Newsletter No. 65;
IRBMS
watershed management is undertaken without technical interventions. The better performance
properly estimating the water supply scenarios can be noticed in more participatory projects
under drought/ normal/ surplus years as well as where complex, site-specific livelihood systems are
without proper demand management especially prevalent. These conditions call for a flexible
during drought years. approach and responsiveness to diverse, often
(n) Large areas with tribal population lack unexpected situations. Straight jacketed guideline
facilities to harvest water and to stabilize their based approaches pursued by the technocratic,
food/ crop/ fodder production due to reduced hierarchical organizations are poorly suited to such
forest yields, deterioration in land quality, and lack conditions. The successful formation of watershed
of population community is the key of the watershed program’s
pressure. This leads to a sustained misery, socio- success; the following points need to be considered
political unrest among the tribal population. for the same;
tribal
(o)
agriculture
policy
and
Non-availability or lack of hydrological and
watershed related data at the time of watershed
(b) There is a need to ensure that gains due to
groundwater recharge are not dissipated by excess
development plan in an area.
groundwater
There
is
a
need
development
to
understand watershed
for sustainable
program
environment/ ecology, especially not to erode the
extraction.
To
achieve
this,
groundwater over-extraction should be avoided
through public awareness and adopting water
conserving agricultural practices.
land, water, forests resources and to support the
local bio-diversity. This may include adoption of
best management practices (BMPs) such as organic
farming,
de-silting
for
reservoir
capacity
restoration as well as for crop productivity
increase, water use practices to avoid excess use of
water, no tree felling policy, afforestation and
arboriculture through high oxygen yielding & other
(c)
There is a need to consider a holistic river
basin or catchment level approach so that the
intensive upstream water conservation has a
positive
impact
on
downstream.
For
this,
watershed associations with representations from
all the stakeholders in the watershed should be
made operational.
These associations can take
decisions in the best interest of all the people
medicinal plants etc.
concerned.
The
watershed
programs
that
promoted
participation at village level were found to be far
more successful than those focused solely on
(d) Decreasing the costs at which the gains are
achieved and thereby increasing the modest
9
Integrated River Basin Management Society