Carousal 3
Activity > Workshops & Seminars > Carousal 3
State Climate Change Cell, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Govt. of Manipur as a Nodal Partner in Manipur State in association with ICIMOD (Nepal), ACWADAM, IIT-Roorkee and PSI jointly organized a training cum workshop along with other line departments of the state government and non-governmental partners implementing action research with the aim of advancing scientific knowledge, capacity building and developing a Decision Support System (DSS) for Springshed. The workshop was held on 11th and 12th April 2022 at the Conference Hall, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Porompat, Imphal East, Govt. of Manipur.
The initiative intends to develop and promote a scientifically robust participatory methodology for springshed management and implementation of socially inclusive springshed management plans that especially address the vulnerability of women and marginalized groups to improve the overall water scarcity in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). The initiative will contribute to the development and implementation of springshed management in the IHR under the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supported project on Strengthening Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (SCA-Himalayas). Springshed management will be mainstreamed into national and state level policies and district level plans in the IHR, while ensuring both practical and research-based evidence from the ground.
Dr. Y. Nabachandra Singh, Director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Govt. of Manipur initiated the workshop by welcoming all the delegate members present in the workshop and gave a brief idea why springshed management is very important in the present state of Manipur. He defined the importance of water in terms of climate change and the role of line department in taking initiative steps on spring shed management. The need of time is to make comprehensive plan for enhancement of water sources, catchment and improvement of river/stream health on priority basis. The director personally thanked ACWADAM, ICIMOD, PSI and others for playing an important part in the said programme and requested suggestions for water policy plan for the State of Manipur.
Dr. T. Brajakumar Singh, Joint Director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change Govt. of Manipur, drew the attention on the fast climatic changes visible in our day-to-day life. He briefed the congregation on the background of the training program and also on the need to know WHERE and to WHAT extend the climate change is happening and affecting us.
Nand Kishor Agrawal, ICIMOD suggests that most springs support many of the rural and urban livelihoods as water supply schemes originates from the nearby spring source. At present, many springs are threatened by water use, erratic rainfall or no rainfall, drought and climate variability and change. Drying of springs, streams and even rivers become a common scenario in every part of the hilly regions. Therefore, the need of time is to do careful research, surveys and controlled interventions to maintain and restore the incredible ecosystems and services that springs anchor.
Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni (ACWADAM) gave a presentation on Introduction to Groundwater and Springs where he gave a brief idea about the importance and increasing dependency on ground water. He further mentioned ground water depletion which is caused by various reasons such as climate change, land use pattern and change in land cover leading to hazards like landslide and earthquake. Lastly, he summed up with the idea about the importance of spring revival and understanding local hydrogeology and why we should conserve the oldest source of ground water and also quoted “greenest source of groundwater” is the best of its kind.
Mr. Imran Siddique (ACWADAM) presented on the Introduction to Six-step protocol for reviving springs in the Himalaya. He elaborated the Dhara Vikas scheme of water security through spring shed development in the State, Sikkim. In his presentation he talked about the various reasons behind the drying up of springs due to environmental factors, land cover & changes in land use pattern, socio-economic and demographic changes. The above reasons lead to insecurity of drinking and domestic water in the rural and urban areas, lack of irrigation water in the hills and poor ecosystem services. On a concluding note, he explained about the several steps on how to revive and rejuvenate the springs. He ended his presentation explaining about the procedures and methodology of springshed development which includes comprehensive mapping of springs and springsheds, setting up data monitoring system, understanding current social and governance systems of spring, hydrological mapping, developing springshed management protocols and measuring hydrological and impacts of spring revival activities through socio-economic survey.
Mr. Kunal Upasani (ACWADAM) presented on Fundamentals of Geology and its significance in understanding hydrogeology he elaborated about the various types of rocks and its formation. More focus must be given on physical, biological and social involvement in order to ensure water security and livelihoods in the long term. He added his idea on the importance of various rock orientations for better understanding of ground water.
Dr. Sanjeev Bhuchar (ICIMOD) gave a presentation on Gender, Socio-economic aspects where he talked about the concepts and roles of gender and social analysis for springshed management. In his speech, gender-based disparities, challenges faced by women and marginalized groups were mentioned. In his view, storytelling is one method to share with the young boys and girls to know-how the importance of springs and the reason related to drying of springs. Most probably, male do understand the source of springs while women folks understand the quality of that springs. He conducted small interview type questions to all the attenders during his presentation. He summed up his talk giving his idea on importance of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) in all steps of spring revival.
