Water, Land and Ecosystems - 1.4 Ganges region

G6: The irrigation-hydropower nexus in the Ganges headwaters

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

Approximately 450 hydroelectric (“hydel”) power schemes in Uttarakhand, India are being developed rapidly and haphazardly, primarily to meet power demands in the plains. While this energy source holds appeal for climate mitigation and livelihoods support, construction of reservoir-tunnel (less so run-of-river) schemes poses impacts for: a) small-scale irrigation of staple and high-value crops, b) crop/livestock-based livelihoods that are increasingly feminized due to male out-migration, and c) ecosystem services including livestock fodder, fisheries, habitat based on river base-flows, extreme-flood risk mitigation, and tourism and pilgrimage to sacred Ganges headwaters. Through targeted interdisciplinary research framing linked challenges in social- ecological systems terms, coupled with policy support for adaptive decision-making on hydel development, irrigation, and water supply, the tradeoffs between hydel and irrigation can effectively be minimized. We propose a science-policy dialogue project in multiple Ganges sub-basins, which will lead to improved livelihoods of women, youth, and men; safeguard and enhance critical ecosystem services; and offer irrigation-hydel nexus lessons for headwaters regions across the Himalayas and globally. Goal: Strengthen synergies and minimize tradeoffs between small hydropower and irrigation systems in order to improve gendered livelihoods and enhance ecosystem services in Uttarakhand. Objectives: 1) Develop the knowledge base on interconnections among multiple resource securities of water (irrigation, potable supply, and resilience to hydroclimatic disasters), energy (hydel, grid-power, and biomass), food (staples, vegetables, and orchards), and gendered livelihoods (based on crop, livestock, and migration remittances). 2) Identify institutional and policy opportunities and obstacles to harness the irrigation-hydel nexus for livelihood resilience including climate adaptation, gender empowerment, and ecosystem conservation. 3) Identify opportunities to pilot the coproduction of applied research-cum-community based water, energy, and food systems development led by women and youth. Research and policy outreach activities: Following the sequence of the three objectives listed: 1) Conduct field research on synergies and tradeoffs between irrigation and existing hydel, with linked field research on food security, flood preparedness, and gender roles. 2) Document existing Panchayati Raj institutions and associated rules, government support, and NGO programs for irrigation, climate adaptation, and rural water supply. 3) Draw upon ongoing initiatives and government programs to pilot innovative coproduction R4D approaches to sustainable agriculture, livelihoods and integrated water -energy management. Provide research support to People’s Science Institute (PSI) to extend into Uttarakhand the innovative System of Crop Intensification from Himachal Pradesh.

Contact Person

Christopher Scott (cascott@email.arizona.edu)

Partners

People’s Science Institute, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, University of Delhi

Completed

Start/End dateDecember 15, 2014 — December 31, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.4 Ganges region

Regions

Southern Asia

Countries

India

Healthy Ganga – Cleaner Waters and More Productive Ecosystems (G10)

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

Healthy Ganga

This two-year project, which began in early 2015, will contribute to cleaning and restoring the Ganga’s riverine ecosystems. In collaboration with key organizations, the project will address challenges like reduced flows and the discharge of untreated toilet waste and waste water along the Ganga and its tributaries.

Research to action

Potential users of this research include

1. Local urban authorities

For preparing evidence-based sanitation plans and urban action plans to abate pollution that meet the needs of vulnerable groups
For designing and implementing feasible and context-specific models for septage and sewage management

2. National and state authorities

Research and outputs

Reducing Fecal Pollution in Small and Medium cities

Discharge of untreated waste and wastewater into the Ganga is considered one of the major threats to the health of the river. The project will focus on the three selected cities of Unnao, Mughalsarai, and Gangaghat in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where technical, economic and institutional solutions will be analysed for reduction of pollution caused mainly by domestic wastewater and fecal sludge.

A study of the replication potential of the most promising solutions and the related costs and effectiveness of such replication will be undertaken. Innovative business models for waste reuse along with low cost wastewater treatment would also be studied.

Restoring the flow of the river

Agriculture, industrialization, population growth and an emerging middle class are rapidly increasing their water demand, a demand that is met with increasing water abstractions which are leaving many river stretches running dry. This project will study the current water uses, allocations and abstractions, and will further analyze the costs, benefits and the trade-offs of restoring environmental flows.

Environmental flows are the flows required for the maintenance of the ecological integrity of rivers, their associated ecosystems and the goods and services provided by them.

