DRINKING WATER PONDS IN SPATE IRRIGATION SYSTEMS

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DRINKING WATER PONDS IN SPATE IRRIGATION SYSTEMS
6.4
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Drinking water in spate irrigated areas main
issues

• Low annual rainfall (250-300mm)
• Deep water table / brackish groundwater
• Public tubewells out of order
• Water from ponds for humans and livestock
• Polluted
• Limited duration of storage
• Outmigration

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IMPORTANCE OF DRINKING WATER PONDS LOCAL HINDU
SAINT STILL REVERRED BECAUSE OF THE POND HE MADE
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Traditional system shallow ponds, water being
use by humans and livestock alike
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IMPROVED DRINKING WATER PONDS

• Have reliable water storage for long period
• Have relatively clean water
• Have ponds well maintained

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IMPROVED DRINKING WATER PONDS

• Reliability
• Close to flood inlet
• Make ponds deep enough (4-7 meters) to reduce
  evaporation
• Trees on banks of ponds to further reduce
  evaporation
• Where available clay lining
• Plastic lining adequately anchored and covered
  with at least 30 cm of soils to avoid punching

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CONSTRUCTING DRINKING WATER PONDS

• Cleanliness/ water quality
• Fencing to avoid animal tresspassing
• Use slow sand filter to pump water from reservoir
• Cascade system water overflowing from other
  (livestock) pond after sediment settled in it
• Use of sediment trapping vegetation in the
  overflow structure
• Later, sometimes wells near ponds fed by leakage

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CONSTRUCTING DRINKING WATER PONDS

• Ease of maintenance
• Gentle slope
• Sediment trap (can be part of livestock pond)
• No entry of livestock

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Drinking Water Ponds

• Management is important
• Prioritization of water sources
• First from blocked canal
• Shallow ponds
• Improved ponds (last resort)
• Cleaning out the silt
• Protecting the ponds from animals tresspassing
• Collecting funds for caretaker and maintenance

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Hand Pump Sand Filter
Filter of graded layers of sand
Appropriate for potable water
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IMPACTS

• Availability of potable water for humans
• And livestock
• Reduced out migration
• Decreased 40 enteric disorder cases
• Provide sediment free water

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In spite of importance experience from
Balochistan in 1990s (BRSP) is that maintenance
of ponds is main challenge

• Only 25 of ponds was well maintained. Those that
  were well-maintained were
• Close to primary schools or mosks
• Were used by visiting nomads as well, who paid
  for the use of the ponds for their livestock

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Maintenance of Community Ponds
Fencing against tresspassing animals
Collecting funds for guarding and cleaning
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Prepared by Karim Nawaz, Noman Latif and Zahir
Ikram