Mini Challenge 1 — Literature Review
This section covers the literature we researched in order to inform our design.
Our first step at decoding the design brief of OzCHI 2019 student design challenge was to understand the readings provided by the organizers. Writing down key words from the readings and discussing the important information as part of our discussions.
We extensively explored various communities and adverse situations and we landed on this context to work with— Drought-hit regions of Maharashtra, India. We looked at different areas of this problem.
Introduction
What is a drought?
A drought is an event of prolonged shortages in the water supply, whether atmospheric (below-average precipitation), surface water or groundwater.
India, being one of the major agricultural lands, is prone to severe droughts and equipping communities to deal with these adverse situations is extremely crucial so as to reduce the negative impacts of these situations.
Some of the Main Impacts of Droughts are:
•Loss of crops
•Land degradation
•Degradation in soil quality
•Scarcity of water for everyday use
•Imbalance in the ecosystem
Looking at these impacts, we realized that the effects of the drought are seen most clearly in rural India. About 300,000 Indian farmers have killed themselves in the past 25 years, and many more have deserted their crops to move to cities in search of work, leaving behind the elderly.
In 2012, Maharashtra declared that the drought that hit Marathwada that year was the worst of them all. A deficit in the rainfall adversely affected agriculture resulting in a poor output of crop, which in turn affects the financial condition of farmers. While insufficient rainfall is a reason for drought, it’s not the only reason. Poor selection of crops, inefficient methods of irrigation and imbalanced use of ground and stored water also lead to drought, now commonly known as ‘man-made drought’. Maharashtra has been facing this man-made drought since 2012.
Villagers there sometimes wait for days before government tankers carrying water trucks, where they desperately need them. But the trucks only provide about 20 liters per person a day, which people ration for everything including drinking, cooking, bathing, and housework.
Maharashtra has the highest number of dams in the country exclusively for irrigation; yet its irrigation coverage was 17.9 percent in 2009–10.
Today, the State accounts for almost 40 percent of the sugar production of India. Almost 72 percent of available irrigation and well water is directed to the production of sugarcane, leaving little water for cultivation of other crops. There has been no attempt in educating farmers to shift to other less water-dependent crops and other activities like dairy to supplement income.
Programs implemented to tackle the current drought issues
In 2012 (during the drought in other parts of the State), Hiware Bazar, a village in the heart of the drought-prone area, was lush with maize, jowar, bajra, onions, and potatoes. Inspired by Anna Hazare’s work in Ralegan Siddhi, a village 35 km away from Hiware Bazar, the villagers realized the importance of rainwater harvesting and water conservation. The villagers built 52 earthen bunds, 32 stone bunds, and nine check dams. With the rising groundwater level, the village started to prosper. Even today, Hiware Bazar has not called for a single water tanker!
In Pulkoti, another village in the same region, the transformation is credited to the founders of Mann Deshi Foundation. A tiny stream running parallel to the dried-up river presented an opportunity. In consultation with hydrologists and geologists, the foundation installed five percolation tanks which worked as reservoirs. Every drop of rainfall, along with water from the stream, got stored in these reservoirs. In November 2014 the Mann taluka(district) had eight crore liters of water in the reservoirs, providing respite to 15 of the 106 villages. Moreover, it had permanently solved the drinking water problem. Today, the water level in the Mann taluka(district) has actually increased by a one-and-a-half meter.
Recently the State government declared that a five-year ban on new sugar mills will be applicable; that the State will put into place more effective methods of irrigation.
The methods currently employed for drought management in India are; Association Rule Mining and artificial neural networks to monitor and predict future precipitation and wireless sensor networks to predict drought severity.
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has developed a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) based framework to develop drought vulnerability colored map in order to identify and understand how vulnerable the area is (Neelam et al. 2010). ICT along with human support like watershed development, afforestation, groundwater development and many more is helpful for recovery from drought conditions (Jiwan 2012).
Technologies present currently
CropX: To use the system, farmers can simply stick the CropX sensors in the soil. The sensors transmit data to the cloud, where CropX’s servers crunch the numbers on the topography, soil structure, and moisture of each part of the field. After the data is analyzed, farmers get recommendations via a smartphone app for how much water to devote to each part of the field. CropX claims the process can help farmers can use up to 25 percent less water.
