When borewells across Hubli ran dry, farmers looked to the skies and then to Sikandar Meeranayak. Meet the CEO of SKRDP, N. Karnataka’s waterman, who has brought water to borewells running dry for the last 18 years!
Dbbasti is father to four daughters and one son and owns 30 acres of land in the village of Kamplikoppa. In 1998, he dug his first bore well looking for water to irrigate his fields but was unsuccessful and reached no water. 21 attempts later and drilling as far down as 500 feet, Dbbasti was able to only reach water in two of those instances. For ten years, the water flowed from his two wells will no problem. Then, in 2007, the rate of the flow gradually began to decrease to less than 1 inch. At the low point, it took Dbbasti eight days to water just two acres of land. He found it difficult to irrigate even three acres. The water would only flow for half an hour before stopping for ten minutes and then continuing the cycle again. By 2010, he thought one of the wells had run dry and became distressed at the thought of not being able to water his crops and having to dig yet another well.
In arid North Karnataka, which is predominantly an agricultural economy, farmers frequently face water interruption due to borewells running dry.
Ddbasti is not alone. In arid North Karnataka that receives 731 million litres of rainfall every year, farmers dig deeper and deeper to find water, and are distraught when their borewells run mostly dry. And that is where Sikandar M. Meeranayak comes in with his “borewell recharge.”
Helping borewells catch the rain
For Sikandar M. Meeranayak, water is not just H2O. It’s a vow he has to fulfil.
Brought up in the drought-prone village of Kotumachagi in the Gadag district of Karnataka, Sikandar learnt the value of every drop the hard way.
His promise of water for all is being fulfilled by the Hubli-based Sankalpa Rural Development Society, of which he is the founder and chief executive officer.
The society provides consultancy to farmers in borewell recharge through rainwater harvesting technique.
A graduate in social work, Sikandar took forward his passion for water by working at different NGOs promoting sustainable practices for water conservation such as rainwater harvesting.
SKRDP helps farmers store rainwater through recharging their borewells. Over a 110 wells have gotten water this way.
Scaling up recharge operations at SKRDP
In 2008, the entrepreneurial bug bit Sikandar and he secured fellowship at the Deshpande Foundation. The first three months at the foundation were tough. “I didn’t know English. I started picking the language up with the help of others in the foundation. The faculty even imposed a fine on me if I spoke in Kannada there,” he laughs.
As a fellow at the foundation, Sikandar visited NGOs, learnt to use computers, build and maintain websites, and write blogs. “It was at the foundation that I first touched a laptop,” he recalls.
After completing his fellowship, Sikandar set up the Sankalpa Rural Development Society on January 5, 2009. The society’s objective was to promote the recharging of the underground water table through borewells.
“I started off with the Jala Nirmal Project of the Jala Mandali, installing a system to harvest rainwater falling on the roofs of schools. Then, I worked on a project on lakes. This is how I started generating income,” Sikandar says.
A lot of help came from the Deshpande Foundation, which provided logistics-related support such as office space and computers. The foundation extended another very important assistance to Sikandar – networking and linkages.
To scale up the operations of the Sankalpa Rural Development Society, the Deshpande Foundation helped Sikandar come up with a subsidy model, under which a farmer setting up the borewell recharge system pays 50% of the cost and the foundation the remaining 50%. “Initially, three borewells were recharged using this model in the Dharwad district. The project was successful and word spread, increasing demand,” Sikandar says.
A recharge pond. The cost of recharging every borewell is Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 and the Deshpande Foundation gives a subsidy to farmers who carry it out.
Borewell Recharge
In this technique, a 10x10x10 feet pit is dug around the casing pipe of the tube well. Tiny slits are made into the casing pipe, which is then wrapped in nylon mesh. Cement rings are laid one upon another around the pipe, creating a circular structure at the centre of the pit. The rest of the pit is packed with natural filtration material such as stones and sand.
Next to this pit – called the primary percolation pit – a large pond is dug. During the rains, rainwater from the plot is directed to this catchment pond via trenches or pipes. The water then enters the primary percolation pit and, after being filtered by the stones and sand, seeps in through the gaps between the cement rings. After a final round of filtration by the mesh, the water enters the casing pipes through the tiny slits and goes underground to replenish the water tables and aquifers.
SKRDP’s borewell recharge method.
This technique was among the top five rural innovations selected by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
“Deshpande Foundation and NABARD are thinking about how to scale up this project. NABARD is insisting on mobilising farmers instead of giving them funding because ours is an entrepreneurial model,” says Meeranayak.
The cost of recharging each borewell through rainwater harvesting technique is between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000.
Sikandar charges the farmers Rs 1,000 for travelling to the location, and 25% of the total cost of implementation of the project is consultation fees.
So far, Meeranayak has helped recharge around 110 borewells, working not only in Karnataka but also in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. Like former president APJ Abdul Kalam, Sikandar too has a Vision 2020 for India. “No water scarcity anywhere in the country,” he sums up.
The Alternative was a media partner of the Development Dialogues conference at Hubli, 2013.
Catch Every Drop is a campaign on sustainable water conservation by The Alternative, sponsored by Arghyam, with partners India Water Portal and Biome Environmental Solutions.