Conservation and harvesting of rainwater for sustainable agriculture in Kachho, Sindh, Pakistan

The paper analyzes the people perception regarding climate change and adaptation in the arid region of Pakistan in terms of temperature and precipitation fluctuation, drought and desertification, food scarcity, impact on agriculture and surface water, as well as seasonal fluctuation. Due to decrease in precipitation of 0.6inches and increase in temperature of 1.6 0C (1960-2000), the flow of water sector in Pakistan shows a more vulnerable condition from 1937-2004 that will caused a drastic change in rabi as well as kharif cultivation and need adaptation on an urgent basis. The decline in flow of the water in Indus water system will be effected the agriculture growth and production in the irrigated areas of the arid region in lower Punjab and Sind Provinces. Therefore, a questionnaire survey has been conducted in the lower Punjab to know the public opinion about the on going climate change and its impact on social, economical, demographic, and agriculture sectors. The main purpose of the survey is to device a methodology in view of public opinion for the adaptation and mitigation of climate change in the arid region of Pakistan. The major questions are about temperature and precipitation fluctuation, deforestation, overgrazing, drought, desertification, change in the earth geography, wars, change in pressure pattern, population increase, construction of water reservoirs, water resources, current government policies etc.

Objective: To assess the magnitude of the problem of injection safety in public and private health facilities in two districts of Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan.
 Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted between October and December 2020 among public and private health facilities of two districts of Pakistan: Gujarat in Punjab and Larkana in Sindh provinces. A convenient sample size of 60 healthcare facilities (30 from each district) was taken due to time and resource constraint. Six data collection tools were used which included structured observations and interviews with injection prescribers and providers based on WHO Revised Tool C, which were finalised after piloting.
 Results: Reuse of injection equipment was not observed in any of the 60 health facilities. In exit interviews of 120 patients, it was found that 27 (22.5%) patients reported receiving an injection, while 11 (9.2%) were prescribed intravenous (IV) drips. More injections and drips were prescribed in the private sector (n=15; 25.0%) in comparison with the public sector (n=12; 20.0%). Slightly higher proportion of IV drips were prescribed by the private providers when compared to public sector healthcare providers: 6 (10.0%) vs 5 (8.3%) respectively. Most of the prescribers (n=58; 96.7%) reported that patients who attended public and private health facilities demanded injectable medicines. Used syringes and drips were noted to be visible in open containers and buckets for final disposal in 20 (33.3%) assessed health facilities.
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Foreword iii 1 Introduction 2. Water scarcity concepts 2.1. Concepts 2.2. Coping with water scarcity 3. Physical characteristics and processes leading to water scarcity 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Climatic conditions 3.3. Hydrologic characteristics 3.4. Climate change and its impacts on water scarcity 3.5. Meteorological and hydrological data collection and handling 4. Droughts and desertification 4.1. Droughts 4.2. Desertification 5. Conceptual thinking in coping with water scarcity 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Social value of water 5.3. Environmental value of water 5.4. Landscape and cultural value of water 5.5. Economic value of water 5.6. Priorities for water allocation 5.7. International issues - treaties between sovereign states 5.8. Conclusion 6. Surface water use and harvesting 6.1. Large and small scale projects 6.2. Reservoir management 6.3. Control of water losses and non beneficial uses of water 6.4. Water harvesting 6.5. Environmental and health issues 6.6. Conclusion 7. Groundwater use and recharge 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Major aquifers and well fields 7.3. Minor aquifers of local importance 7.4. Environmental, economic and social impacts of aquifer overexploitation 7.5. Artificial recharge 7.6. Conjunctive use of surface and groundwater 7.7. The use of groundwater in coping with water scarcity 8. Using non-conventional water resources 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Wastewater use 8.3. Use of brackish, saline and drainage waters 8.4. Desalinated water 8.5. Fog-capturing, water harvesting, cloud seeding, and water transfers 9. Water conservation and saving. Concepts and performance 9.1. Concepts 9.2. Water use, consumptive use, water losses, and performance 9.3. Water use performance indicators 9.4. Water conservation and saving to cope with the various water scarcity regimes 9.5. Implementing efficient water use for water conservation and saving 10. Water conservation and saving measures and practices 10.1. Water conservation and saving in urban systems 10.2. Water saving in domestic applications 10.3. Water conservation and saving in landscape and recreational uses 10.4. Water conservation and saving in industrial and energy uses 10.5 Water conservation in dryland agriculture 10.6. Water saving and conservation in irrigated agriculture 10.7. Supply management 10.8. Concluding remarks 11. Social, economic, cultural, legal and institutional constraints and issues 11.1. Local communities 11.2. Urban centres 11.3. Rural areas 11.4. User groups 11.5. Administration of water use - public and private organizations 12. Education 12.1. Need to change attitudes to water 12.2. Education and training 12.3. Need for new developments and research 12.4. Development of public awareness of water scarcity issues 12.5. Conclusion Bibliography Index

