This article is written in response to an earlier published article “Chasing a Mirage: Water Harvesting and Artificial Recharge in Naturally Water-Scarce Regions” in the Economic and Political Weekly and argues that the paper makes a number of assertions about small water harvesting systems, that are based on faulty assumptions and inadequate information.
The article informs that:
- Water harvesting systems were started as part of catchment area treatment in river basin projects to act as complementary storage structures and to reduce silt movement, which otherwise would reach the reservoir leading to siltation and reduction in effective storage over a period of time.
- In order to meet water demands throughout the year, it is essential to create storage structures and it is with this intention that major storage reservoirs structures were built across the country after independence. Small-scale water harvesting systems help in overcoming the intermittent droughts during the kharif season and making drinking water available for a prolonged period within the watershed.
- Small-scale water harvesting systems need to be advocated in the larger context of livelihood generation (in the natural resources management programme) as surface storage for supplemental irrigation, rather than exclusively as means for groundwater recharge.
India Water Portal thanks the authors for permission to publish this paper.
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