Key outputs

Integrated baseline assessments of three cities to identify problems and opportunities for pollution prevention
Catalogue of stakeholder recommended solutions for pollution abatement in the selected cities
Feasibility studies for the most promising solutions in the selected cities
New entry points for equitable engagement for women and men in pollution abatement
Analysis of the basin replication potential for the most promising solutions and of the benefits of such replication
Integrated baseline assessment of the Upper Ganges basin on major river flows, water uses and related institutions
Cost-Benefit analysis of environmental flows implementation
Trade-off analysis of environmental flows implementation
Framework for environmental flows implementation and trade-off management

Knowledge management and strategic communication

To encourage program outreach, IWMI along with its partners will create platforms for engaging and working with decision makers. Subject experts along with local, state and national authorities will be involved along the whole research process in both the validation of the methodologies and the results through a consultative process.

Read more in a recent editorial by Tushaar Shah of the International Water Management Institute in Science Magazine. In this editorial, Shah et al. have revived the "Ganges water machine" (GWM) concept put forward in the 1970’s. The GWM is designed to increase dependence on groundwater so as to leave more surface water for maintaining environmental flow to flush pollutants from the river.

This project is led by:

Contact Person

Javier Mateo-Sagasta (j.mateo-sagasta@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Partners

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – India, the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K), the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA), the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) and the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).

Completed

Start/End dateDecember 15, 2014 — December 31, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.4 Ganges region

Regions

Southern Asia

Countries

India

G9: Community water management for improved food security, nutrition and livelihoods in the polders of the coastal zone of Bangladesh

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

This proposal is predicated on the opportunity to derive great benefits from capitalising on little used water-related ecosystem services in the polders. The polders are surrounded by large tidal rivers (2-3 m diurnal fluctuation) which gradually become saline as the dry season progress due to inward movement of the sea. The fundamental causes of the low productivity in the polders of the coastal zone are waterlogging during the rainy season, and lack of fresh water and salinisation during the dry season. The causes of water logging are: (i) high rainfall, (ii) lands of different elevation, meaning that lower lands are inundated more deeply, and (iii) poor condition and/or improper management of the sluice gates, meaning that water flows into the polders at high tide. The lack of hydrological separation of lower and higher lands is also an important cause of water management conflict; for example, bringing enough water in to flood the higher lands results in deep inundation of lower lands, to the degree that water is too high in the lower lands, even for cultivation of the commonly grown tall, traditional rice varieties. At the end of the rice season, some farmers may wish to drain their lands for timely establishment of dry season crops, while other farmers want to continue to bring water in to finish of their late maturing crops. As a result, agricultural land productivity in the polders is very low, with most farmers growing a single, low yielding rainy season rice crop, followed by a very low yielding legume or sesame crop (which is often severely damaged or destroyed by pre-monsoon rains due to late establishment). Water management in the polders can be greatly improved by (i) draining excess water (after heavy rainfall) by systematically opening the sluice gates at low tide (when the river level is lower than the land level), and (ii) closing them when the river level rises above land level. Further benefits can be derived by separation of lands of higher and lower elevation, taking advantage of existing infrastructure (village and government roads), with strategic construction of small levees to complete the separation. This will create land units of roughly similar elevation, providing the basis of community water management units (WMUs). Installation of a drainage outlet into the adjacent khal and strategically placed small drains within the WMU will enable drainage of the lands as needed, in synchrony with operation of the sluice gate in the polder embankment at the head of the khal. Prior to rice harvest, the fields can be drained to enable rapid soil drying and “early” (timely) establishment of dry season crops. Drainage during the rainy season would also allow the establishment of early maturity high yielding varieties of rice. This would further advance the possible time of establishment of dry season crops, and thus introduce the possibility of diversifying to high yielding/high value crops such as sunflower, maize and wheat. During the dry season, the khals provide the opportunity to convey fresh water for irrigation of dry season crops by bringing in river water at high tide while the water is still fresh. Just before the river water becomes too saline for irrigation, the khals can be filled and used as reservoirs for irrigation to finish off the dry season crops. At this stage the sluice gates would be kept closed to prevent the saline river water from entering the khal. Improving water management in these ways would greatly increase the resilience of the agricultural production systems against pre-monsoon rains and cyclones (which are most frequent in May and November). Early drainage after rice enables early establishment and harvest of dry season crops, which greatly reduces the likelihood of damage from rains and cyclones in May, as the crops will have already been harvested. Use of earlier maturity rice varieties in the rainy season will reduce the risk of damage by cyclones in November, as grain filling will be complete by early November.

