Narmada River takes heat off Saurashtra

Water deficient Saurashtra-Kutch and north Gujarat constitute the Achilles heel of Gujarat.

In fact large tracts of these regions have had to be provided drinking water through tankers. The onset of summer is a dreaded time even in Rajkot and Jamnagar towns of Saurashtra. This year, thanks to some planning the situation may not be all that bad.

Both the cities have begun receiving Narmada river water. Rajkot is receiving about 10 million gallons per day and Jamnagar 6 million gallons per day through the canal network. To solve the water woes of north Gujarat, the government has formulated a Rs 600 million (Dh50.37 million) "Sujalam-Sufalam" scheme.

The scheme has three components pumping excess water from the Narmada canal into nine north Gujarat dams by laying a dozen odd pipelines each about 100-km long, building an unlined canal across all the 21 rivers in north Gujarat and building 200,000 farm ponds under the food-for-work scheme.

Though work on the scheme has been continuing at a furious pace and some areas have reaped the initial benefits, it will still take at least five years before the full impact of the schemes will be felt.

Nevertheless, the impact of the farm pond scheme is beginning to be felt already, with farm areas where these ponds have been constructed reporting a marginal increase in the water table in the first year itself.

Gujarat is going full steam ahead with a proposal to invite the private sector to participate in water distribution in farms through drip irrigation.