Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF FARM POND FOR WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT

Nilam Vijay Surve, P.K. Shrivastava and Narendra Singh

Abstract

With the advent of Navsari Agricultural University (NAU) in May, 2004, watershed management activities were taken up to deal with water scarcity and deteriorating water quality of University farms. There exist four watersheds in the University campus with well laid out network of drains to remove excess water during monsoon. Water conservation activities were carried out by constructing ponds, percolation pits at appropriate locations so as to meet irrigation needs, aquaculture, improve water quality, check sea water ingress and aesthetic beauty of farm. The total expenses incurred for development of University watersheds was around Rs 46.5 lakh. Uncultivable waste lands in the Watershed were used either for water conservation or growing fodder grasses, Jatropa, forest species as per the suitability of land and available water. In general, it is observed that for every 1 ha pond area, having a depth of 2.5 m, below ground level, it irrigates around 5 to 8 ha area annually. Based on the field observations regarding area irrigated from pond, PVB, NPW and B:C ratio was worked out, the results shows that the water bodies giving tangible benefits that score more than 10 : 1 in terms of B:C ratio, thus proving the efficacy of water bodies. The highest returns are from PG hostel pond, as its water is used even during summer season.