Institutional  Greening through water harvesting

Shri.A.K.Goel, Director General, MANAGE

MANAGE is the premier institute for Agricultural Extension Management in India under the wings of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation. Its 42 acres campus is located in Hyderabad having 750 mm annual rainfall. Topography is undulating with light red soils.

The area is ridden with mini-hillocks coupled with deep gullies indicating heavy runoff during uncertain season with a few rainy days. Building blocks have come up along with a few garden patches here and there during last 4 years. But for these green spots, the remaining landscape presents a barren picture for major part of the year.

The institute is also blessed with a faculty steeped in multi-disciplinary philosophy. One of such proud disciplines is ‘watershed management’. In fact, guidelines to operationalize Hanumantha Rao Committee report on Watershed Development were crafted in MANAGE.

An idea struck us sometime in January, 1999 as to why the same watershed concept should not be applied to our own campus itself? Why each and every drop of water should not be conserved whenever it falls in our campus premises? 42 acres of land with 750 mm rainfall amounts to 12.6 hectare meter volume of water or 1.26 lakh cubic meter of water being received perennially. If every drop is conserved, perhaps MANAGE campus could be converted into a lush green garden with trees, creepers, flowers and water bodies with microfauna over a period of 5 years.

The very idea was infectious. Very soon, everyone was talking about it to each other. That was the time when Mr. Hanumatha Rao – the author of ‘Four waters concept’ took a brainstorming session in February, 1999, with faculty members. After a week or so, he came back again and perambulated the length and breadth of the campus. The visit was reeducation to almost all of us. We discovered the hitherto unknown features in our campus – like an ancient aqueduct, an old archbridge, an old well and the like. We sat around the contour map once again. By now all of us shared a common experience of an hour long padayatra and the dream of conserving every drop of water flashed vividly in our inward eyes. Though tired – All of us were inspired by now.

  In the month of March, 1999, all the water harvesting structures were put on map and located on land as well. A contour trench around mini hillocks, a series of sunken ponds along rills interspersed with mini-percolation tanks around ridge, a series of stone dams along gully to harvest soil, water trapping structures along road ribbon and redirecting it to avenue trees through graded trenches were some of the things to be done before arrival of rains. All these works were estimated to cost around Rs.3/ lakhs in March, 1999. Though civil engineering wing was responsible for executing the works, the watershed faculty was made responsible for covering the entire developmental process. Both the wings rose to the occasion.

Works have already commenced in right earnest. Monsoon arrives in Hyderabad in June and lasts four months. We expect that the entire rainfall in the campus during the monsoon to be conserved within its boundaries without letting even a drop of water to escape. There are three major exit points for runoff water. We have decided to monitor them immediately during and after a heavy downpour. Even if a drop escapes, we have failed but we fervently hope to be succeed.

This line of thinking in MANAGE gives rise to the concept of 'Water Budget'. An institute with X Acres of land with Y millimeters of annual rainfall receives a quantity of X-Y units of water perennially. Major portions of it goes waste as on today. But with proper planning, it can be conserved within the campus with minimal expenditure on appropriate soil water harvesting structures. Once water stops, wealth sprouts and over a period of time, it multiplies not in a linear manner but exponentially like compound interest --year after year. That wealth rightly belongs to the institution eternally.

In our country, total number of such institutes runs into a few thousands. There are 29 State Agricultural Universities - each with a few thousand acres of land. Then we have regular universities, Institutes of Technologies, Engineering and Managements, Post-Graduate Centers and Degree Colleges, Central Public Sector undertakings with huge extents of land around them, Agricultural Research, Extension and training outfits, Animal Husbandry, Horticulture, Sericulture and Agriculture Institutes, Secretariat Buildings, Commissionerate, Collectorate and subordinate office outfits, residential bungalows, state public sector outfits, etc. All this adds upto 2000 to 3000 units with around 2 lakh acre of land. Responsibility to account for this 'water receipt' on an annual basis would rest with the CEO of the institute/office. They have adequate funds, authority and manpower. What is perhaps needed is just a spark to set their imagination on fire. They, after all are professionals. With the click of a button, they can communicate with any part of the globe through satellites. They would love to communicate now with mother earth - through the five forces of nature - also called Panchabhutalu - i.e. soil, water, sunshine, sky and biomass.