Mr. Imran Siddique gave a brief concept about Aquifer, types and how the aquifer release the stored water to wells and springs, serving as a good source of water supply.
Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni concluded the first phase of the workshop with a presentation on Integration of watershed & Aquifers into Springsheds. In his speech, the importance of understanding the aquifers, the significance and roles of religious and cultural practices in the conservation of ground water (common pool resource) through planning and implementation were explained.
On 2nd day, T. Brajakumar, Joint Director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change starts the programme by assigning task to the attenders. the following points of discussion were assigned
- Identifying vulnerable village in the hill’s districts of Manipur
- Spring name and number of peoples dependent on that spring
- GPS location of the spring
- Seasonal, perennial etc
Imran Siddique recap the participants with a summary of what have been discussed on the first day. Mr. Kunal Upasani took over the session speaking about spring inventories, objectives and various parameters of it. Critical springs and importance of monitoring it, was further commented by him. He also stressed upon the need to generate a comprehensive data or inventory for the springs and prioritized them for its management.
The session was followed by a presentation on Introduction to hydrogeological mapping for identification of recharge area by Mr. Imran Siddique where rock bedding and its types were explained. Further he talked about the importance of rock types which is an essential tool for geological mapping.
As a part of the workshop, all the trainees along the resource persons went on a field visit to ed a nearby spring at the High-Tech Bamboo Nursery at Lamdeng, Imphal West which is a reserved forest under Forest Dept. Govt. of Manipur for better understanding about springs and how it can be managed. The site is one of the spring source supplying drinking waters to the nearby village. Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni gave a detailed idea about the importance of spring and its support to the surrounding ecosystems, wildlife and reflect the health of aquifers.
Later on, a Case Study of Nagaland was presented by Mr. Kunal Upasani and Mr. Imran Siddique which was followed by a way-forward to discussing training & capacity building strategy. . He suggests that advanced scientific methods and social engineering studies need to be carried out at the micro-watershed level to establish strong linkages between groundwater flows (hydrogeology), recharge areas, and springs distribution and patterns based on the rock types and geology. Aquifers need to be considered as an integral part of ecosystem as it helps in the maintenance of spring-shed in natural settings as well as human manipulated situations.
The training cum workshop on springshed management in the Himalaya: Manipur state concluded with a presentation by Mr. Rajesh Kumar, People’s Science Institute (PSI) on Recharge interventions types (Structural & non-structural) where he mentioned the importance of studying the geological topography of the study area. The two-days training cum workshop programme was successfully ended up with remarkable ideas and suggestions from various concerned organizations.
Sanjeev Bhuchar talks about the monitoring and impact assessment. He defined that the concept of ‘Spring-shed’ management is gaining significance and could add value and an important layer to conventional ‘watershed’ management approaches.
The way forward
- Traditional wisdom is one method to revive the springs in the long term
- Hydrogeological mapping of the springs
- Spring inventory in other hills site of the State
- Finding the data gap of spring water flow dynamics, watershed related linkages, characteristics of local springs
REPORT ON THE VISIT TO LUNGHAR (APRIL 13 TO 15, 2022)
With the completion of the training cum workshop conducted at Conference Hall of the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, Govt. of Manipur, a field trip to Lunghar, Ukhrul was also organized from 13th to 15th April, 2022. Experts from ICIMOD (Nepal), ACWADAM, IIT-Roorkee and PSI along with staff from Directorate of Environment & Climate Change began their journey from Imphal on 13th April, 2022 at about 9:30 am. The team reached Ukhrul at around 12:30 pm and after having lunch headed for Lunghar village, which is about 25 Km from the Ukhrul town. On reaching Lunghar, the team was welcome by the office bearers and members of the Village Authority along with the Headman of the village. After a brief self-introduction, the purpose of the visit was laid down by Dr. T. Brajakumar Singh, Joint Director, Directorate of Environment & Climate Change. The Secretary of the Village Authority, Mr. Vareiso Lungharwoshi, briefed the gathering about the village, its natural resources and the problems related to supply and demand of water in particular. He pointed out that there are multiple sources for water but it’s the management aspect that has hindered the supply capacity. The discharged may have been reduced but it’s also the increase in demand due to rise in population and water-use culture that has caused the hardship.