Contact Person

Elizabeth Humphreys (e.humphreys@irri.org)

Partners

Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, BRAC, Shushilan, International Water Management Institute, Institute of Water Modelling

Completed

Start/End dateDecember 15, 2014 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.4 Ganges region

Regions

Southern Asia

Countries

Bangladesh

G7: Poverty squares and gender circles: unravelling agriculture gaps, challenges and opportunities in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (Bangladesh, India, Nepal)”

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

Gender crises in South Asia’s poverty square A persistent poverty in the land corridor connecting Nepal Terai, Eastern India and Bangladesh is accentuated by inequalities based on class, caste, ethnicity and gender. The region infamously known as South Asia’s poverty square, home to around 600 million of the world's poorest people is characterised by fragmented landholdings, widespread landlessness, poor investments and infrastructure. Despite multiple projects operating to mitigate poverty, some with a gender lens - an enduring poverty persists. Recent studies indicate new agrarian crises, in particular a 'feminization of agriculture': outmigration of a young generation of men from these poorly performing agrarian economies leaving behind women with restricted access to productive assets, services, infrastructure, institutions and markets to manage productive [as well as reproductive] responsibilities. A move away from sectoral approaches? There are steep challenges to sectoral interventions to improve agricultural development and/or positively change the lives of poor women and men here (Lahiri- Dutt, 2014). Many questions remain unanswered: How do ongoing interventions, focussing on certain resources, services or infrastructure, take into account disparate changes in agrarian economies, policies and practices on the one hand and changes to ecosystem viability on the other? How are gender and agriculture issues framed and do they address the complexity of inequalities in relation to inter-dependent land, water and ecosystem vulnerabilities? How are relationships of tenure, labour and consumption reshaped my multiple governance, economic, environmental changes in different settings and contexts? How do social dimensions of poverty and gender inequality, such as the lack of agency to negotiate with key actors and stakeholders interface with the material dimensions of disparity in assets and resources? Project objective: bridging the gender “know-do” gap through partnerships Building on existing research findings, project staff [Wageningen University, IWMI/Nepal, other partners and consultant researchers] will review 6 ongoing case studies programmes/projects in Nepal Terai, North Bengal and Northern Bangladesh in order to analyse how these projects and interventions address the dynamics of poverty and gender inequality. The research will generate new knowledge applicable for use in development and capacity building initiatives and programmes. Prior agreements with project partners will allow collaborative research, uptake and piloting of interventions. To enable cross-fertilization of gender knowledge, methods and approaches, research activities will be coordinated with the following WLE Ganges projects: SPIP, ICIMOD; Irrigation-hydropower, University of Arizona and Polder community water management, IRRI. 4 BAU students will also conduct gender-focused research in IRRI project areas. To further demand-based, applied research among grassroots practitioners, the project will fund 3 competitive research grants [one in each country] to local professionals or grassroots institutions on topics of local relevance. A team of prospective or next users (local professionals) tailored to each team's research proposal, will along with project partners enable quality control, capacity building and mentoring of grantee teams and facilitate piloting, uptake and outreach. Research outputs from the above two activities will be translated to education and extension curricula for NBU and BAU and their boundary partners, (the Department of Agriculture Extension in Bangladesh; Panchayat institutions, Agriculture Extension Services and State Rural Livelihood Mission in North Bengal). Project-generated gender training and capacity building modules and curricula will be extended to a wider network of professional and institutions through the SaciWATERs-CapNet Network (SCaN)1. Through Katalyst Bangladesh, we plan outreach of gender knowledge, methods and approaches to agri-businesses and donor consortia. Similar initiatives will be targeted to (in)formal grassroots institutions through the 6 case study project partners and also through DAM in Bangladesh and NEMAF in Nepal.

Contact Person

Deepa Joshi (deepa.joshi@wur.nl)

Partners

International Water Management Institute, Nepal Madhesh Foundation, Bangladesh Agricultural University, North Bengal University, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies, Katalyst

Completed

Start/End dateDecember 15, 2014 — December 31, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.4 Ganges region

Regions

Southern Asia

Countries

Bangladesh, India, Nepal

G8: Reviving springs and providing access to solar powered irrigation pumps (SPIP) through community based water use planning: Multiple approaches to solving agricultural water problems in mid hills and Terai in Nepal and India

