Has anyone tried Rain Water Harvesting in Farms?

[kskarnic]

@hegdegg

Some pics, i hope its visible.

good pictures. Mr. Padre, editor Adike patrike has taken extensive tour to gather various methods of strorage of rain water not only in Karnataka but in othr States also. he may be contacted to know further about such systems that are still in use.

[Murali]

Hi All,

This type of suranga wells as shown are good at places where you have laterite soil. (Jambu iteke type). Its nothing but hardened soil with semi rock qualities. but in other places this type may cave in. My guess as the soil will be loose. May be one needs to do the suranga and fill in with pipes with holes to collect only the water.

By the way, we have borewell drillers in vertical manner. anything available to do horizontal drilling. For cables I have seen a robot type machine from reliance hammering away holes horizontally. But not drilling. With thud thud noise.

Reason for this criminal idea, I have a canal running, with only 30 ft of horizontal drilling without disturbing the road or attracting authorities attention, I can have unlimited water supply. to a tank, where I can put a pump and use the water to glory.

Regards

Murali

Murali

Regards

Murali

[brijesh]

just dig a trench for 30 ft, lay a cement pipe, connect to the canal, seal all borders and then cover the trench up

simble

[Murali]

@brijesh

just dig a trench for 30 ft, lay a cement pipe, connect to the canal, seal all borders and then cover the trench up

simble

Hi Brijesh,

Simbly, I will be on free boarding and lodging at govt expenses . Buggrars in my place will very happy to see me as a passenger in a Jeep . These villagers are very very sadists towards outsiders that too guys from Bangalore. In their mind, its we who have jacked up the land prices.

Recently near my farm our friend tried to have a borewell drilled. The entire village guys were there to witness the action. There was so much joy on their faces ,when they came to know that there was no water even at 435 Ft. It became a talk of the village.

Point is to do on sly without disturbing the existing road, canal walls, etc,. with only a six inch pipe protruding in the walls of the canal.

on the other end I will have a 10’ depth tank.

Regards

Murali

[hegdegg]

This type of suranga wells as shown are good at places where you have laterite soil. (Jambu iteke type). Its nothing but hardened soil with semi rock qualities. but in other places this type may cave in.

You are so right you cant do it in all places, some places even requires rings to sustain.

The idea here is, you cannot dig deep when there is spring and water is abundant. Now, if you select a little higher place and start digging horizontally, its like digging in a new area, you can get some more spring too and this canal acts like large reservoir.

regards,
gg

[Murali]

Hi Hegde,

You are right, works only in malnad or where the land is uneven. The idea here is you are not allowing the water to percolate down, but tapping it midway.

Regards

Murali

[vinaykumr]

Here are some links…hope you had looked at them

Poor Man's Swale

Late20thCenturyFolkTale1

http://www.indiawaterportal.org/node/6217 : One could explore this portal further

Rural Water Harvesting

This too has some interesting ideas

[rameshwari]

Hello Experts,

I have almost bought a 3 acres farm land in Hyderabad. The soil is neither black nor red. Its a hard soil. As there is lack of water everywhere; I want to do rain water harvesting in that farm (Plan to do natural farming).

My plan is to create trenches (2 feet width, 5 feet deep and length of the farm land) in two places in between the land. The trench will be from East to West side (North to south is more length and north is up side and South is down side). My assumption is that in the rainy season, water will go inside the trench, ship and help to increase the ground water level.

If I go for pond, it takes too much space and that space is useless as water will be logging and I will not cultivate anything there. But in the trench, it will take just 2 feet space in surface.

I got this idea from KFP but in KFP they keep plastic sheet at one side of the trench perhaps, I do not want to do that as I feel if I keep the plastic sheet, the water will ship only one side.

Do you all think, it will be a good idea?

I am totally new to farming and just day dreaming about all these stuffs.

[padmanabhan_ganesan]

Dear rameshwari,
Please see my comments inline.
Regards
Padmanabhan Ganesan
9840807817

@rameshwari

Hello Experts,
I have almost bought a 3 acres farm land in Hyderabad. The soil is neither black nor red. Its a hard soil. As there is lack of water everywhere; I want to do rain water harvesting in that farm (Plan to do natural farming).

