Water conservation, harvesting and utilization (dgAlert / Environment and People)

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dg Water Resources Management

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/water/rc/ItemDetail.do~1109083?intcmp=700
Environment

Environment and People

http://www.environmentandpeople.org/WaterUtilization.html

Water Utilization

• Extent & Distribution
• Utilization
  • Sector wise utilization
  • Problems wise utilization
• Government’s Approach to solution
  • Dams and Reservoirs
  • Water Diversion
  • Ground water utilization
  • Other approaches
  • National Water Policy
  • National River Grid
  • Water Harvesting
• Sustainable Water Resource Utilization

Drought in Adelaide : irrigation water restricted (Google Alert / ABC News)

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Google Alert for gardening

ABC News

http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/24/1986899.htm

Irrigators get more, but household water bans stay

Adelaide households will be banned from watering their gardens for another month. But irrigating farmers will get a slight increase in their water allocation. Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald says there has been a slight improvement in flows into the River Murray, but not enough to lift city water restrictions. Sprinklers, hoses and dripper systems will still be banned in Adelaide. Watering cans can be used for plants, but not lawns. The Minister says allocations for irrigators will increase from 4 per cent to 13 per cent.

Combating desertification in Burkina Faso (Google Alert / allAfrica / Africa Renewal)

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Google Alert for desertification

allAfrica – Africa Renewal (UN)

http://allafrica.com/stories/200707231861.html

Burkina Faso: Coping With Less Rain

Africa Renewal (United Nations)

23 July 2007
Posted to the web 23 July 2007

Jean Marie Sawadogo
Ouagadougou

Planting trees along a stone line to prevent soil erosion from heavy downpours of rain.

The heat wave that started in March has not yet, two months later, given way to the first rainfall of the new farming season, except in a few isolated parts of Burkina Faso.  Abel Raogo, a 60-year-old farmer in the village of Ipelcé, some 50 kilometres from the capital, has already finished sowing his fields. Now he waits for the rain. “The good, generous years – when farming could begin in April thanks to early, plentiful and lasting rains – are long behind us,” he remarks, sitting in his field in the shade of a shea tree. “Forty years ago, we weren’t tormented by constant anxiety and uncertainty, worried about poor harvests, like we are today.” Hamadou Tamboura farms and raises livestock near Sapouy, in a neighbouring province. He moved there five years ago from the arid Sahel region in Burkina’s north. “I decided to move to Sapouy to escape the hard conditions of the Sahel’s hostile environment and seriously degraded land,” he explained to Africa Renewal. But now his land in Sapouy has become exhausted and no longer produces enough. Raogo and Tamboura toil in different areas. Each faces his own particular situation. But they are both aware that the conditions they confront are no longer what they once were. The two farmers have seen the reality of the changing weather, although they are not sure of the reasons. They do not ask for explanations of “climate change.” That concept features mainly in national and international intellectual debates. They do understand the immediate dangers represented by degrading soils, drying rivers and other changes in their environment – and they want urgent, concrete solutions to those problems. Drawing water in rural Burkina Faso: The government is helping villagers dig wells and build small water reservoirs to better utilize the country’s scarce water resources.

Hand-drilled wells in Niger (id21)

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id21 (see my Blogroll)

http://www.id21.org/rural/r4kd1g1.html

Hand-drilled wells deliver water in Niger

Hand-drilled wells fitted with inexpensive water-lifting devices are a feasible water source for both domestic and agricultural water supply in parts of Niger. Despite their poverty, thousands of households have been willing and able to pay for these wells and for simple lifting devices for their fields and homes. Thanks to more than 30 years of work by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), hand-auger drilling is now firmly controlled by local entrepreneurs in several parts of Niger. At the same time, locally made pumps have allowed farmers to use more water in their fields, and villagers to draw water from closer to their homes. A researcher from the Rural Water Supply Network consulted more than 60 stakeholders, to understand why and how these technologies became such a success. These stakeholders included farmers, market gardeners manufacturers, drilling contractors, and government, NGO and donor representatives, mainly in southern Niger.

Water harvesting for agriculture in India (id21)

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id21 (see my Blogroll)

http://www.id21.org/nr/n6am1g1.html

Catching rain for agriculture in India

The Indian state of Gujarat has faced many water problems in the past three decades. But rather than rely on government help, individual farmers and community groups have found their own solutions by capturing rainwater for agricultural use. Does this undermine government water policy? Research published by the Sustainable Development Network, a global coalition of non-governmental organisations, examines the efforts of rain harvesters in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Water scarcity and droughts are common problems for these people, who treat water as a precious resource. The Gujarat state government responded to water scarcity by constructing dams on the region’s rivers. The initial purpose was to provide water for agriculture through irrigation canals. But reservoir water was increasingly allocated to the growing urban population, leaving farmers with less water.