Local responses to too much and too little water in the greater Himalayan region
Structural responses level is not so high, but new houses made of bricks and
cement, are constructed at higher plinth levels. In these
Without much external support, communities in north
villages, remittances are used mainly to build brick and
Bihar have developed several autonomous responses to
cement houses with flat roofs that can serve as points of
deal with water stresses.
refuge during big floods.
Bamboo bore wells – In the early 1970s, bamboo bore
wells were introduced in north Bihar. Their cost is low Factors Influencing Local Adaptation
using locally available bamboo materials and expertise.
Absence of a rehabilitation and resettlement policy
It costs a farmer about IRs 7,000-8,000 to bore a
bamboo tubewell about 25 metres deep – the cost of a
The study sites experience a loss of access to their
regular tube boring is at least 5-6 times more. Bamboo
productive assets, especially agricultural land, when
bore wells last for about 10 years and can easily be
floods breach an embankment or a river changes
used to irrigate about one acre of land. The increased
course and during prolonged periods of waterlogging.
use of bamboo tube wells has increased the intensity of
Floodwaters breaching an embankment also deposit
land use by small and marginal farmers and contributed
sand on fertile agricultural land.
to addressing the wide income disparity in the villages.
The government does not have a policy to encourage
Movable pump sets for hire – Movable pumping sets
reclamation of land damaged by sand deposits
can easily be rented at Rs 60/hr (of pumping) in order
and waterlogging. It considers all land outside the
to obtain sufficient water. The sets are mounted on small
embankments to be protected. In reality, these lands
bamboo carts that are moved from field to field to service
have lost their productive capacity temporarily or even
bore wells and fields. The pump owner provides diesel
permanently, due to the poor drainage caused by these
or kerosene for the pump and plastic pipes to transport
conventional flood control structures. Various drainage
water. Those who do not own bore wells pay another Rs
schemes have failed to improve the situation. The state
5-10 for pumping water from a private bore well.
has not compensated Bihar residents for this loss in land
productive assets.
Food and fuel storage systems – Households make
cylinder-shaped silos (storage towers) of mud, cow
Increase in green revolution technology and
dung, and bamboo strips that are elevated several
packages
inches above ground to store food (mainly maize and
rice) and fuelwood (cow dung cakes, maize stubs, dried Nevertheless, two factors have revived agricultural
manajera plants, bamboo roots, and so on). They make growth – access to agricultural credit and penetration
the cow dung cakes round and bigger for easier storage of the market by private seed and fertiliser marketing
and transport in times of emergency. They also make companies. Through aggressive marketing, new and
long cow-dung cakes of dung and mustard stalk as a improved hybrid seeds have been made available
wood replacement. in nearby towns. The assistance of some NGOs has
popularised new methods of cultivation, such as rice
Flood-adapted housing – Most households in the project intensification or SRI. The increases in remittances have
areas used local materials to construct their houses. promoted investments in agriculture.
Bamboo frames hold bamboo screens plastered with
mud and cow-dung. The roof is thatched with locally
Portable water pump used for irrigation in some areas of Bihar, India.
available dried grass or crop residues. Households in
all the villages build houses on a plinth. Villagers in
Dhamara and Sarsauwa build houses on even higher
plinths over the debris of old homes to be above the
maximum flood level. Dhamara residents are confident
that the river will have to flow over the embankments
before flooding their homes.
Most households, especially those that can afford it,
construct a tube well as part of the raised homestead. In
villages suffering from perpetual waterlogging, the plinth
39
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