We approach the issue of water productivity in agriculture by identifying five sets of drivers of change. We find that irrigation efficiencies at the field level can result in real water savings under certain conditions, but that small farmers in most of South Asia and Africa have little incentive to adopt the appropriate measures. Although water productivity improvement and water savings at the regional level are possible through a shift to economically efficient crops, such changes may be constrained by concerns with respect to domestic and regional food security, rural employment, and farming system resilience.

Water and Energy Conservation of Rainwater Harvesting System in the Loess Plateau of China

Urban water systems are designed for centralized management, where water is collected at a central location, treated, and delivered to a population of users through a pipe network. Decentralized systems may generate water and energy savings beyond conventional approaches, as they reduce the demands on the potable drinking water system and the energy required for treatment and conveyance. For example, rainwater harvesting systems that are installed at individual lots can be used to capture and reuse rainwater to irrigate lawns. This research explores the tradeoffs among infrastructure costs, energy savings, and water savings as consumers adopt rainwater harvesting within an existing centralized water supply system. The presence of rainwater harvesting within a community of individual households is a sociotechnical process, as interactions among existing water supply infrastructure, utility managers, and consumers can influence the adoption of decentralized technologies and the performance of centralized infrastructure. The urban water supply system is simulated as a complex adaptive system to analyze the water use behavior of consumers and their influence on system-level sustainability. An agent-based model is constructed to simulate households as water-consumer agents and is coupled with a system dynamics simulation of a water reservoir to capture the feedbacks that drive the household-level adoption of rainwater harvesting. An evolutionary computation approach is coupled with the agent-based modeling framework to optimize multiple objectives and explore tradeoffs among energy requirements, water savings, and the cost of rainwater harvesting systems. The framework is demonstrated for a virtual case study to develop management strategies for sizing rainwater harvesting cisterns and achieving sustainability goals for a sociotechnical water supply system.

This study focuses on the implementation of rainwater harvesting as a water conservation alternative in the Sanur International Tourism Harbour Building. The research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of this technique in reducing the building’s dependence on freshwater resources and to determine its potential as a sustainable water management solution. The implementation of rooftop rainwater harvesting was considered, and SWMM (Storm Water Management Model) simulation was used to model the hydrological processes, including rainfall, runoff, and infiltration in the study area. The model was calibrated using observed rainfall data collected from the vicinity. The results of the SWMM simulation showed that the rainwater harvesting system was effective in reducing the building’s dependence on freshwater resources and that the system can collect an estimated 41.58 m3 of rainwater. This amount is deemed sufficient to support and overall reduce freshwater consumption and contribute to the conservation of freshwater resources in the area. The study demonstrated the potential of rainwater harvesting as an effective water conservation method for buildings in Sanur, Bali. The implementation of such a system can not only reduce freshwater consumption but also contribute to sustainable water management practices in the region.

Gampong Leuhan is one of the areas in West Aceh district where most of the people still use ground water as a source of daily necessities. Some people have used artesian wells or drilled wells, but if we look at the cost of manufacture is very expensive. If more use of ground water from the drilling system, then will be inflict an impact of land subsidence. with these conditions, to overcome the problem of the need for clean water and lack of water for people's lives, it needs more effective and efficient system. One of proses is to make rainwater harvesting system from the rooftop of the building/housing by maximizing high rainfall. Field survey indicate building area in Gampong Leuhan already in good condition and livable with dominant house rooftop made of zinc, that this condition will be very maximum in rainwater harvesting process. The analysis of rain harvesting potential in Gampong Leuhan shows 887.892 liters/day, with average rainwater harvesting potential for each house is 862,031 liters/day. The ratio between the total amount of water harvested is 887.892 liters/day with the total use of water for the needs of the people of Gampong Leuhan amounted to 482.346,90 liters/day, indicates that with rainwater harvesting techniques will be sufficient and able to become one of the alternatives in the supply of clean water. Keywords: Clean water, Rainfall, Potential of rain water, Rainwater harvesting.