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

The goal of this project is ensure affordable and sustainable access to drinking and agricultural water to women and men in mid hills of Nepal and Uttarakhand and Terai in Nepal. Farmers face economic and institutional water scarcity in these regions where water is plentiful, but inaccessible due to lack of rural electrification or irrigation infrastructure in the plains, or because springs are increasingly drying up, as in the mid hills. In order to improve the access of mountain communities and small and marginal farmers in Terai to water resources, new knowledge and technologies appropriate for them must be both rigorously tested in pilot studies and scaled up with support from stakeholders across the public, private and civil society sectors. Our project aims to test two approaches to addressing water insecurity in mid hills and plains of Nepal and India. For this, we will revive local springs in mid hills of Nepal and Uttarakhand and pilot solar powered irrigation pumps (SPIPs) in Nepal Terai. Moreover, we will ensure that these strategies are incorporated in local level Water Use Master Plans (WUMP), so that these are mainstreamed as development investments. We will achieve this by combining high quality research, implementation of pilots and policy advocacy based on the results of our fieldwork. The first objective of the project is to revive drying springs through state of the art understanding of localised spring hydrogeology; extensive mapping of all spring sources in the study areas; a comprehensive understanding of socio-economic, and policy, institutions and multi-layered governance aspects of spring management and through appropriate technical (e.g. spring shed catchment area treatment, or construction of recharge ponds) and policy interventions (e.g. linking welfare and poverty alleviation programs with earth work like pond excavation). The outcome of this will be springs that have been revived to provide ecosystem services to local mountain communities. Reviving springs is of particular importance to women, as women are tasked with gathering water for household purposes and when springs dry up, they must travel greater distances to collect water. Often, women from dalit castes are inordinately affected, as they are forced to collect water from lower yielding springs located in remote location, while better springs are reserved for upper castes. We will conduct the spring revival component of the project in the mid-hills in Nepal and Uttarakhand where springs dot the landscape. The second objective of the project is to promote SPIPs as a climate resilient and poverty alleviation solution to tackle the water-food-energy nexus issues in Nepal Terai. We will pilot 25-30, small sized SPIPs (500 watt peak to 1500 watt peak) in one or two districts in Terai and carry out high quality impact evaluation studies. Our SPIPs, being mobile and portable, are suitable for irrigating small, scattered land belong to small farmers. Nepal Terai has approximately 120,000 shallow tubewells and 90% of them run on diesel fuel – which is expensive and makes intensive irrigation uneconomic. Here alluvial aquifers are rich and very little of the groundwater has been actually tapped. SPIP can enable multiple cropping and better livelihood opportunities for women and men farmers. By targeting at least 30-50% of our solar irrigation pumps at women, we will develop an understanding of the policies and institutional frameworks required to support small female farmers in technology adoption. By testing a technology that reduces both pollution and GHGs, we are promoting a development strategy with significant potential for address environmental challenges confronting South Asia. The third objective is to incorporate components of spring revival and SPIP into community led WUMPs, which is being implemented in Nepal by Helvetas and will also be piloted in Uttarakhand for the first time in this project. WUMP, through a consultative process, maps all existing water sources and conducts detailed surveys on their condition in a VDC and then asks the community to prioritise these water sources for future investment – investment which then comes from the GoN through its funds allocated to Village Development Committees (VDCs) and District Development Committees (DDCs).

Contact Person

Aditi Mukherji (Aditi.Mukherji@icimod.org)

Partners

Helvetas, Nepal, Atom Solar, Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management, George Washington University, Haravard University

Completed

Start/End dateDecember 15, 2014 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeEnhancing Sustainable Agriculture

Cluster

1.4 Ganges region

Regions

Southern Asia

Countries

India, Nepal

Water, Land and Ecosystems - 1.4 Ganges region

G6: The irrigation-hydropower nexus in the Ganges headwaters

Contact Person

Partners

Related publications

Healthy Ganga – Cleaner Waters and More Productive Ecosystems (G10)

Healthy Ganga

Research to action

Research and outputs

Key outputs

Knowledge management and strategic communication

Contact Person

Lead Center

Partners

Related contents

G9: Community water management for improved food security, nutrition and livelihoods in the polders of the coastal zone of Bangladesh

Contact Person

Partners

G7: Poverty squares and gender circles: unravelling agriculture gaps, challenges and opportunities in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (Bangladesh, India, Nepal)”

Contact Person

Partners

G8: Reviving springs and providing access to solar powered irrigation pumps (SPIP) through community based water use planning: Multiple approaches to solving agricultural water problems in mid hills and Terai in Nepal and India

Contact Person

Partners