Dear Readers,

Greetings !!!

• It gives us great pleasure to launch "Water Ways” , a newsletter on behalf of the DHAN Foundation and its water-themed DHAN Vayalagam Tank Foundation.
• The DEGREE of ESG in DTVF, a lead piece that outlined the principles and steps that made up the community-led conservation of water commons overall, is featured in this edition. The fourth edition of Tamil Nadu Water Week 2024 has once again witnessed collective celebration on the world water day theme `Water for Peace’. The updates from the basins feature the collaborative endeavours with the partners at multiple levels, more importantly the dissemination workshop at Bihar with Government and ITC limited.
• The Vayalagam Movement’s celebrations have demonstrated its unwavering fraternity beyond boundaries. A treasure trove of one hundred common trees in and around Madurai can be found in the book referenced in the release column. We are grateful to IndusInd bank for collaborating with us to launch our water works in Kerala. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the District Collector of Sivagangai and HCL Foundation for their recognition of our contributions.
• Moreover, we are pleased to share our journey with water and environment over the last quarter, and we're on the verge of transitioning to a monthly edition soon.
• We look forward to your continued cooperation and feedback
Editor

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The community in last mile are the true custodians of water who have inherited wisdom of how to preserve it. While many discuss on water supply intervention, DHAN Vayalagam Tank Foundation (DVTF) has demonstrated water demand management in rural areas. Addressing the growing water demand requires sound knowledge on traditional practices and adaptive skills. Several interventions made by the organization include shift from high to low water requirement crop, improved cropping practices leading to reduced water requirement, on-field water savings measures leading to improved moisture level in the soils etc. The demand driven approach witnesses water commons restoration through community driven approaches across diverse contexts at national level.

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. Read More

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The traditional water commons symbolize the cultural landscapes of the context and to be valued as the living heritage. Rejuvenating the traditional practices like Kudimaramathu and Neerkatti system instills conservation traits within the cultural practices. Preserving, restoring and scaling-up of traditional practices carries the native wisdom for generations. The April 18 is celebrated as World Heritage Day and the theme of the year is `Discover and Experience Diversity’.

The unique Hexagonal temple tank of Tirumayam, is situated on the ancient trade route, and now exists 20km from Pudukkottai, on Trichy to Karaikudi road. This unique hexagonal-shaped temple tank was added to the east of Sathyagiri Perumal Temple, a rock-cut temple belonging to the Eighth century A.D. Now, it exists in the Tirumayam fort complex developed by Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathi, the Raja of Ramnad, during 1693-1708. Later the fort was handed over to his brother-in-law Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman. The fortress is of great historical significance and was an important stronghold of rebel chieftains in the Polygar Wars. Oomathurai, the brother of Panchalankurichi chieftain Kattabomman, who revolted against the British was captured in this fort. The fort is locally known as Oomayan Kottai. This temple tank is popularly called ‘Sathyagiri Theertham’. The temple tank is used by the locals for bathing purposes. Rain is the main source of water and the surplus water of the tank drains into the nearby agriculture field. The tank never dries up. This monument comes under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India, Trichy Circle.

Let us discover the Water Commons which reminds us the heritage and preserve them for generations!

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The Tamil Nadu Water Week 2024 went on with spectacular celebrations on World Water Day 2024. Sincere gratitude to all our partners and community network who made the deliberations highly focused. A wide range of declarations have emerged seeking dynamic collaborative endeavors in materializing the theme of the year `Water for Peace’. In 2013, the Tamil Nadu Water Week was initiated with the goal of discussing the state of water resources in Tamil Nadu and creating a framework for managing water demand sustainably. The themes of the previous editions were Water and food security (2013), Water management for sustainable development (2014), Accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis (2023).

Click here for Proceedings of the Workshops, Seminars and Conventions

Click here for the Declarations

Click here for Photo Gallery

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DHAN Foundation is working in Bihar for the past 15 years and received award from Bihar Innovation Forum in the year 2014 for renovating Ahar and Pyne system in Gaya District. From October 2015 to March 2021, DHAN Foundation has renovated 243 Ahar and Pyne systems in Munger belongs to Baduva basin with support of ITC Limited, Munger and the interventions had social, economical and environmental impact on 8260 households.

In 2021, an agreement was signed between District Rural Development Agency, ITC Limited, Munger and DHAN Foundation under the banner of Public Private Civil Society Partnership. The agreement was primarily aimed at enabling by building the capacity of local communities, Panchayat representatives and government officials, developing water resource development plan for 73 panchayats, employ scientific approach in conservation works and facilitate the implementation through MGNREGs. Read More

Events and Investments

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It was on 7th March 2002, amid a large gathering of Vayalagam families, the Vayalagam Movement was launched. With 423918 families from six Indian states as Vayalagam members, the Vayalagam Movement is continuing its journey to make its mission of sustainability and solidarity more pervasive. March 2024 was declared as Vayalagam Movement Month, and a wide range of events were held on different scales.

Celebrations at Nagaland

More from the field

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DHAN Foundation joined hands with IndusInd Bank and launched its water conservation works in Kerala. The project CONSERVE was launched in Kattapana and Kilimanoor Blocks of Kerala.

DVTF is working towards building environment literacy among communities especially, youth and adolescents by conducting tree walks and Thinaiyodi. The book 'Maram Arivom' has been brought as part of the green literacy series to identify 100 common trees in and around Madurai.

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The family made it possible

Munivenkatappa is one of the farmers who is a member of the Agriculture Finance Group (AFG) named Sri Venkateshwara Vayalagam SwaSahaya Sangha, promoted by DVTF in Belaganahalli village, Kolar taluk, Karnataka. Munivenkatappa, is a small farmer, leading a large family of eleven members. Though three of their family members are undergoing education, the entire family puts their blood and sweat on their farms cultivating seven different crops across the year. This was not the case before 20 years. The family was cultivating ragi as monocrop, struggling to survive with their 5 acres of rainfed land and two milch animals. Read More

Rejuvenating urban wetlands

One of the twenty-two ooranis that were most recently added to Madurai Corporation's list of ooranis is ThumbaiChediMeduOorani. The DVTF, Madurai District Administration, and HCL Foundation worked together to digitise all of the district's water commons in accordance with Cadastral Maps, leading to this addition. The subsurface water flow was stored in the ooranis, which are traditional commons for drinking water. The British authorities' installation of French drains, which cleaned urban sewage, converted paddy fields into fodder farms throughout the urbanisation process. The surrounding communities ignored the non-potable oorani water for over eight decades due to the treated sewage seep. Read More

Back to prosperity

Around 250 families in A.Thottiyankulam, Kariyapatti Block, Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu, depend on the PeriyaKanmoi (Irrigation Tank) to irrigate their 110 acres of paddy field. The irrigation tank's sole source is the supply channel that passes through the 50 acres of rain-fed field. A severe drought that occurred between 2006 and 2009 forced small and marginal farmers to sell their rainfed lands to a non-native private individual. The person who purchased the land progressively encroached and reduced the 15 m wide supply channel to 6 m. In 2018 Read More

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Award for outstanding achievement from the District Collector, Sivagangai District, Tamil Nadu

Award for the Best Poster on the theme `Urban Sacred Groves’ from HCL Foundation

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