Sensor networks: Sensors and wireless networks are about as low cost as can be these days. Companies like Hortau, founded in 2002, use soil tension sensors — combined with data about temperature, weather, and humidity — to manage smarter irrigation systems for farmers. These irrigation systems use gathered data to find more efficient times and better ways to use water.
Wisconsin-based startup Wellntel has developed a sensor system for monitoring groundwater using sound waves, which farmers can then tap into like a savings account when surface water levels are low. It’s a far cry from the more traditional groundwater measurement methods used today that rely on tape and chalk to monitor underground water.
Data analytics: Some farmers aren’t willing (or able) to pay for smart irrigation systems and instead rely on companies that can provide valuable analytics. For example, young startup PowWow Energy uses electricity data from basic smart meters that are installed on water pumps and networks to detect pump leaks. There’s no hardware to install and a farmer receives a text message if there’s an abnormal spike in water use (which corresponds with the spike in energy from the meter).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India had given the Agrimantra More Crop per Drop. It clearly shows the dependence of water in farming. Drip irrigation is also the answer to the need of the hour. Tunisia Chahbani Technologies has developed the diffuser for the irrigating trees, vegetables and fruit crops.
Underground irrigation technology has helped 100 farmers in Tunisia to continue farming in times of droughts. Dubbed the Buried Diffuser, the technology utilizes 2 times less irrigation water than drip irrigation, while raising yields 3 to 5 times more; and ensuring water is not lost through evaporation.
A startup called NanoH20 has developed nanotech-tweaked filtration techniques that clean water faster and as a result, was later bought by Korean giant LG last year for $200 million.
Five-year-old California startup mOasis makes a super-absorbent gel polymer called hydrogel that farmers can put in soil ahead of planting seasons. The hydrogel — which is the size of a grain of sand, but can soak up 250 times its weight in water — absorbs excess water during irrigation and releases it as the soil dries out.
The technology that we have looked into are context-specific and thus we have plotted the different aspects of the problem — socio-cultural, ecological, technological, political and economical.
References
Gandhi, Niketa, and Shubhangi S Wankhede. “Role of Icts in Improving Drought Scenario Management in India.” Accessed August 17, 2019. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3a1f/b1dbd4b0a4c2e96fe4655d0ad8f00ab4ea34.pdf.
Economic Times. “Nearly 11,801 Villages of Maharashtra Are Facing Drought.” March 14, 2013. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nation-world/maharashtra-reels-under-worst-drought-in-40-years/nearly-11801-villages-of-maharashtra-are-facing-drought/slideshow/18969655.cms.
The times of India. “Drought, Floods New Normal as Karnataka Rain Pattern Changes Read More At//timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/69191638.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest: Http.” May 6, 2019. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/drought-floods-are-new-normal-in-karnataka/articleshow/69191638.cms.
Dongray, Amruta. “The Real Reasons Behind Maharashtra’s Man-Made Drought.” YourStory. April 30, 2016. https://yourstory.com/2016/04/maharashtra-drought-feature.
Kapil, Shagun. “Drought Watch: More Than 44% of India Now Suffers.” DownToEarth. June 17, 2019. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/drought-watch-more-than-44-of-india-now-suffers-65127.
Goddard, Steve, Sherry K.Harms, Stephen E. Reichenbach, Tsegaye Tadesse, and William J. Waltman. “Geospatial Decision Support for Drought Risk Management.” ACM digital library. Accessed August 17, 2019. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=602442.
Talk to Aljazeera. “Inside India’s Water Crisis: Living with Drought and Dry Taps.” July 27, 2019. https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/inthefield/2019/07/india-water-crisis-struggling-drought-dry-taps-190726120934966.html.
Finely, Klint. “A Smart Sensor to Help Farmers Save Water in a Drought.” Wired. June 6, 2015. https://www.wired.com/2015/06/smart-sensor-farmers-dont-waste-water-drought/.
Fehrenbacher, Katie. “How Water Technology Can Help Farmers Survive California’s Drought.” Fortune. June 1, 2015. https://fortune.com/2015/06/01/water-drought-californias/
Mohan, Chander. “Underground Irrigation Tech Helps Tunisian Farmers Counter Drought.” krishijagran.com. August 24, 2018. https://krishijagran.com/farm-mechanization/underground-irrigation-tech-helps-tunisian-farmers-counter-drought/.
