EFLGP Support to Maintain Multipurpose pond at the Foothill of Chure

Background

A local community group at Mahadevstan 4 of Parwanipur Village Development Committee (VDC) in Sarlahi District Development Committee (DDC) constructed a multipurpose pond with an area of about one hectare 8-10 years back. The community group established the pond for storing water during summer season to wallow and drink for cattle.  

Every day the pond serves drink and wallowing for over 1,000 and 400 cattle respectively. Water inlet, especially for rainy seasons has been built through maintaining water canals from upwards of the pond. The local communities has prohibited use of poison as the pond is being utilized for fish farming, a sustainable source of income to them. The pond has religious and aesthetic value too. During Thulo Ekadashi thousands of people from adjoining VDCs thronged into the area for celebrating the festival, said Ranajana Guragain, a Social Mobiliser in Parwanipur VDC.

To maintain and rehabilitate the pond a management committee has been formed. To store more water during dry season, the management committee put demand to DDC through VDC for financial support last year. Accordingly the DDC through EFLG Program fulfilled their demand last year. With the support, they have constructed a supporting wall towards the south so that the overflow can be controlled as well as water leakage can be minimized. Moreover, to stabilize soil, they have planted tree species all along the wall. Likewise, they excavated the pond and increased the volume a few weeks back. The support of the EFLGP helped to enhance overall ecological services of the pond, said Lokendra Subba, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of EFLGP in Sarlahi DDC.

This year the community has contracted the pond for fish farming with Rs. 1,00,000 as against the only Rs.50,000 last year said, Chairperson of the Pond Management Committee Mr. Lal Bahadur Basnet. Moreover, they have witnessed increased volume water during May-June of this year as against the same months last year. Furthermore, as inlet and outlet are maintained properly, there is no possibility of pond outburst and inundation in downward villages. While asking sustainability of the work, local communities have established the pond on their own initiative and the money generated from the fish is being utilized to maintain the pond, said Parwanipur VDC Secretary Mr. Krishna Acharya.

However, due to sandy soil at the bottom of the pond, there is a possibility of water percolation in the future that may not fulfil their demand of sustaining increased volume of water during summer season in the years to come. Furthermore, there is a possibility of siltation from inlet as there is no mechanism to control the likelihood of siltation in the pond. Therefore, it is suggested to maintain some siltation tanks above the ponds and plaster the bed with clay soil if available. Once these activities take into consideration, then it can be developed as a water harvesting pond at the bottom of Chure that can be replicated.

Conclusion:

Maintaining and rehabilitating community led initiatives in conserving ponds at the foothill of Chure can serve improving livelihood of local people in one hand, and on the other contributes to address climate change adaptation by serving as water reservoir during dry season.