Mr. Imran Siddique from Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), Pune related the discharge of the springs at Wata with the existing forest and he also showed the area for recharge and other intervention sites. Dr. Sanjeev Bhuchar from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Nepal explained the nature of spring discharge and works needed for its improvement.
The discussion continued with inputs from Mr. Rajesh Kumar, People's Science Institute (PSI), Dehradun; Mr. Nand Kishor Agrawal, (ICIMOD) Nepal; Mr. Kunal Upasani, (ACWADAM), Pune and Mr. Bhargabnanda Dass, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. At the end of the meeting, the programme for the next day was chalked out. Then the team headed back to Ukhrul for the night stay.
Once in Ukhrul, the team checked in their hotels and gathered again at Shalom Lodge for dinner-cum-meeting with members of local NGOs and district level officers of Ukhrul district. NGOs were represented by MIKC and VVD, and DLOs by DFO, Ukhrul, Executive Engineer from PHED and official from KVK, Ukhrul.
On 14th April, 2022, after breakfast, the team headed back to Lunghar and made the first visit to Wata springs. Upon reaching Wata 1, a group headed by Mr. Bhargabnanda Dass inspected the area for placing of the flume for automatic measurement of the spring discharge and they continued with their work while the other group made overall assessment of the area and suggested various measures that can be implemented for improving the discharge in that region. The same work was carried out at Wata 2. After the survey at Wata, the team along with members of Village Authority trekked to the recharge area on the top of Phangrei hill. Types on intervention needed at that site were discussed and agreed upon to carry out the intervention activities as soon as possible. Lunch was served at Jorcheng Tang (Phangrei).
The next stop was at Hurira spring inside the village. The recharge area was studied and activities that need to be taken up were suggested. Roof rain water harvesting can have a great impact on the recharge ability of the site. In addition, making furrows and bunds in the vegetable garden will help in infiltration of the rain water and also improve the soil quality. With the night closing in, a walk through the village ended the trip to Lunghar and the team came back to Ukhrul. On the morning of 15th April, 2022, amidst heavy rain, the team left Ukhrul and headed back to Imphal.
State Climate Change Cell, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Govt. of Manipur as a Nodal Partner in Manipur State in association with ICIMOD (Nepal), ACWADAM, IIT-Roorkee and PSI jointly organized a training cum workshop along with other line departments of the state government and non-governmental partners implementing action research with the aim of advancing scientific knowledge, capacity building and developing a Decision Support System (DSS) for Springshed. The workshop was held on 11th and 12th April 2022 at the Conference Hall, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Porompat, Imphal East, Govt. of Manipur.
The initiative intends to develop and promote a scientifically robust participatory methodology for springshed management and implementation of socially inclusive springshed management plans that especially address the vulnerability of women and marginalized groups to improve the overall water scarcity in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). The initiative will contribute to the development and implementation of springshed management in the IHR under the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supported project on Strengthening Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (SCA-Himalayas). Springshed management will be mainstreamed into national and state level policies and district level plans in the IHR, while ensuring both practical and research-based evidence from the ground.
Dr. Y. Nabachandra Singh, Director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Govt. of Manipur initiated the workshop by welcoming all the delegate members present in the workshop and gave a brief idea why springshed management is very important in the present state of Manipur. He defined the importance of water in terms of climate change and the role of line department in taking initiative steps on spring shed management. The need of time is to make comprehensive plan for enhancement of water sources, catchment and improvement of river/stream health on priority basis. The director personally thanked ACWADAM, ICIMOD, PSI and others for playing an important part in the said programme and requested suggestions for water policy plan for the State of Manipur.
Dr. T. Brajakumar Singh, Joint Director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change Govt. of Manipur, drew the attention on the fast climatic changes visible in our day-to-day life. He briefed the congregation on the background of the training program and also on the need to know WHERE and to WHAT extend the climate change is happening and affecting us.
Nand Kishor Agrawal, ICIMOD suggests that most springs support many of the rural and urban livelihoods as water supply schemes originates from the nearby spring source. At present, many springs are threatened by water use, erratic rainfall or no rainfall, drought and climate variability and change. Drying of springs, streams and even rivers become a common scenario in every part of the hilly regions. Therefore, the need of time is to do careful research, surveys and controlled interventions to maintain and restore the incredible ecosystems and services that springs anchor.
Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni (ACWADAM) gave a presentation on Introduction to Groundwater and Springs where he gave a brief idea about the importance and increasing dependency on ground water. He further mentioned ground water depletion which is caused by various reasons such as climate change, land use pattern and change in land cover leading to hazards like landslide and earthquake. Lastly, he summed up with the idea about the importance of spring revival and understanding local hydrogeology and why we should conserve the oldest source of ground water and also quoted “greenest source of groundwater” is the best of its kind.
Mr. Imran Siddique (ACWADAM) presented on the Introduction to Six-step protocol for reviving springs in the Himalaya. He elaborated the Dhara Vikas scheme of water security through spring shed development in the State, Sikkim. In his presentation he talked about the various reasons behind the drying up of springs due to environmental factors, land cover & changes in land use pattern, socio-economic and demographic changes. The above reasons lead to insecurity of drinking and domestic water in the rural and urban areas, lack of irrigation water in the hills and poor ecosystem services. On a concluding note, he explained about the several steps on how to revive and rejuvenate the springs. He ended his presentation explaining about the procedures and methodology of springshed development which includes comprehensive mapping of springs and springsheds, setting up data monitoring system, understanding current social and governance systems of spring, hydrological mapping, developing springshed management protocols and measuring hydrological and impacts of spring revival activities through socio-economic survey.
Mr. Kunal Upasani (ACWADAM) presented on Fundamentals of Geology and its significance in understanding hydrogeology he elaborated about the various types of rocks and its formation. More focus must be given on physical, biological and social involvement in order to ensure water security and livelihoods in the long term. He added his idea on the importance of various rock orientations for better understanding of ground water.
Dr. Sanjeev Bhuchar (ICIMOD) gave a presentation on Gender, Socio-economic aspects where he talked about the concepts and roles of gender and social analysis for springshed management. In his speech, gender-based disparities, challenges faced by women and marginalized groups were mentioned. In his view, storytelling is one method to share with the young boys and girls to know-how the importance of springs and the reason related to drying of springs. Most probably, male do understand the source of springs while women folks understand the quality of that springs. He conducted small interview type questions to all the attenders during his presentation. He summed up his talk giving his idea on importance of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) in all steps of spring revival.
Mr. Imran Siddique gave a brief concept about Aquifer, types and how the aquifer release the stored water to wells and springs, serving as a good source of water supply.
Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni concluded the first phase of the workshop with a presentation on Integration of watershed & Aquifers into Springsheds. In his speech, the importance of understanding the aquifers, the significance and roles of religious and cultural practices in the conservation of ground water (common pool resource) through planning and implementation were explained.
On 2nd day, T. Brajakumar, Joint Director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change starts the programme by assigning task to the attenders. the following points of discussion were assigned
- Identifying vulnerable village in the hill’s districts of Manipur
- Spring name and number of peoples dependent on that spring
- GPS location of the spring
- Seasonal, perennial etc
Imran Siddique recap the participants with a summary of what have been discussed on the first day. Mr. Kunal Upasani took over the session speaking about spring inventories, objectives and various parameters of it. Critical springs and importance of monitoring it, was further commented by him. He also stressed upon the need to generate a comprehensive data or inventory for the springs and prioritized them for its management.
The session was followed by a presentation on Introduction to hydrogeological mapping for identification of recharge area by Mr. Imran Siddique where rock bedding and its types were explained. Further he talked about the importance of rock types which is an essential tool for geological mapping.
As a part of the workshop, all the trainees along the resource persons went on a field visit to ed a nearby spring at the High-Tech Bamboo Nursery at Lamdeng, Imphal West which is a reserved forest under Forest Dept. Govt. of Manipur for better understanding about springs and how it can be managed. The site is one of the spring source supplying drinking waters to the nearby village. Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni gave a detailed idea about the importance of spring and its support to the surrounding ecosystems, wildlife and reflect the health of aquifers.
Later on, a Case Study of Nagaland was presented by Mr. Kunal Upasani and Mr. Imran Siddique which was followed by a way-forward to discussing training & capacity building strategy. . He suggests that advanced scientific methods and social engineering studies need to be carried out at the micro-watershed level to establish strong linkages between groundwater flows (hydrogeology), recharge areas, and springs distribution and patterns based on the rock types and geology. Aquifers need to be considered as an integral part of ecosystem as it helps in the maintenance of spring-shed in natural settings as well as human manipulated situations.