My plan is to create trenches (2 feet width, 5 feet deep and length of the farm land) in two places in between the land. The trench will be from East to West side (North to south is more length and north is up side and South is down side). My assumption is that in the rainy season, water will go inside the trench, ship and help to increase the ground water level.
<<Padmanabhan’s Comments>> Trenching is more valuable whenever the topography is sloppy. The standard trenching method is 2 feet width, 1.5 feet depth. The trenching should be done atleast 25 feet apart. Since you have mentioned North is higher and South is lower, the trenching is perfect as per your plan (East to West). The soil or mud from the trench should be placed on the south of the trench as this will enable the water to be retained more. Also, immedately after trenching, sow some deep rooted flower trees or greens to ensure that the soil is washed away during rainy seasons.<<Padmanabhan’s Comments>>

If I go for pond, it takes too much space and that space is useless as water will be logging and I will not cultivate anything there. But in the trench, it will take just 2 feet space in surface.
<<Padmanabhan’s Comments>> Go for 1/10th of your land for ponds. ie. .3 acres of land to be dedicated for pond. I am sure you have read what Chandra has mentioned about Pond’s usefulness and hence I am not repeating them.<<Padmanabhan’s Comments>>
I got this idea from KFP but in KFP they keep plastic sheet at one side of the trench perhaps, I do not want to do that as I feel if I keep the plastic sheet, the water will ship only one side.

Do you all think, it will be a good idea?

I am totally new to farming and just day dreaming about all these stuffs.

[dns1807]

Dear Rameshwari,
Please go through all views above in this thread.
Find a farm where dry land cultivation is done to understand how to grow crops only with rain water.

[kskarnic]

@rameshwari

Hello Experts,

I have almost bought a 3 acres farm land in Hyderabad. The soil is neither black nor red. Its a hard soil. As there is lack of water everywhere; I want to do rain water harvesting in that farm (Plan to do natural farming).

My plan is to create trenches (2 feet width, 5 feet deep and length of the farm land) in two places in between the land. The trench will be from East to West side (North to south is more length and north is up side and South is down side). My assumption is that in the rainy season, water will go inside the trench, ship and help to increase the ground water level.

If I go for pond, it takes too much space and that space is useless as water will be logging and I will not cultivate anything there. But in the trench, it will take just 2 feet space in surface.

I got this idea from KFP but in KFP they keep plastic sheet at one side of the trench perhaps, I do not want to do that as I feel if I keep the plastic sheet, the water will ship only one side.

Do you all think, it will be a good idea?

I am totally new to farming and just day dreaming about all these stuffs.

It would be wrong to suggest any measures unless the land situation is studied in detail. The best possible solution is to consult your nearest Agriculture Department Office and take them to your site. Let them study and suggest suitable measures for rain water harvesting.

[ramesh68]

Gents , I have just joined Farm nest. I am an organic farmer .

I am interested in knowing and implementing this RWH.

Where do we get Murram soil in bangalore

I was told that muraam is red gravel soil

[dns1807]

Hi Ramesh,
Can you come back with your organic farming activity along with photos of any crop, land etc?
Why you want such soil for your land? What is the problem to do RWH with present conditions of your land?

[nkjohri]

@vasudevan

There are few government schemes for RWH in the private lands. I too face similar problem of water scarcity during summer. In Tamilnadu, the govt helps in digging with its machinery. They dig 80 feet x 60 feet x 10 feet (depth) and give Rs 10,000 free to the farmer under this scheme. I have already applied and shortly this work will be taken up. Two of our open wells are at the lower level from the RWH pit. I hope similar scheme may be available in other states too.

Hi Vasudevan - Can you please share details around how to apply for the Tamil Nadu govt subsidy for water harvesting? What has been your experience so far - did the govt workers do a good job, was the money given in a timely manner, etc?

Good luck with your efforts!

