Himachal Pradesh: As baoris flow again, there is a lesson for other hill states

SHIMLA: At Thanakasoga village under Nahan block in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district, a group of 11 women, including Santosh Kumari, president of Mahila Mangal Dal, is busy cleaning a baori (spring).
A group of 19 women regularly sets about cleaning the area near the village spring as a monthly ritual. After the spring is clean, they fill their brass pitchers to carry drinking water home.And before they leave, they sit around relaxing and chatting with each other, while the area echoes with their chatter. The village baori, once again, is a site of social interaction.
Just six-seven years ago, it was all very different. The spring was dirty and neglected, and water discharge from it contaminated. No one in the village knew how to reverse the change, even though water scarcity had become a reality.
“The supply of water from the state water department is only for one hour in about four days, and we can scarcely depend on that. Even that one-hour supply would frequently be interrupted by power cuts. The springs had become contaminated. That was when People Science Institute (PSI) and Arghyam, NGOs, stepped in to help improve water quality in the springs. With that work, even the discharge from the local spring has increased. Now, all 35 families in the village depend on the spring for drinking water and domestic needs,” said Santosh Kumari.
Role of Mahila Mangal Dal and other community representatives
The Mahila Mangal Dal has taken on the responsibility of cleaning the area around the spring once a month. Other representatives of the community involved in the process of spring rejuvenation have also been trained to manage and monitor the whole process. “With the onset of the monsoon, villagers start cleaning all 150 trenches in the catchment area of the spring, clearing weeds and grass to recharge ground water as the rain arrives. A number of trees, bearing fruit or fodder, have been planted in the catchment area. These have enhanced ground water recharge.
The village is full of chir pine trees. Besides their natural proliferation, villagers have been growing them to make additional income through extraction of resin; contractors extract resin at Rs 100 per tree. Chir pines would hinder water recharge, so there are no trees of that species near the catchment of the spring.
Makan Singh, PSI coordinator, explains that the spring has a three-tier system. The first step well, a rectangular structure around the spring, is now gated, so animals do not loiter here and spoil the area. This baori is further connected to a long horizontal pit outside, and cattle can drink from it. The baori is also connected to a large pit that serves as a source of minor irrigation for surrounding fields.
The villagers also maintain a weather station where readings with regard to wind speed, temperature, soil and moisture level around spring area are taken and sent to PSI office time to time.
PSI intervention
PSI in 2012 began a pilot project of spring rejuvenation in three villages of the Thanakkasoga Panchayat, after natural springs in the area, once in abundance, began to choke up and get contaminated.
Debashish Sen, director PSI, says the project is based on the principle of Participatory Groundwater Management (PGWM), with technical input from Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM). Financial support was provided by Arghyam. The whole project is now managed by the local community.
The intervention, Sen says, was based on local hydro-geological studies. Ground water was monitored and the local community was mobilized before protocol was laid down on protecting the recharge area and ensuring equitable use of water.
PSI selected Luhali, Dhyali and Thanakasoga villages, which together have 156 households, for this work. Makan Singh said open defecation in the recharge area of springs had earlier been a cause of contamination.
Anita Sharma, PSI, said the notion that groundwater was a common resource was something that people had to acknowledge, as part of the process. The local hydro-geology was studied and the spring recharge area properly identified. The water needs of the community and livestock were mapped and strategies for sustainable, equitable use of water sources planned.
After the recharge intervention, discharge from the springs increased significantly. The greater care for the recharge area and its social fencing reduced bacteriological contamination in spring water. Reduction in fecal coliform count indicated sanitation protocol was having an impact. Drinking water quality became better.
Villagers were motivated to take to crop intensification, and growing crops that needed less water like maize and wheat, which use less water than paddy. “A clear methodology has been developed with the Thanakasoga project. Several agencies have now approached PSI to initiate trainings on participatory springs shed development. This has helped PSI enter into collaboration with agencies working in North-Eastern states,” said Sen, adding that it was gratifying to see communities made more resilient to climate change.
Study on springs after water crisis in Shimla
In August last year, Niti Ayog submitted a report entitled ‘Inventory and Revival of Springs in the Himalayas for Water Security’. The report said nearly 50 per cent of springs in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) were drying. There are five million springs across India, of which nearly three million are in the IHR alone.
