Sreenath Dixit, V. Kishtappa, G. Ravindra Chary and Ramamohan R.V.
Madirepalli (Shinganamala Mandal) in the drought-prone Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh is like any other village at the outset. But it has something unique when it comes to managing its finite groundwater resources. It all began in 2003 when this area was hit by a severe drought. The rig owners made a brisk business. On that date there were 139 tube wells in this village (that has a cultivable area of just 690 acres); over half of them (75) dead!
The rat race for digging tube wells seemed unending. Every day some would be dug with success. Many with failure. Some live wells went dry as few farmers managed to outwit their neighbours by drilling a few hundred feet deeper. It seemed as though a neck-to-neck race was on for survival.
Role of RIDS & CWS
Fortunately for Madirepalli, it had a historical track of sharing its surface water resources through a traditional Gonchi system (see Box 1). Thanks to benevolent and philanthropic attitudes of a few of this village. Over time due to pressure on resources, these attitudes though were dormant if not extinct, needed rekindling by some sort of a catalyst. Rural Integrated Development Society (RIDS) played the much-needed catalytic role and engaged with the community over several rounds of meetings and discussions. RIDS’ earlier experience in community mobilization for regeneration of grazing lands in the arid regions of Anantapur through social fencing came in handy in Madirepalli. It was ably supported by the Hyderabad-based NGO, Centre for World Solidarity (CWS), which has a good capacity to compile and analyse data on water balance.
RIDS and CWS got together and thoroughly analyzed the situation at Madirepalli. This village is typically drought-prone with an average annual rainfall of around 500 mm. It faces at least 2-3 droughts every decade. The village has about 166 households with about 750 population. Major livelihood is derived from farming and related activities. There is no irrigation project in the vicinity of the village, nor any reliable surface water source. The only source of water for crops and livestock and human consumption is rains and the groundwater. Hence, heavy pressure on tube wells. RIDS and CWS took time to work out the water demand and supply scenario for the village. Once the water balance sheet was ready, it was placed before the villagers. The road map was clear – either to go ahead with indiscriminate digging of tube wells and end up in debts and misery or to get wise and share the available water with those that did not have. The initial reluctance of the owners of live tube wells did not last long. The hard facts – that there was not enough water for everyone in Madirepalli and that if every other farmer dug out his/her own tube well, the water in the live ones would also run out soon – gradually sunk into the minds of every one. By then ‘water-haves’ and ‘have-nots’ started speaking sense.
‘Rules on the walls’
Villagers agreed to draft a resolution for regulating their groundwater resources. Accordingly, Madirepally now has the following social regulation in force.
- No more tube wells in Madirepalli hence forth
- No more growing of high water consuming crops like paddy
- Every one in the village would do his/her best to protect and augment groundwater resources
- Farmers having water in their tube wells to share a reasonable quantity (enough for at least 0.5 ac) of water with their neighbour
- Use water saving devices like sprinklers and drip systems for irrigation
These resolutions have been written up neatly on the walls of the village chavadi (a common place where villagers gather).
Optimising scare resource utilisation
These regulations are in force in Madirepalli since 2004. And the effects are very evident. No tube well has been dug in this village since 2004; there is no drinking water issue even in drought years (eg in 2006); cultivation of paddy under tube well irrigation has been stopped; more area is covered under irrigated dry (ID) crops such as groundnut, pigeonpea and horticulture crops. The cultivated area did not come down despite meager rainfall in 2006 (see Tabe 1). Most important of all, many farmers have come forward to share water with their neighbours. The roll of honor written up on the walls of the chavadi shows that 33 farmers who irrigate their 113 acres have shared water with another 33 farmers. With this the recipient farmers have been able to irrigate their 66 acres of dry lands (see Box 2).
During the course of this process, the villagers have undergone an invaluable learning experience. This has been possible due to systematic recording of data on rainfall, water usage, and water level in tube well and using the recorded information to compute water balance (Table 2). Besides these, the entire data and water balance sheets have been neatly written up on the walls of the village Chavadi. A walk through the village gives one a short course in water literacy. For the walls of the schools, temples and some houses have been used to neatly write meaningful quotes on water and its preciousness as a resource.