Spatial assessment of conjunctive water harvesting potential in watershed systems

There is a strong link between food security and the carbon pool in terrestrial ecosystems, notably the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. Quantity and quality of the SOC pool are essential to soil quality, agronomic production, and use efficiency of inputs. Furthermore, limiting global warming to a 2°C increase in Earth's mean temperature requires the identification of appropriate sinks for atmospheric CO2. Sequestration of C in soils is almost an obvious climate solution, which ironically has been overlooked by policy makers. Yet, it is a proverbial “low-hanging” fruit with numerous co-benefits. Most soils of the agroecosystems are depleted of their antecedent SOC pool by 25%−75%, equivalent to 10−30 Mg/ha, which is also the technical sink capacity of C sequestration. The rate of SOC sequestration in soils of the tropics and subtropics is 100−500 kg/ha/year. The potential global soil C sink capacity is 1.2−3.1 Pg C/year, 25−50 years. While mitigating climate change, an increase in SOC pool also enhances crop yield because of improvements in soil physical (i.e., aggregation, available water capacity), chemical (i.e., cation and anion exchange capacity [CEC/AEC], soil reaction, nutrient transformation), and biological properties (i.e., microbial biomass C earthworm activity). The adoption of conservation-effective measures can avoid erosion-induced emissions by minimizing decomposition of SOC transported by erosional processes. The mean residence time of SOC depends on a range of exogenous and endogenous factors. Recommended management practices (RMPs) for SOC concentration include conservation agriculture based on no-till and mulch farming, use of cover crops and green manure, application of manure and biochar, and use of perennial culture, including agroforestry. Balanced application of fertilizers is crucial. Water conservation, water harvesting and recycling, use of drip subirrigation, and growing aerobic rice are some important practices for enhancing water-use efficiency. There is a strong need for research in understanding processes of SOC sequestration, identifying and validating soil-/site-specific agronomic practices, and making policy interventions that reward farmers through payments for ecosystem services. Farming C and trading C credits are needed to create another income stream for farmers and to promote the adoption of RMPs. Cropland soils of south Asia in general and those of the Indo-Gangetic Plain in particular are severely depleted of their SOC pool. Despite high inputs of fertilizers and water, crop yields are either stagnating or declining because of the ever-declining use efficiency of inputs (i.e., fertilizers, irrigation, high-yielding varieties) and degrading soils and water resources. A low SOC concentration of cropland soils (0.1%−0.5% in the plow layer of 0−20-cm depth) is the principal cause of decline in soil quality (e.g., low aggregation and plant available water capacity). Thus, RMPs that create a positive soil C budget and enhance the SOC pool must be identified. The balanced use of fertilizers and the application of farm yard manure and other biosolids (i.e., crop residues, green manure) are essential to SOC sequestration, improving the input-use efficiency, and increasing crop yields. There is a strong and positive correlation between the SOC pool in the root zone and the grain yield of wheat, maize, soybean, and other crops. The adoption of RMPs, which enhance SOC pools and sustain high agronomic yield, necessitates payments to farmers for providing ecosystem services through the trading of C credits and so on. Farming C is an important strategy to mitigate climate change, advance food security, and improve the environment.

More than 90% of rainfed croplands in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are severely affected by highly intermittent rainfall and frequent drought limiting crop productivity in the region. Besides, 27.1% of the population in SSA are currently food insecure and this is likely to increase with the current rapid population growth in the region. Soil erosion and water scarcity remain to be the core problem affecting agricultural productivity of smallholder farming. In the current study, we analysed rainwater harvesting assisted small-scale agroforestry system in order to mitigate both soil erosion and water scarcity issues simultaneously. The system included in-situ rainwater harvesting, soil organic amendment (raw poultry litter, poultry litter biochar, wood ash) and an agroforestry system (AFS) containing maize, barley- Eucalyptus globulus all intercropped in a holistic approach. The effect was evaluated on selected soil parameters and crop yield in a field experiment on a completely randomized design. The treatments were poultry litter (PWAFS), poultry litter biochar (BWAFS) wood ash (AWAFS) with supplementary irrigation (WAFS) and agroforestry system AFS (control). The first three treatments contained poultry litter, poultry litter biochar and wood ash along with rainwater harvesting respectively while the fourth treatment contained only rainwater harvesting. Besides, a control plot-AFS was assigned with neither rainwater harvesting nor soil organic resources. The result indicated that BWAFS increased the pH by 19.4% followed by AWAFS and PWAFS (9%). Maximum and minimum SOM (2.26%, 1.21%) were observed under BWAFS and the control (AFS) respectively. BWAFS significantly increased Av.P by 78.1% while WAFS increased by 40% compared to the control. Similarly, BWAFS and PWAFS had significant effect on maize yield with increase by 74% and 36% respectively. The study concluded that integrating rainwater harvesting and soil amendment with agroforestry systems can enhance crop yield and soil nutrient levels. Therefore, such agricultural practices should be adopted by smallholder farmers in areas with limited water and nutrients levels.