The National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-System under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, recommended systematic mapping and launching of a springrevival programme in one vulnerable block in each of the mountain states.
Last year, Shimla was in the news for acute water crisis. The hotel industry in the state capital took a drubbing, residents scampered to find water. The Niti Ayog report alluded to this crisis and explained it as a direct result of the drying up of springs. Ajay Kumar, head of the forest force of HP, admitted that there is as yet no study on the drying up of natural springs in the state. Some studies on soil and water conservation and projects related to these subjects however consider the springs too, he said.
HP chief conservator of forests RK Gupta said, “Less snowfall in the higher reaches and rainfall in the plains in 2017 winter was the reason for water scarcity in Shimla last summer. Around six-seven water nullahs from sites like Goma, Chaba and Koti places had reported less water recharge.”
Gupta said a department of science and technology study after the crisis considered that springs that had been neglected or buried due to construction. Some 24 springs were identified for rejuvenation in Shimla city, and a proposal was made to the ministry of urban development for rejuvenation of springs and stoppage of construction in the catchment area of springs.
“Around 70 green belts are already notified in Shimla town where construction is banned. Many of the springs and nullahs are covered in this area. For revival of 42 identified springs, the proposal was laid out for intensive soil and moisture conservation work, including creating vegetative check dams, water harvesting structures, small ponds, gabion structures, plantation of catchment areas and inter-link chain fencing to stop the muck. The programme also involved demarcation and fencing of spring sheds under Amrut Dhara scheme,“ said Gupta.
Rs 2.63 crore was sought for the project from the urban development ministry, but since that fund was not available, other sources of funding are being explored, he said.
Reviving the Bohal spring shed
The Bohal spring system, a combination of two springs, is the oldest system of water supply to Palampur town. It is managed by the municipal corporation since 1950. With the population of the town growing exponentially, residents reported decline in water discharge in the springs in the past 15 years. A programme to revive this spring system was supported by NGOs, ACWADAM and GTZ.
ACWADAM conducted hydrogeological studies of the Bohal spring system, which has served as the source of drinking water for Palampur town since 1952. With population rise, the gap between demand and supply prompted the municipal corporation to get water from Neugal river through pipelines.
Though the river bridged the gap between supply and demand, river water quality, especially in the rains, was questionable, when compared to Bohal spring, where water passed through a natural filter system with recharge through underlying strata.
The annual discharge of Bohal springs dropped from over 1,25,000 m to some 80,000 m from the 1980s to the present. Annual demand, on the other hand, based purely on an increase in the number of people dependent on the spring, has gone up from about 20,0000 m to nearly 4,00,000 m over a course of some 30 years.
Himanshu Kulkarni, executive director, ACWADAM said, “Spring Sirmaur project works with the engagement of the local community. In Dharmashala, we have begun a spring shed programme with the forest department recently, following it up with the community.” He said that in the Bohal spring rejuvenation programme, the local van panchayat got into an agreement that allowed payment for eco-services and managed water supply to Palampur.
Government‘s apathy on water issues
He said that the besides working in HP, ACWADAM is engaged in similar initiatives in other states too, Uttarakhand, Megalyaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal. “The issues related to glaciers, rivers or climate change are large holistic problems but the entire Himalaya is facing the problem of springs drying up which affects people directly. And the crisis related to spring is of enormous proportion, but the government is niggardly in budgeting for it.”
Anita Sharma, research scientist, explained that a report was submitted to the HP government on the interest shown by some top officials so the Thanakasoga project model could be replicated and serve as learning for reviving other springs. “The report went missing,” she said, adding that it was sent a second time, but no action has yet been taken. “It is ironical that other states like Uttarakhand and states in the North East are benefiting from the project, not HP,” she said.
Meanwhile, some villagers in Thanakasoga are angry with government mismanagement of their water resources. Roshan Lal, a resident, said, “The state government laid a water pipe from Dadau, near our village, to Nahan, extracting water from the Giri river. A number of storage tanks, including one in our village, have been built for water distribution. Villagers were assured of compensation, financial as well as water share, for acquiring our land. We got nothing. Many of our small seasonal springs, which would get recharged in the rainy season, are buried under construction. Water is extracted from our sources for supply the urban population at a distance, but the state cares little for the needs of rural people.”