Harnessing our most precious resource

and bringing it to the people

 We thank
Center for World Solidarity –
SuGWM Project
&
VRUTTI – EU IWRM Project
Stream water harvesting
An alternative for Check Dams

For
Sustainable rural water solution
 Streams are treasures of water,
can be used as percolation
catalyst and Evaporation Arrestors
To know about Stream water harvesting it is very
important to know about different water tables
All water tables in one image
 What is Stream water harvesting?
• It is a simple but result oriented innovative way of
harvesting huge volume of rain water that flows through the
streams.
• There are 2 types namely: Surface Dyke and Underground
Bund-cum-Lake.
• Unlike surface check dams, stream water harvesting is done
underground to harvest the hidden stream which flows
below the stream bed.
• Hidden stream flow is obstructed by the underground plastic
dam or underground bund which results in recharging
natural springs resulting in water in near by openwells and
borewells.
• If ten such systems are created along a
stream in 1 KM, water will be available all the
twelve months of a year down stream.

• Nearly 10 villages drinking and agricultural

water needs can be addressed.

• In this system no land is encroached for

creating a reservoir, no loss of water due to
evaporation, it is a one time installation, zero
evaporation.
How much rain water
flows through stream?
Implementation
 Inauguration of the project by his
holiness Sri Tontadarya Swamiji 2008/09
First the sand on the stream bed is shifted.
A trench 150 feet across the stream, 100 feet upstream
and 8 feet deep is dug.
A bund is made across the stream flow.
The bund and part of the trench bed is lined with plastic
The entire Lake /trench is filled up with available sand that was
shifted earlier.
Sri Tontadarya Swamiji witnessing the
results and success in 2012
Success Stories in images
 Before Intervention

After intervention
Swamiji addressing media to motivate
people to upscale this project
 What happened this year after our
intervention?

• Till date 29 borewells have been drilled

• 3 borewells for drinking purpose
• Borewell water was found potable and
absolutely free from hardness, fluoride, etc.
• Water is available at depths as low as 38 ft 70 ft
• The deepest borewell is just 180 ft deep
Water flows like a stream
Static level in these villages is as
high as water rich area
Images of springs getting charged
 Winner of the Jamnalal Bajaj
National Award for Application
of Science and Technology for
Rural Development
2009
 Present Status and ‘R & D’
• After 3 years of completing stream water harvesting at
Maranbasari, Neeralagi, Sudi and Nagaral villages of Gadag
District, all existing borewells are yielding very good water
• However, we feel that considering water demand, stream water
harvesting is bit slow in result due to hard morum soil layers
• To recharge the underground water table or deeper soil, our ‘R
&D’ is going one.
• We plan to harvest stream water by drilling Sub-soil Borewells
on upper stream and inject stream water into the deeper soil to
get instant results.
• These borewells serve 2 purpose; drawing water as well as
recharging
• We plan to drill 4 such borewells before this monsoon and show
the results to the govt authorities to replicate everywhere
How powerful Stream water
harvesting can be?
 It can save India from catastrophes
that may arise from river Interlinking
I confidently assure that if we don’t
link and mess with our rivers, India
will have water surplus in 2050!
 Issues related to River interlinking
• Huge expenditure leading to paying thousands of Crores of
rupees as interest to world banks and developed countries
• Decades of time required to complete the project
• Land saline issues
• Land encroachment issues
• Silt issues
• Affects marine life and in turn affects fishermen
• Spread of pollution from one river to another and new cities
dumping more waste into the inter river channels
• New ‘river water distribution’ disputes between states and
countries arise
• And many more
 Water conservation

Campaigning Projects
• Awareness programs • Rain water harvesting
• Training programs • Borewell / openwell recharging
• Workshops • Lake construction
• Books • Stream water harvesting
• Media • Grey water harvesting
• Events • Non-irrigational Agriculture
• Rallies • Converting dry land into wet
• Exposure Visits land through the combination
of above
 WLF Systems
• OnLine Filter
• Gallery Type Filtration Unit
• SMT Type Borewell Recharging Unit
• Small and Big Sump Type Borewell Recharging Unit
• Open Sump Type Borewell Recharging Unit
• H Type Borewell Recharging Unit
• Lake Type Borewell Recharging Unit
• Tree based Agriculture
• Soak Pits, Soak Trenches, Alternative trenches
• Compartment Bunds, Bush Bunds, Patta Bunds, Nala
Bunds
• Conversion of dry land into wet land
 Around 100+ innovative
techniques to harvest rain
water whenever, whatever and
wherever it falls
For more details, please visit

www.waterliteracy.tk

Water Literacy Foundation

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Amruthahalli, Sahakarnagar Post
Bangalore - 560092

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