused to the system due to
natural causes as well as upstream villages obstructing
flow of water on which, historically, they have claimed
rights. Smaller systems do not seem to face any disputes.
Since irrigation officials cannot visit all irrigation
systems under their jurisdiction regularly, the softer
option of occasional visits and control through local
irrigation workers, contractors and part-time officials is
practised. This has, on the one hand, sullied the image of
the officials and, on the other, reduced the systems to a
sorry physical state. Unfortunately, irrigation officials do
not lay much stress on beneficiary participation in
irrigation systems management. Farmer-managed
systems are dismissed as primitive and inefficient and,
therefore, useless.
This is unfortunate considering that Rs 60 crore was
earmarked for the creation of new irrigation systems in the
Uttar Pradesh hills in the Seventh Five Year Plan,
envisaging an addition of 10,000 ha of irrigated land.
Considering that all water sources are already committed
and that there is no scope for any largescale addition to the
irrigation potential, what is actually happening is that
areas irrigated by farmer-managed systems are being
reported for statistical purposes as newly created systems.
No farmer will let his crop suffer for want of water if a
manageable effort on his part can restore the irrigation
system after it has suffered damage. Since the irrigation
bureaucracy cannot operate with speed due to its own
constraints, lack of voluntary participation results in
irrigation systems remaining out of operation for long
periods. Systems which are being developed by the
department of minor irrigation are expected to be handed
over to the village panchayats after completion. It has,
however, been found that gram panchayats do not maintain
the system and after a few years the system becomes
defunct, until a new project is launched and funds
obtained once again for renovation.
There is no need to entrust the work of irrigation
development to a large number of organisations as is
being done at present. Only one organisation is needed to
carry out the task of helping farmers to improve their
systems by building capacities for organising and running
viable irrigators’ associations. That this can be done is
shown both by the Ladyura sinchai samiti and the hara
system which are in operation (See box: Stream Sharing).
There can even be other new models suited to local needs
and conditions. Government departments should restrict
their role to giving technical guidance and financial
support to farmer-managed systems and help create
management capacities within village communities. From
providers of irrigation their role has to change to
promoters of participatory management.
Ajeet Singh (Jammu) and U C Pande (Uttar Pradesh)
= — Western-Himalaya 49