Contour Lines of Water Table: Story of Vanishing Wells & Ponds in Village Chhoti Nawada
This is the story of my village Chhoti Nawada. Till 2004 community ponds and wells were surviving. Even shifting demographic paradigms had no more catastrophic impact on our ponds and wells in my village. Yes shifting social and political dynamics had started taking a new dimension. Community hand-pumps were installed at significant places that basically, had left ponds and wells for lesser utility paradox. Even Government had no plans then to protect and conserve these left-over wells and ponds. Government’s Public, Health and Engineering Department couldn’t come up to protect such vital natural water reservoirs and traditional significant structures of ground water recharge. Community wells were left unused, mismanaged and opened to access for illegal encroachment. Since 2004 to 2010, Most of such wells had been no remnants left. Community wells have been dyeing fast and locals had illegal ownership forcefully over the land in and around the wells.
There were around 15–16 community wells in my village in different orientation configuring how our grand old generations were wise and intelligent that they put such prominent structures understanding social, economic and scientific benefits to mitigate community’s conflict for water in lean rainy days. Wells were dug out around the periphery of the village, scattered around settlements based on specific caste-strata. My village has such surviving colonies which might have in-linked crony caste structure of villages in India having distinct nomenclature associated with caste likewise Dusad Toli, Pandit Toli, Babhan Toli, Kasera Toli, Koyri Toli, Passi Toli, Chamar Toli etc. Importantly these specific caste based separate settlements had separate wells to use water. However some wells around the periphery or inside village either had no more remnants left or some wells had some remnants left to reckon how wise our grandparents were. Wells were the victim of unplanned policy and engineering that couldn’t able to assess rising risk of ground and surface water depletion future. Slowly when people had started using potable source of water from newly installed hand-pumps these wells were lost and died.
My village had 5 small and big ponds localized in South, West, and North and Centre. These ponds were primarily designed to conserve and store rain waters for animal’s use, washing clothes and sanitation. These ponds had been a source of fisheries for locals. Ponds had been providing an abundant ecosystem services and benefits to communities. Hand-pumps and community bore-wells for irrigation had left these ponds less significant for vital public services. Slowly these ponds were becoming irrelevant for locals. They started encroaching and illegally occupying these ponds. Even State Government and Local Panchayat Body had never come up against such illegal encroachments of ponds. One of such ponds around Chamar Toli was filled up for the construction of Housing under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to Scheduled Caste Community. Two ponds were illegally filled up by farm landholders whose lands were in close proximity to ponds. Central huge pond, the Miyan Gabra has shrinken in last 10 years and there is a continuous pressure of becoming extinct in next 10 years. One pond in extreme South, the Paijaba Gabra is facing pressure where locals are filling up the pond slowly and we will see no remnant left in years to come.
Structures of Our Grand Parent’s Vision
Wells and ponds are basic infrastructures of sustainable development. Our Grand old generation had a vision of wisdom. They had a clear cut understanding of life prioritizing nature and natural engineering. They had exemplary vision of protecting vital living resources. They prioritized air, water and food for necessary basic needs. Well and pond had been a key ecosystem to offer vital provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services and benefits to poor and marginalized. Ponds had been a symbol of civilization that were not only offering water security but strengthening strong link to community and biodiversity apart from a significant structure of disaster risk reduction particularly droughts.
High Economic Value of Land
My village Chhoti Nawada is situated just 28–30 kms east to the State’s Capital alongside the four-lane National Highways 30 within Khusrupur Block. Since 2005 there has been gearing up prices of land multiple times. Land owners have started selling out their lands and agriculture has been shifted to secondary and tertiary sources of economic prioritization. New generation had recorded a mass migration and they started understanding agriculture as a risky occupation. They moved to Cities for livelihoods. As farming had become irrelevant for farm landholders labourers migrated to cities for their lives and livelihoods.
