The Pat System To Save Water

[Shettin]

The Pat system was developed in the Bhitada village in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. This system was devised taking into consideration the peculiarities of the terrain to divert water from swift flowing hill streams into irrigation channels called pats. The diversion bunds are made by piling up stones across the stream and then lining them with teak leaves and mud to make them leakproof. The small nullahs that join the stream off and on are negotiated by the pat channel as are the sheer cliffs before reaching the fields. During the monsoons these sections get washed away. To span the intervening nullahs, stone aqueducts are built. The fields are irrigated by the villagers by taking turns. As the channel requires constant maintenance the family irrigating the fields on a particular day has to take care of the pat on that particular day. To get the pat flowing it takes about two weeks and the winter crop is sown in early November.

 

In the Mewar region of the Thar district, Naada or Bandha are found. They are stone check dams constructed across a stream or gully to capture monsoon run off on a stretch of land. As it is submerged in water, silt is deposited on it due to which the land becomes fertile and the soil retains substantial amounts of water.

 

In different areas different kinds of rain water harvesting systems are used, depending on the terrain. The ultimate motive is to conserve maximum water. Kerala is blessed with heavy rainfall. The [sPAMLINK REMOVED] are making an attempt to save water by using various rain water harvesting systems.

Edited March 29, 2012 by CraigD
Spamlink removed

[Guest MacPhee]

The Pat system was developed in the Bhitada village in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. This system was devised taking into consideration the peculiarities of the terrain to divert water from swift flowing hill streams into irrigation channels called pats. The diversion bunds are made by piling up stones across the stream and then lining them with teak leaves and mud to make them leakproof. The small nullahs that join the stream off and on are negotiated by the pat channel as are the sheer cliffs before reaching the fields. During the monsoons these sections get washed away. To span the intervening nullahs, stone aqueducts are built. The fields are irrigated by the villagers by taking turns. As the channel requires constant maintenance the family irrigating the fields on a particular day has to take care of the pat on that particular day. To get the pat flowing it takes about two weeks and the winter crop is sown in early November.

 

In the Mewar region of the Thar district, Naada or Bandha are found. They are stone check dams constructed across a stream or gully to capture monsoon run off on a stretch of land. As it is submerged in water, silt is deposited on it due to which the land becomes fertile and the soil retains substantial amounts of water.

 

In different areas different kinds of rain water harvesting systems are used, depending on the terrain. The ultimate motive is to conserve maximum water. Kerala is blessed with heavy rainfall. The [sPAMLINK REMOVED] are making an attempt to save water by using various rain water harvesting systems.

 

This is very interesting. But it does sound like a description of how people got fire in primitive times by rubbing sticks together.

 

Couldn't the villagers devise a more modern technique to get a reliable water supply. Such as by digging a reservoir. After all, the water itself doesn't seem to be in short supply. Your post mentions "swift flowing hill streams", "during the monsoons...sections get washed away", "land...submerged in water", "blessed with heavy rainfall" and so on.

 

So there seems to be plenty of actual water available. It only needs to be collected and stored efficiently. This could be done in a reservoir. Why don't the villagers construct one?

[SaxonViolence]

"The fields are irrigated by the villagers by taking turns. As the channel requires constant maintenance the family irrigating the fields on a particular day has to take care of the pat on that particular day."

 

 

Remember:

 

Organize + Cooperate = Crush The Individual

 

Invariably.

 

Saxon Violence

Edited June 18, 2012 by SaxonViolence

[labelwench]

This is very interesting. But it does sound like a description of how people got fire in primitive times by rubbing sticks together.

 

Couldn't the villagers devise a more modern technique to get a reliable water supply. Such as by digging a reservoir. After all, the water itself doesn't seem to be in short supply. Your post mentions "swift flowing hill streams", "during the monsoons...sections get washed away", "land...submerged in water", "blessed with heavy rainfall" and so on.

 

So there seems to be plenty of actual water available. It only needs to be collected and stored efficiently. This could be done in a reservoir. Why don't the villagers construct one?

 

The force of swiftly moving water is hard for people to thoroughly comprehend unless they have experienced same. When one attempts to restrain water by means of a dike, water simply flows upward when there is sufficient volume and unless one has sufficient diversion paths and floodgates, water can take out the infrastructure regardless of it's greater permanence. I'm thinking that many of the developing nations may be lacking the resources, also, to even begin to put more sophisticated engineering in place.

 

The Alaska Highway was recently closed for four days by mudslides and washouts as a result of a rather extreme rainfall and a late spring resulting in an unusually heavy snow pack in the mountains for this time of the year. The city of Whitehorse experienced panic buying, fresh food shortages, and price gouging by some merchants and enterprising individuals. Lower Post, a small community along the highway, is presently experiencing flooding.

 

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/flood-shakes-small-northern-bc-community-of-lower-post/article4258114/?service=mobile

 

These events, while not unprecedented, are quite rare, and it is difficult to determine the most cost effective means of future prevention where relatively small populations are locally effected.