Koderma district won the National Water Award 2018 organized by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation in two categories, ground water recharge and rejuvenation/creation of water bodies, in Eastern India Zone.
A number of steps were taken by the district administration which led to the district winning these awards
including a project named Sanrakshan, an innovative programme to preserve, protect and promote the environment. Also, a number of schemes of water conservation have been running in the district which included formation of trench- cum- bund, Bio fencing, soak pits, Dobhas (Small sized ponds), land leveling and much more, which lead to the district bagging two awards.
Deputy Commissioner of Koderma, Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh said, “Trench- cum- Bund is a 3 feet deep trench dug on the side of a farmland along with the construction of an earth bund. The 30 centimetre space between trench and bund, called berm, supports vegetation.”
Singh informed that the prime use of the berm is to check the velocity of runoff water and is useful to conserve moisture content of the soil and to recharge ground water.
Explaining bio fencing Singh said, “These are lines of trees or shrubs planted on the farm or field boundaries and is more durable in comparison to boundaries made of bricks, sand and cement. It is economical and environment friendly as well.”
Bio-fencing has been done around government buildings in the district like anganwadi centres, schools, primary health centres and others which did not have boundary walls. Bio fencing has been started in all six development blocks of the district.
Another important step taken by the district administration was land leveling. “Koderma had many patches of undulating land in almost every panchayat which were of no use. Land leveling was undertaken on these patches to make play ground.”
The gradient of slope of the play ground has been made in a way that rainwater goes to the trench made on the sides of the play ground.
“Water accumulated in the trench seeps into ground and recharges ground water,” DC said.
The National Water Award was launched in 2007 with an objective to encourage all stakeholder including NGOs, Gram Panchayats, Urban Local Bodies, Water User Associations, Institutions, Corporate, Sector, Individuals and others for adopting innovation practices of ground water augmentation by rain water harvesting and artificial recharge.