Volume 2 Issue 2

Rejuvenation of existing water bodies is an important element to achieve village water security in the context of both drinking and agriculture water requirements. Rejuvenation of the water structure leads to the creation of storage or increase in the storage capacity of the existing structure, eventually aiding to groundwater recharge. “Sujalam Suphalam” is a District level time-bound program that focuses on the improvement of village water resources by undertaking the restoration of existing water bodies, and watershed treatments for the augmentation of groundwater. It is an effort to make a parched village ‘water abundant’ by creating water infrastructure that instils the notion of ownership amongst the stakeholders which is an important element in arriving at a sustainable solution for drought frequented regions in a short period of time. Sujalam Suphalam (SS) takes a multi-stakeholder approach to arrive at village water security. The multi-stakeholder design of the programme involves the Government (State and District Administration) – Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS) – Community/Farmers Group – like-minded civil society organisations and advocacy groups (public representatives and newspaper & electronic media) as the stakeholders. Where Government authority provides necessary sanctions and takes full ownership of the programme, BJS provide their services of heavy machinery and support the Government in programme execution, implementation, community mobilisation, data management and monitoring. This program promises rejuvenating water structures that store run-off generated during monsoons, which recharges groundwater, these earthen works also provide an essential resource to the farmers which is silt to enhance individual farmer’s productivity. SS has helped in increasing the agricultural income by bringing the larger area under irrigation and enhanced the income from agro-allied diversified activities. By desilting percolation tanks, water harvesting tanks and village nalas (rivulets) BJS has not only enhanced the storage capacity of these structures but also increased the period of water availability in the parched villages. It increased the number of days of drinking and domestic water availability accessible to all habitations within a village. The approach promises to reduce the gap between demand and supply of both, water and silt, in a short period. It also garners active participation from the farmers that leads to effective management of community water resources by enhancing the capacity of Panchayati Raj Institutions and individual farmers.

The current study reveals that the western Himalayas has a fragile ecosystem, highly susceptible to rapid changes in land morphology due to the consequences of climate change. Land-use and climatic change in this region has negative impacts on agriculture and human health. Increasing temperature, erratic precipitation, and rising CO2 concentrations are the main drivers which show adverse effects on agriculture and human health. The impacts trends in this region can be categorised into exacerbated pathogenicity are pathogens, and hence disease outbreaks, changes in the traditional agriculture techniques, and people’s migration that directly changes in ecological and leading to social inequalities. In the last few decades, there have been changes in vector species distribution in agriculture and increases of forest pest species attacks by climate change in agriculture and forest pest increases, and parasites are emerging during periods of these last few decades. Enhancement of seasonal transmission and distribution of pests pushes food insecurity and vector-borne infections deteriorate human health. This review article tries to analyse different literature on the effects of climate change on agriculture and human health in the Western Himalayas and suggest agroforestry and agroecology is some of the strategies to overcome climate change impact.

Soil moisture and soil temperature are two important parameters that have a wider implication on crop production. The drop of soil moisture and temperature has an impact involving climate, vegetation and drought. The presence of soil moisture does not ensure its availability to a crop but the force by which water is held by soil particle is important. The amount of work done to extract soil moisture is generally expressed as stress. It is necessary to understand the extent of stress for proper water resources management. The soil moisture index (SMI) is a criterion that denotes the extent of stress experienced by a crop. The temperature also has an impact on germination and production. In the present study, we developed a SMI for different locations in Sikkim. The index ranges from +5 to -5. The negative index indicates extreme stress. The study indicated during winter the index goes beyond-3. Considering wilting point stress as 500 and 700 kPa. The soil temperature was also observed to fall below 15 C. Further, it was observed that soil temperature and moisture are strongly correlated to each other. The SMI can play an important role in adopting suitable water management practices for improved crop production.

In the present study, fifty-five groundwater samples were collected from the parts of the Jalna district of Maharashtra, India. The water samples were analyzed to determine various physic-chemical parameters like pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, alkalinity, chloride, sulphate, calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. The groundwater’s geochemical control and hydrogeochemistry were evaluated using the Piper plots and water quality index (WQI). The hydrochemical analysis reveals that the groundwater is predominantly of CaNaHCO3 type, Water quality index (WQI) indicates that 33% and 2% of groundwater samples fall in poor and very poor categories for drinking purposes. This study reveals that groundwater quality is unfit for drinking purposes at a few places. The effective leaching, dissolution process and rock-water interaction process are the main sources for degrading the groundwater quality.

The Kankai river is a rainfed perennial river of eastern Nepal and carries a large quantum of silt, and enters in Kishanganj of West Bengal, India. Recently, a bridge collapsed in a village in the Kishanganj district due to a rise in the water levels of the Kankai river. This paper presents a study of the dynamics of changes in channel planform and measurement of the erosion and accretion of the Kankai river in Bihar, India from 2000 to 2018. Spatial data were processed in GIS to determine the changes in sinuosity, centreline migration rates, and extent of erosion, and deposition of sediment. The maximum river shift was obtained as 800 to 1600 m and the minimum river shift varied from 6 to 70 m. With a sinuosity ratio for the whole reach of the river of 1.45, the Kankai river is considered a sinuous river and needs river training works at the erosion sites.