Rainwater harvesting for agriculture development using multi-influence factor and fuzzy overlay techniques

Semi-arid zones are becoming more susceptible to the impact of the alteration of rainfalls which are other significant challenges to the resilience of agriculture and their food security. The authors compared the experience of three decades (1990-2020) of climatic and agricultural data in the Sahel, East Africa, the Deccan Plateau of India, and Western Australia to describe how changes in rainfall timing, intensity, and variability affect crop productivity and stability in food systems. In a mixed methodology, the timing of rainfall onset, stop early in the season, the frequency of intra-season drought, and intra-seasonal rainfall concentration indices were analyzed along with crop yield of millet, sorghum, maize, and wheat and regional food security indices. It was found that the effects of intra-seasonal dry spells and delayed onset of rain during a season are much stronger negative factors towards crop yields compared to their total annual rainfall and sorghum in India and maize in East Africa were especially susceptible to variability in rainfall distribution. Regression and correlation analysis also supported the fact that dry spell frequency was the most important factor that causes fall in yield and it was the main contributor of variability in the yield of about 60 percent in some regions. The anomalies in rainfall were directly related to the levels of crop failure and increased incidences of food insecurity especially in the Sahel and East Africa which is where the volatility of markets and smaller adaptive capacities worsens exposure. On the other hand, Western Australia exhibited partial resilience as a result of conservation agriculture using machines and policy propagation. Findings highlight the dire necessity of climate-resilient crop adaptation, water-harvesting and soil conservation practices and institutional interventions like climate information services and crop insurance in protecting food system in semi-arid zones characterized by rising climate variability. Keywords: Semi-arid regions; rainfall variability; agricultural resilience; intra-seasonal dry spells; crop yields; food security; rainfall onset; climate change adaptation; drought-tolerant crops; soil and water conservation.

Potential for rainwater harvesting in a dry climate: Assessments in a semiarid region in northeast Brazil

Our ancient religious texts and epics give a good insight into the water storage and conservation systems that prevailed in prehistoric days. Over the years, rising populations, growing Industrialization, and expanding agriculture have pushed up the demand for water. Efforts have been made to collect water by building dams and reservoirs and digging wells. Some countries have also tried to recycle and desalinate (remove salts) water. Water conservation has become the need of the day. The idea of ground water recharging by harvesting rainwater is gaining importance in many cities. In the forests, water seeps gently into the ground as vegetation breaks the fall. This groundwater in turn feeds wells, lakes, and rivers. Protecting forests means protecting water 'catchments'. In ancient India, people believed that forests were the 'mothers' of rivers and worshipped the sources of these water bodies. The Indus Valley Civilization, that flourished along the banks of the river Indus and other parts of western and northern India about 5,000 years ago, had one of the most sophisticated urban water supply and sewage systems in the world. The fact that the people were well acquainted with hygiene could be seen from the covered drains running beneath the streets of the ruins at both Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Another great example is the well-planned city of Dholavira, on Khadir Bet, a low plateau in the Rann in Gujarat. One of the oldest water harvesting systems is found about 130 km from Pune along Naneghat in the Western Ghats. A large number of tanks were cut in the rocks to provide drinking water to tradesmen who used to travel along this ancient trade route. Each fort in the area had its own water harvesting and storage system in the form of rock-cut cisterns, ponds, tanks and wells that are still in use today. A large number of forts like Raigad had tanks that supplied water. In ancient times, houses in parts of western Rajasthan were built so that each had a rooftop water harvesting system. Rainwater from these rooftops was directed into underground tanks. This system can be seen even today in all the forts, palaces and houses of the region. Underground baked earthen pipes and tunnels to maintain the flow of water and to transport it to distant places, are still functional at Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Golkunda and Bijapur in Karnataka, and Aurangabad in Maharashtra.