Policy Vacuum for Water and Land
State PHED and Local Body couldn’t ever assess that water will become inaccessible in future. Hand-pumps and Bore-wells would harness underground water. Climate change has been posing extreme threat to our ecosystem and biodiversity. I remember my childhood days when we were utilizing water for irrigation from Chamargarhi Gabra. My Father Mr. Janardan Sharma says,”I had been irrigating fields for agriculture using traditional practise of irrigation like Rehat, Moat, Kaling and Latha-Kuri etc well before we had no diesel engine from the Chamartoli Gabra.” Since after 2005, this beautiful pond which had been supporting over 200 households fulfilling ground-water table and an abundant source of livelihood suddenly became a victim of State’s corruption. Then Block Development Officer, Khusrupur had ordered illegally to fill up the pond and distributed land for house construction under Indra Awas Yojana.
This was a clear-cut case of corruption where a lifeline natural structure of disaster risk reduction was degraded to death. Now the pond has some remnant left and I hope that the incumbent State Government would trace out the remnant of pond under Jal, Jeevan and Hariyali Mission. While launching this one of the ambitious programmes of ecosystem conservation, protection and management Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar said,” I will dig out each and every pond again which had been in past.” However locals are equally responsible and they didn’t protest while the BDO had been issuing illegal order to construct houses for poor over the pond. Even Baikathpur Panchayat and Chhoti Nawada ward member then, are part of such corrupt exercise.
Decline in Quality of Education in Schools
Environment Study has become compulsory in Schools despite students aren’t able to understand the basic components of nature and life. They are way backward in their understanding of air, water and food. They have been failing to understand how fast we are losing our ground water; how the air has become poisonous and how the food has become adulterated. I personally observe that there is no teacher available to teach basic environmental study in the Middle School, Chhoti Nawada. One of the reasons of getting distracted from nature is that agriculture has become an expansive and risky occupation. Migration to cities has left everyone far away from village and ‘the water they drink’ ‘the air they breathe’, and ‘the food they eat’ have become irrelevant before how much they earn. Since we have lost our grand-parents over the years and we have lost our environmental teachers in true sense. Though our parent guides us to live in close proximity to nature but disintegration in the family to become extremely nuclear is somewhere the reason of our distraction to air, water and soil. Our grand-parents were inborn naturalist who had preserved and valued our land and biodiversity. They taught us living with nature and family. Now we are selling out our ancestor’s hard earned land that fulfills our hunger.
Hand-pumps, Bore-wells and Machine
Bore-wells are now used for irrigation around 98% of Sown area for agriculture. Ponds are, now facing not only encroachment but water carrying excess of pesticides; fertilizers and plastic waste are draining into ponds, led to eutrophication. Water Planktons have grown all over the pond which drastically affects BOD of the water and depletion of oxygen level severely poses problem for aquatic species. Almost every pond is covered over by such water planktons and they are affecting aeration potential of the water-bodies. These water bodies were acting like wetlands but now a large area in the periphery is encroached to build homes all rounds. Wells are facing similar amount of threat. They are carrying overloads of water plankton and plastic waste and water is no more potable for either drinking or bathing even for animals.
Panchayat Delimitation and Community Awareness
My Village Chhoti Nawada has been falling in two separate Panchayats as per delimitation. Half of the demographic regime falls under Baikathpur Panchayat and rest falls under Sugarbegchak Panchayat body. This is where there remains always a lack of consensus and our representation for the Mukhiya/ Chief Panchayat couldn’t ever succeed in last 4–5 Panchayat elections. Most of the Mukhiyas have been elected from neighbouring villages either in both Panchayats but my village couldn’t give representation to Mukhiya Position ever just because of the delimitation that creates a demographic watershed.
Awareness at the community level is extremely low because village hardly faces water scarcity ever. We are in abundant water regime but there has been observed a continuous depletion of underground water level. We have observed around 100 fts decline in groundwater layer. But we hardly care because we are accessing water for potable drinking and farm irrigation easily. Village depends 99% on underground water for the survival. Even water governance is no more bringing an applied concern among villagers how India is facing massive water crisis. Villagers understand that water is no more a problem for them in future. Gram Panchayat Baikathpur and Sugarbeghack have never come across to align villagers together to organize a community drive to clean up our ponds and wells. Our traditional surface water bodies are dying slowly and we are themselves witnessing how our greed will let us bankrupt mentally.