Table 1: Cultivated area in relation to rainfall
| Year | Annual Rainfall (mm) | Cultivated area (acres) |
| 2003 | 255 | 339 |
| 2004 | 439 | 441 |
| 2005 | 501 | 569 |
| 2006 | 297 | 516* |
* The reasons attributed to no significant reduction in cultivated area despite failure of rainfall are: sharing of water, ban on paddy cultivation under tube wells and use of water saving devices like sprinkler and drip systems
Table 2: Water balance sheet
| Year | Annual rainfall (mm) | Available groundwaterCu. m | Extracted water Cu.m | How excess*(%) |
| 2004 | 439 | 96441 | 675081 | 121 |
| 2005 | 501 | 1175062 | 822540 | 95 |
| 2006 | 297 mm | 1142013 | 993,240 | 87 |
*Extraction as a percentage of year’s recharge
Note: CWS says that event though it appears that exploitation of groundwater has been declining in Madirepalli, it needs to be watched over time. And the success of this effort lies in how long they hold on to the gains
Box 1: Gonchi System for surface water sharing
Gonchi refers to collective community efforts in bringing water from a stream and distributing the same equally to irrigate a stipulated ayacut area. This system is in practice in parts of Andhra Pradesh for well over a century. A users’ association manages Gonchi. Users association lays down norms for use and maintenance of the system. One of the major activities is desilting of various channels through which water is brought and distributed. Water is blocked by constructing a temporary structure and diverted from the main stream. This helps to take up repairs/ desilting all along the channels. Users contribute labour or compensate with wages towards the operation
A natural stream called Akuledu vanka serves a few of Madirepalli farmers. It receives reasonable quantity of rainwater besides some seepage from the high level canal when water is released into the canal. Villagers have built a separate diversion canal to allow the stream water to flow into their fields by gravity. Generally paddy is cultivated for one season in these fields.
Water is distributed by placing wooden gates called anthams across the flow. The water flow is monitored by a designated person called neeruganti who is compensated for his service by providing a designated share in the harvested crop. The functioning of this system is governed by the rules and norms set by the users associations. Violation is curbed by fines and strictures.
Box 2: The Water sharing Saga
B.Kullayappa is a farmer in his mid 50s. He belongs to one of the Scheduled Castes. He is among the few progressive farmers of Maderipalli. He owns five acres of land distributed in two pieces. He owns a tube well dug over a decade ago that yields 2500 gallons per hour on his three acre piece. His another piece of land lies some 300m away from the first one on which he has ber (Zizipus jujuba) orchard spread over an acre. Around the year 2000, he replaced his centrifugal motor and installed a 5-HP submersible pump to his tube well. He realized he had more water than his actual requirement. Around the same time, his brother had started encountering intermittent problems with his tube well. On request from his brother, Kullayappa, shared water with him. Fortunately for both, there was enough water in the well. Encouraged by philanthropic attitude of Kullayappa, a few of his neighbors who held very small holdings ranging from .5 to 1 acre approached him for water. These marginal farmers had no other source of livelihood. Moved by their pathetic condition, Kullayappa helped them with water without putting any hard pre-conditions. His neighbors however shared expenses towards maintenance of the pump owned by Kullayappa. Thus, Kullayappa, is considered as trend setter in sharing and using ground water in this village. Following him were several others. Chinnanarayana and Ramakistayya are sharing water from the same borewell for their farms measuring half acre each. Ramoji who gets only salt water from his tube well has joined these two recently. After the intervention of RIDS and CWS, in Maderipalli, there are examples galore. Many small and marginal farmers have joined together and with a reasonably (tube) well-to-do farmer and are able to earn a decent livelihood.
Sreenath Dixit, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500 059, India
- Kishtappa, Rural Integrated Development Society (RIDS), Garladinne Post 515 731, Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, India
- Ravindra Chary and Ramamohan R.V. Centre for World Solidarity (CWS), 12-13-438, Street #1, Tarnaka, Secunderabad 500 017, Andhra Pradesh, India
