[In Part I , Part II , and Part III of this four-part series, XMNR student Mark Kessel discussed the early stages of the Thumbo ka Golia (Jalore, India) community’s attempts to address the lack of potable water, partnering with Jal Bhagirathi Foundation (JBF) and Excellent Development (ED) to build a sand dam and provide greater water security for the village. In Part IV, Kessel completes the story with a discussion of the sand dam’s impact on Thumbo ka Golia residents.]

As early as 2015, villagers were beginning to see the benefits of the sand dam. There was a reported 50 percent increase in water availability in the village hamlets, and agricultural productivity increased just as well. Emma Seal from ED said, “In 2015, [Mahavir Singh] loaned his tube well for two months so that water could be transported to a number of villages in the district who were suffering from the drought.”

Pyari Devi, Singh’s neighbor, was only able to grow caster seed before the dam. “We could not cultivate vegetables because the water was very salty… [our children] were always having stomach upsets and they used to see the doctors” (15). And after the construction of the dam, Devi was able to feed her family and have enough millet left over to sell on the market. She reported benefits of financial security for her family (17).

sifting grain


Another community member, Dhanni Devi, explains: “Because of this structure we have been able to get good water… because of this, our cattle’s health is far better than it used to be. We are getting better milk, and, more milk. The crops are getting better and our health is far better than it used to be earlier. Our sickness has gone down. Now our grandchildren are getting sweet water” (16).

Besides growing more crops per acre, village farmers noted they could grow other types of plants that would not grow in less accessible, highly mineralized water.

Singh reported growing a new kind of apple ber plant that was taking off in different areas of India because of its drought and pest resistant qualities. On average, these new plants were worth $100-120 per kilogram. He also farmed caster, mustard, and chili plants. He went from making 12,000 rupees per bigha (~ 0.17 acres) before the dam, to 25,000 rupees per bigha. Additionally, caster seed production had increased from 34,000 rupees per bigha, pre-dam, to 50,000 rupees after dam construction.

Another Jal Sabha member who experienced the benefits of the sand dam was a nearby farmer, Vikrum Singh, who farmed caster, cumin, mustard, and spinach.

transforming lives article

The residents were so enthused by the sand dam’s success, they requested that the JBF and ED come to their area of the village and build a sand dam closer to where they lived.

Funding was not the issue however, as the villagers were more than willing to raise the investment; the issue was that the JBF and ED would have had to investigate the proposed sites to see if they were feasible locations or not. After the other areas of the village were inspected for sand dam fitness in 2015, the JBF personnel had to break the news that none of the sites were conducive to building an effective sand dam.

Singh was a busy man in 2015. Recipient of a District Award for Excellence in Water Services, he joined the ranks of the JBF’s Jal Parishad, a group of stakeholders, community leaders, volunteers, and experts that review and approve work plans and grants for village construction (18). He was also elected president of another village’s Jal Sabha in his childhood region of Banwa.

What has become quite clear over the years is just how much of a leadership role Singh assumed: Thumbo ka Golia’s Jal Sabha consisted of 50 members, and three of those members were in key leadership roles: the president, vice president, and secretary.

Chance Gives Way to Leadership and Process

Despite the JBF and ED not being able to deliver more sand dams to Thumbo ka Golia for remote residents, on January 11, 2017, Singh said, “the villagers are happy with the sand dam” (19). He also noted that no new projects were initiated in Thumba Ka Golia with the JBF since the construction of the sand dam; however, his neighbors put in a government request to elevate a nearby roadway parallel to the sand dam, which would allow the JBF to increase the sand dam’s wall height an extra six inches to increase recharge.

In 2017, Singh mentioned that he is going to mobilize other community villages to adapt to the same distributed leadership and capacity building model experienced by Thumbo ka Golia.

According to Emma Seal’s email response, ED has changed their process of community engagement and media outreach.

“We now have a sand dam animation that is being translated into Hindi and with the HSBC/Excellent project this year [2017], there is funding to create such documentation. The ED sand dam manual is also being re-written and will be translated into Hindi. The JBF technical knowledge and skills are also an issue we’re working on.”

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Mark Kessel headshot

Mark Kessel is a graduate student in Virginia Tech’s Executive Master of Natural Resources program, and water analyst at Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA), a public-benefit corporation providing drinking water to 1.2 million residents in Long Island, NY. Mark’s responsibilities at SCWA include method development, data analysis, ELAP proficiency testing, and mentoring staff. Some key projects he is involved with are the Unregulated Contaminants Monitoring Rule; Advanced Oxidation Procedure (AOP) pilot study for the removal of 1, 4 dioxane from groundwater; the Lead and Copper Rule, and the Disinfectant By-product Rule. Mark lives with his family at Artspace Patchogue, a green energy, mixed use living workspace building. 

References

1.     A water users association in charge of leading the community’s water resources

2.     A sand dam is a concrete wall that lies mostly below the land’s surface (18 ft. in the case of Thumbo ka Golia), and extends from one side of a seasonal river bed to another, trapping rainwater to recharge the surrounding aquifer.

3.     Non governmental organizations

4.     Personal interview, January 11, 2017

5.     Well borings lined with a concrete or plastic shaft, where a motorized pump is dropped down into the shaft to retrieve water.

6.     Covered ponds or tanks that sit at or above ground level, and gravity feed water to different service areas or wells.

7.     Figures retrieved from Charu Bhari’s article, India’s Groundwater Crisis, published on Nov. 4, 2016, http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/indias-groundwater-crisis-water-levels-fall-in-65-wells-in-a-decade-20922

8.     Personal interview, January 11, 2017

9.     Jal Bhagirathi Foundation. Milestones. Retrieved from JalBhagirathi.org/themes/upload/document/838171.pdf on Feb 6, 2017

10.   Policies that address the needs and concerns of impoverished peoples

11.    Image retrieved from JalBhagirathi.org on Feb. 7, 2017

12.    Jal Bhagirathi Foundation. Harvesting Dreams. Retrieve from http://JalBhagirathi.org/themes/upload/document/569720.pdf on Feb. 6, 2017

13.    Email from Emma Seal to Mark Kessel, sent Feb. 8, 2017

14.    Excellent Development. Pioneering sand dams: different world, universal problem. Retrieved from http:www.excellentdevelopment.com/different-world-universal-problem on Feb. 7, 2017.

15.    Excellent Development. Transforming lives in the land of death. Photographed copy of story from a news clipping in Thumbo ka Golia on Jan. 11, 2017. Also retrievable at www.excellent.org.uk

16.    Excellent Development. People & communities: Sweet water on tap. Retrieved from http://www.excellentdevelopment.com/articles/people-amp-communities/sweet-water-on-tap on Feb. 7, 2017.

17.    JBF. Jal Bhagirathi Foundation. Reaping Rich Dividends of Sand Dams (Canvas handout). Retrieved from Canvas (Virginia Tech – XMNR 2017) on Dec. 22, 2016.

18.    Jal Bhagirathi Foundation. Internet Homepage. 2017. JalBhagirathi.org

19.    Personal interview, Jan. 11, 2017