The tank ecosystem is unique in its features and landscape. Moreover, its multifaceted dimensions differ from context to context. Context specific budgeting and technology integration measures are obviously needed for the tank restoration in a wider way. Through the Vayalagam, the Water Users Institutions, over these years, DVTF has facilitated rehabilitation of around 5000 tanks & Ponds and took up soil and water conservation measures nearly in 100 watersheds, resulting in enhanced water availability relevant to the context. In addition to restoring the physical structures of the irrigation tanks to their originally designed standard, DVTF has facilitated proper maintenance of the tanks, efficient water management and improved cropping practices to ensure sustainable crop production. In all these rehabilitation works, the farmers have shared one fourth of the cost of rehabilitation by contributing either cash or labour. Rehabilitation of irrigation tanks to their original storage capacity has increased availability of water for more area for cropping. The restoration works are designed in such a way to saturate the cascade, sub basin and basin with appropriate interventions.

DVTF believes in ‘Enabling Approach’ and ‘Institution Building Approach’ which lays emphasis on self-help, mutuality, community ownership and control over resources and benefits, thereby the interventions like water resources development are just taken as means and not the ends. The ultimate goal is to build People Institutions using these inputs as vehicles of change and enabling them to sustain the efforts and results for long time, even beyond generations. These Peoples’ Organizations provide platform for nurturing innovations at the grassroots, scale-down technologies and contextualizing those technologies for addressing the issues of poverty. Inclusion of poor and marginal farming families gets high priority in membership.

The holistic development approach of DVTF addresses the multiple requirements of the poor families towards a comprehensive growth pattern. The range of initiatives are channelized to each family including insurance, health, livelihoods, education, marketing services, etc. These multiple services equips them become resilient. For example, While the tanks serve irrigation water needs of the farmers in the entire command area, creation of farm ponds supplement the irrigation needs of each farm, creating space for the farmers to go in for diversified cropping. These ponds act as ‘shock absorber’ or as a toll to combat climate change. DVTF facilitates building farm ponds to store water ranging from 500 to 1000 cubic meters depending on the farm size. Besides irrigation, the farm ponds are used in multiple ways such as fodder production for livestock, raise vegetable crop on its bunds and for fish rearing. So far, DVTF has enabled the small and marginal farmers to establish over 10000 farm ponds.

Water unites community and thereby fosters equity. Impartial and fair allocation of resources across member collective ensures equity in grassroots. The traditional practices which symbolizes equity are carefully preserved and continued. For example, the neerkatti is a noble practice preserved by our ancestors which ensures water for everyone on the basis of equity. The campaigns like `Member moved out of poverty’ showcases the incredible investments of people institutions in enabling the poor families to come out of poverty.

DHAN Foundation initiated an action research project in 1992 for regeneration of farmers’ management in the tank irrigation system. Later it took a shape of a scalable ‘Vayalagam Tank-fed Agriculture Development Program’, which has expanded its approach of working on isolated tanks to tank-based watersheds, reviving chains of tanks in minor river basins to multiply the impact of the renovation and restoration works. In an effort to scale-up the conservation programmes, DHAN Foundation promoted DHAN Vayalagam (Tank) Foundation in 2006. The Federations which are promoted at grassroots are emerging as Federation Collective by integration with diverse set of specialized institutions. All these pathways of graduation witness the evolutionary approach in setting dynamic systems to foster advancement in an organic way.