[rameshlr]

Hi all,
Along with the farming, we are doing laterite stone cutting for building purpose. We made pond size of 50 meter x 25 meter x 14 feet depth in one part of the field and made to collect all the runoff water from different channels. The water is collected after the raining ( see the first photo), seep out within few days (see the second photo). We are faceing the same water scarity problem in summer even nearby well and borewell. The soil in our area is lateric soil.
We don’t want use plastic sheet for the lining purpose ,as the danger of leaking when stone or sharp material gets hit with it. We like to plaster with the cost effective method (without using cement). We heard about sodium silicate along with lateric soil act as good binder and act as waterproof agent. Please advise in this regards.

[kskarnic]

@rameshlr

Hi all,
Along with the farming, we are doing laterite stone cutting for building purpose. We made pond size of 50 meter x 25 meter x 14 feet depth in one part of the field and made to collect all the runoff water from different channels. The water is collected after the raining ( see the first photo), seep out within few days (see the second photo). We are faceing the same water scarity problem in summer even nearby well and borewell. The soil in our area is lateric soil.
We don’t want use plastic sheet for the lining purpose ,as the danger of leaking when stone or sharp material gets hit with it. We like to plaster with the cost effective method (without using cement). We heard about sodium silicate along with lateric soil act as good binder and act as waterproof agent. Please advise in this regards.

lateritic soil by nature is porous. Its water retention capacity is very poor. binding laterite soil with sodium silicate may serve the purpose temporarily. If you are realy interested in water conservation it is advisible to use cement to plaster the exposed area to prevent seepage.

[airfoil]

@rameshlr

Hi all,
Along with the farming, we are doing laterite stone cutting for building purpose. We made pond size of 50 meter x 25 meter x 14 feet depth in one part of the field and made to collect all the runoff water from different channels. The water is collected after the raining ( see the first photo), seep out within few days (see the second photo). We are faceing the same water scarity problem in summer even nearby well and borewell. The soil in our area is lateric soil.
We don’t want use plastic sheet for the lining purpose ,as the danger of leaking when stone or sharp material gets hit with it. We like to plaster with the cost effective method (without using cement). We heard about sodium silicate along with lateric soil act as good binder and act as waterproof agent. Please advise in this regards.

Dear Ramesh,

Where is your farm located? From the pictures, it looks like it is towards the Vikarabad/Zaheerabad areas, where my search for land is mostly concentrated, given my somewhat stubborn persistence for land in this area. You could provide me with some useful information, I shall PM you my number, please give me a call and help me. Thanks.

[Chandra]

Based on a claim from Mr. Vijay Kedia of KFP that the original image attached in an earlier post is not in public domain (which we cannot verify since the source sites have changed) and given that some of the older links are no more working, here are updated links and public documents on KFP. While these documents are in public domain, please be aware of the limitations of using a patented design and respect the rights of the patent holder. Thanks.

Go to ipindiaservices.gov.in/patentsea … index.aspx and search for 1345/MUM/2004 for complete details of the patent. This is the source for the attached documents.

Diagram: 1345-mum-2004-drawings.pdf
Description and full patent: 1345-mum-2004-form 2(granted)-(14-12-2004).pdf
1345-mum-2004-drawings.pdf (30.4 KB)
1345-mum-2004-form 2(granted)-(14-12-2004).pdf (283 KB)

[AK1311]

Hello Chandra,

I had written to Mr. Kedia that I was okay with paying for the implentation as it is an IP. I just wish that the charges were more affordable to a farmer! I have decided to implement simple CCTs in my plot whenever I do and not go for this KFP.

The site you provided for ipindiaservices.gov.in isn’t working now, I’ll ensure that I check what exactly is patented and avoid it. I hope CCTs haven’t been ‘patented’.

[Chandra]

Hi AK1311,

I have corrected the link, this works. The attachments also should give you the needed details - I believe a patent covers the ‘exact’ design proposed, but someone with more legal knowledge can comment.

I believe (fortunately) CCTs/swales and filling them with porous material is a tried and tested permaculture method that is not ‘patented’. Not convinced how effective the plastic lining is.

I had a built a swale last year and I plan to do some more this year.