Smallholders and sustainable wells A Retrospect: Participatory Groundwater Management in Andhra Pradesh (India) Smallholders and sustainable wells A Retrospect: Participatory Groundwater Management in Andhra Pradesh (India) Samala Venkata Govardhan Das Jacob Burke FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2013 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. 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Smallholders and sustainable wells iii Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................... v List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... vi List of Plates .................................................................................................................................... vi List of Boxes ................................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... viii Glossary ........................................................................................................................................... xi Acronyms and abbreviations ........................................................................................................ xv Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... xx 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 2. The Participatory Groundwater Management (PGM) Package ..............................................6 2.1 Group-managed borewell irrigation systems .....................................................................6 2.2 Delineation of the hydrological unit (HU) .........................................................................9 2.3 Participatory hydrological monitoring (PHM) ..................................................................11 2.4 Farmer data management .................................................................................................20 2.5 Groundwater balance estimation and crop–water budgeting (CWB) ............................28 2.6 Artificial groundwater recharge (AGR) ............................................................................37 2.7 Community capacity building ...........................................................................................40 2.8 Community based institutions (CBI) ..................................................................................49 3. The Path ....................................................................................................................................54 3.1 Wells for smallholders (1995–2002) ..................................................................................54 3.2 The Afterthought (1999) ...................................................................................................56 3.3 Participatory hydrological monitoring (PHM), the Pilot (1999–2003) ............................56 3.4 APWELL Final Evaluation (April–June 2003) .....................................................................69 3.5 APFAMGS–Royal Netherlands Embassy Phase (Jul 2003–Apr 2004) ................................70 3.6 The transition to APFAMGS, the FAO NEX6 Project (Aug 2004 – Aug 2009) .................72 3.7 Beyond APFAMGS ..............................................................................................................78 4. The Responses ..........................................................................................................................80 4.1 Aquifer system response ....................................................................................................80 4.2 People’s response ...............................................................................................................88 4.3 Response from the external environment ........................................................................95 iv Smallholders and sustainable wells 5. Specific Responses .................................................................................................................103 5.1 Chandrasagarvagu: ‘Safe’ category ................................................................................103 5.2 Thundlavagu: ‘Semi-critical’ category .............................................................................110 5.3 Bhavanasi: ‘Critical’ category ..........................................................................................117 5.4 Mandavagu: ‘Over-exploited’ category ..........................................................................123 5.5 Summary of the analysis ..................................................................................................130 6. Sustainability, Relevance and Upscaling ..............................................................................134 6.1 Sustainability ....................................................................................................................134 6.2 Relevance .........................................................................................................................136 6.3 Upscaling ..........................................................................................................................150 6.4 Myth and reality ...............................................................................................................154 References .....................................................................................................................................158 Annexes 1 List of Hydrological Unit Networks (HUNs) currently active in Andhra Pradesh ...........165 2 Summary of the results obtained from HU level analysis of water level behaviour .....167 3 Categorization of HUs based on stage of development .................................................169 4 Post facto farmer survey questionnaire ...........................................................................171 5 Emerging model of Participatory Groundwater Management ......................................173 Smallholders and sustainable wells v List of Figures 2.1 Upper Gundlakamma sub-basin and its 25 hydrological units, Prakasam district (AP) ..........................................................................................................12 3.1 Map of Gundlakamma basin ...............................................................................................60 4.1 Location of HUs showing different water level trends for 2005–2011 .............................81 4.2 Pie-chart showing categories of HUs in the PGM area ......................................................82 4.3 Graph showing the average withdrawal in the assessment years with respect to base year .................................................................85 4.4 Location of HUs showing different categories of ‘stage of groundwater development’ ............................................................................87 4.5 Pie-chart showing breakdown by main source of income in PGM area ...........................88 4.6 Number of functional borewells in PGM area 2006–2011 ................................................89 4.7 Hectares irrigated from borewells, in PGM area 2006–2011 .............................................90 4.8 Hectares under major crops in rabi season in the PGM area 2006–2010 .........................91 4.9 Hectares under efficient irrigation methods 2006–2010 ...................................................92 4.10 Hectares under sprinkler systems rabi season in the PGM area 2006–2010 .....................92 4.11 Hectares under drip systems rabi season in the PGM area 2006–2010 .............................93 5.1