Community Caste Conflict and Demarcation of wells and ponds
My village comprises people of diversity of caste and religion. Wells and Ponds were configured to be known with the particular caste community living around specific water-bodies. Even some of the wells are known with the place of worship. Actually these wells and ponds explain how chronic our caste system is that we had separated water bodies for a specific caste community. These water-bodies explore tiers of caste discrimination have been progressing in the village since ages.
Jal Jeevan Hariyali Mission
State’s Government has launched an ambitious mission of natural ecosystem management and conservation having an enormous fiscal allocation of Rs 24,524 Crore in three fiscal years from 2019–2022. This Mission is specifically designed to rejuvenate our tradition water bodies likewise ponds, wells, Pynes, Ahars, small river tributaries etc.
Bihar Government has a separate allocation of funds of Rs. 5870 Crore, Rs. 9874 Crore and Rs. 8780 Crore respectively for the fiscal year 2019–20, 2020–21 and 2021–22. Rainwater harvesting structures would be developed around wells, Hand-pumps and Government Buildings as an essential policy measure to recharge groundwater. Hopefully this mission would at least be successful in restoring and rejuvenating current surviving structures. It is the responsibility of the Local Panchayat Body to be accountable and transparent in work allocation.
Why Water isn’t a Community’s Priority
Till our grand-parents alive, water had been the most essential basic need and they always prioritized water at the top. Even Gandhi’s vision of nature comprises Air, Water and Food. Current generation has been valuing the price of land rather than the crop yield. They are selling Grand Parent’s hard earned assets. They have sold out almost lands with the orchards. They are migrating to cities for jobs and livelihoods.
Climate Change is posing threat to agriculture. Agriculture is becoming an expensive occupation as well as highly vulnerable to climate risk. Young generation is becoming distant to nature and they are finding themselves comfortable around potable technology access. Hand-pumps, submersible pump system, bore-wells etc become the major water extracting sources. But they have no idea they are exploiting underground water directly. Community has forgotten what our grand-fathers had taught us to safeguard soil, water and trees.
Social Awareness and Education
Community awareness is significant to protect and restore dying wells and ponds in my village. Villagers should complaint higher officials to appoint specific teachers to teach environmental etiquette to children.
Home is the first school from where kids learn sustainable and applied ecological ethics. Protecting and preserving water bodies is the key to a healthy future. We are fortunate enough that we were born in a water rich regime and it is the responsibility of each of us to protect water bodies in the village. You may run your caste conflict later or sooner but if you lose your water regime you will find your existence nowhere.
Mass Migration in My Village
My village is close to the State Capital and it could have been developed a satellite city in next 10–15 years. Land values have gone sky high and people have been coming to buy land in large numbers since last 5 years. Patna Master Plan 2011–31 has already finalized by Urban Development and Housing Department, Bihar in 2016. Government is facing serious pressure to develop Patna as Smart City. Government has completely failed to understand Disaster Risk in the City. There has been a holistic destruction of water bodies could be seen in the capital itself. It is the right time for the Government to set priorities to implement Patna Master Plan according to the Bihar Government Disaster Risk Reduction Plan 2015–30. Understanding Disaster Risk Reduction, Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance, Investing in DRR for Resilience, Enhancing Disaster Preparedness for Effective Disaster Response and Build Back Better on the axis of Sendai Framework for DRR is significant for working on a broader plan structure to explore ecosystem based DRR and these water bodies act as a natural climate solution. Government should decentralize plan for protecting natural water bodies; wells and ponds. Gram Panchayat should be assigned larger share of responsibility to preserve and protect such significant structure of underground water recharge. My village will face a serious migration challenge in future and there must be a massive demographic shift is going to occur in 15–20 years. We must have to protect our surface water bodies. Without preventing depletion of surface water bodies we can’t maintain our underground water level.
(Kumar Deepak is an Environmentalist, working with United Nations Development Programme)
