Planning and Managing Village Water Resources

Understanding planning ideology

This whole process can be taught by organising exposure field visits in successfully planed and implanted project areas. Also by understanding how village people have built an understanding of their land and water resources and planned different activities and achieved sustainability. During field exposure the candidates have to observe different hardware activities along with group discussions with the village community focusing on following aspects:

• How they understood their resources.
• How they have identified and quantified their problem exactly.
• What were the challenges they faced during planning and how they resolved them?
  • If there any conflict arisen during the process how they resolved it.
  • What are new possible problems that they can predict and what preparedness they are planning?
• How they are managing the different resources use wise.
• How they come together.
• Any institutional arrangements for management.

Review all previous works and share with village people

After the exposure visit, each Jaldoot (JD) group has to review all the maps and share all this knowledge with their respective study village people discuss possible strategies for land and water management planning. Here JDs review all planning tools that they have used during geological mapping and water balance

Planning Processes

Once consensus comes from the community, then strategy and land and water resource activities are listed with villagers.

• Drinking water for humans and cattle.
• Soil moisture conservation for rain fed agriculture.
• Ground water recharge activities.
• Soil moisture conservation for grassland development.
• Surface water harvesting
• After listing of activities, JDs check their maps and study feasibility of all activities suggested by villagers.
• Considering the feasibility, JDs discuss different activities with different stakeholders such as farmer groups, women groups, animal husbandry community etc.
• In addition to this, JDs also verify the plan with experts.

After ascertaining feasibility, the team share all their views with the villagers and get approval on their plan.

• After ascertaining feasibility, consultation and verification, the draft plan should be prepared by JDs.
• This plan is shared with entire village by organising a village level meeting

Finalisation of planning map

After completion of all the field level activities the planning should be mentioned on the basemap showing strategies and different activities with proper colours and symbols.

Source : Jaldoot Resource Book