Conjunctive use of Surface and Groundwater in Left Bank Canal Command Area of Nagarjunasagar Project – A Case Study from Khammam District, Telangana State Kumar D. Ramesh1, Madhnure Pandith1 1Ground Water Department, Government of Telangana, Hyderabad Online Published on 01 November, 2023. Abstract In order to optimise the utilization of surface water and groundwater resources for maximum agriculture production in canal command areas, pilot studies were taken up at 15 major under Sripuram major of Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) under Water Sector Improvement Project (WSIP) funded by World Bank. The total command area of the project is 7694 Ha, but due to limited availability of surface water only 4290 ha is irrigated covering 24 villages from Enkuru, Thallada, Wyra and Kalluru mandals of Khammam district. During the implementation period of project (2015 and 2016) no surface water was released and the entire irrigation was based on groundwater. In the project both supply side and demand side interventions are implemented along with peoples participation. As part of the activity technical group was formed, base line surveys were carried out along with social assessment, IEC, infrastructure creations, preparation and implementation of conjunctive action plan, policy framework and exit plan or post project strategies. From the studies it is observed that nearly 67% of population is from weaker sections and 60 % is illiterate with 5.4% ground water usage. The results also reveal 55% farmers are aware of importance of management of water resources but only 34% are adopting it. As part of IEC activities, ~2800 farmers were exposed under different types of activities and 18 progressive farmers were taken to exposure visit to WAGHAD Project in Nashik district of Maharashtra state. As conjunctive measures, ~400 sites were identified for construction of bore wells and farmers came forward to drill bore wells by themselves and thus there was an increase in BW by 300%. Total 16 ARS structures were taken up as water conservation measures. The interventions resulted into decrease in paddy crops by 300 % and by ID crops by 1400%, it also resulted in creating awareness among farmers to go for conjunctive use of groundwater during the no release of surface water, it also resulted institutional aspects from Govt managed to farmers managed, from release from tail end to head reaches and ensured equitable distribution. The results from the pilot can be upscaled to similar areas. Top Keywords Awareness, Conjunctive use, Equitable distribution, Farmers, Pilot studies. Top |