The training cum workshop on springshed management in the Himalaya: Manipur state concluded with a presentation by Mr. Rajesh Kumar, People’s Science Institute (PSI) on Recharge interventions types (Structural & non-structural) where he mentioned the importance of studying the geological topography of the study area. The two-days training cum workshop programme was successfully ended up with remarkable ideas and suggestions from various concerned organizations.
Sanjeev Bhuchar talks about the monitoring and impact assessment. He defined that the concept of ‘Spring-shed’ management is gaining significance and could add value and an important layer to conventional ‘watershed’ management approaches.
The way forward
- Traditional wisdom is one method to revive the springs in the long term
- Hydrogeological mapping of the springs
- Spring inventory in other hills site of the State
- Finding the data gap of spring water flow dynamics, watershed related linkages, characteristics of local springs
REPORT ON THE VISIT TO LUNGHAR (APRIL 13 TO 15, 2022)
With the completion of the training cum workshop conducted at Conference Hall of the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, Govt. of Manipur, a field trip to Lunghar, Ukhrul was also organized from 13th to 15th April, 2022. Experts from ICIMOD (Nepal), ACWADAM, IIT-Roorkee and PSI along with staff from Directorate of Environment & Climate Change began their journey from Imphal on 13th April, 2022 at about 9:30 am. The team reached Ukhrul at around 12:30 pm and after having lunch headed for Lunghar village, which is about 25 Km from the Ukhrul town. On reaching Lunghar, the team was welcome by the office bearers and members of the Village Authority along with the Headman of the village. After a brief self-introduction, the purpose of the visit was laid down by Dr. T. Brajakumar Singh, Joint Director, Directorate of Environment & Climate Change. The Secretary of the Village Authority, Mr. Vareiso Lungharwoshi, briefed the gathering about the village, its natural resources and the problems related to supply and demand of water in particular. He pointed out that there are multiple sources for water but it’s the management aspect that has hindered the supply capacity. The discharged may have been reduced but it’s also the increase in demand due to rise in population and water-use culture that has caused the hardship.
Mr. Imran Siddique from Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), Pune related the discharge of the springs at Wata with the existing forest and he also showed the area for recharge and other intervention sites. Dr. Sanjeev Bhuchar from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Nepal explained the nature of spring discharge and works needed for its improvement.
The discussion continued with inputs from Mr. Rajesh Kumar, People's Science Institute (PSI), Dehradun; Mr. Nand Kishor Agrawal, (ICIMOD) Nepal; Mr. Kunal Upasani, (ACWADAM), Pune and Mr. Bhargabnanda Dass, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. At the end of the meeting, the programme for the next day was chalked out. Then the team headed back to Ukhrul for the night stay.
Once in Ukhrul, the team checked in their hotels and gathered again at Shalom Lodge for dinner-cum-meeting with members of local NGOs and district level officers of Ukhrul district. NGOs were represented by MIKC and VVD, and DLOs by DFO, Ukhrul, Executive Engineer from PHED and official from KVK, Ukhrul.
On 14th April, 2022, after breakfast, the team headed back to Lunghar and made the first visit to Wata springs. Upon reaching Wata 1, a group headed by Mr. Bhargabnanda Dass inspected the area for placing of the flume for automatic measurement of the spring discharge and they continued with their work while the other group made overall assessment of the area and suggested various measures that can be implemented for improving the discharge in that region. The same work was carried out at Wata 2. After the survey at Wata, the team along with members of Village Authority trekked to the recharge area on the top of Phangrei hill. Types on intervention needed at that site were discussed and agreed upon to carry out the intervention activities as soon as possible. Lunch was served at Jorcheng Tang (Phangrei).
The next stop was at Hurira spring inside the village. The recharge area was studied and activities that need to be taken up were suggested. Roof rain water harvesting can have a great impact on the recharge ability of the site. In addition, making furrows and bunds in the vegetable garden will help in infiltration of the rain water and also improve the soil quality. With the night closing in, a walk through the village ended the trip to Lunghar and the team came back to Ukhrul. On the morning of 15th April, 2022, amidst heavy rain, the team left Ukhrul and headed back to Imphal.