Rural Water Infrastructure: Earthen Dams

My second day at work was my first day in the field, and the VIKSAT team and I made the trip from Ahmedabad down south to Nadiad, Gujarat. Nadiad is home to a vibrant textile sector, satellite operations for the Indian Tobacco Company (ITC), and a famous Puff and Cream Roll Wala.

Something I’ve been reflecting on since graduating this past May is how to keep myself sharp out of the classroom, and avoid the mental monotony of a 9-5 desk job. This aspect is one of the things I enjoy the most about being an engineer, the ability to understand– or not understand, but question and figure out– how things work.

At around noon, my supervisor and I, accompanied by a team engineer, got to our first site, a small earthen dam. It was situated in a scattered orchard of wood apple trees –kothu in Gujarati– and surrounded by grazing cattle, who were periodically called out to by a shepherd across the river. Birds were chirping in conversation with each other and the trees, which swayed idyllically with the breeze. Standing in the partly constructed dam was cool. Like a diagram from a past water resources engineering lecture somehow projected into reality. The three of us walked along on the berm, discussing design, construction, and next steps for the project. The shepherd hollered again.

3 people standing on dam berm — Author along with VIKSAT’s Ravindra Wagh and Dip Dabhi pose on mid-construction earthen dam. Photo courtesy of author.

Dams are mainly used for two reasons: hydropower energy and flood prevention. This dam, an ITC corporate social responsibility project, was for the latter. By providing an area for temporary live storage of high volumes of water during intense rainfall, the earthen dam acts as a reservoir. In rural areas, this is useful as it assists in holding water volumes for raw water and irrigation (Merchan-San Martin, Bethany et al., 2022). Simultaneously, it can help recharge underlying groundwater through percolation. Our bermtop discussion concerned upcoming adjustments to the structure’s slope and the design of the outlet. The slopes for these bulldozer dams are typically on the flatter side, no steeper than 1:2. Spillways and outlets are also an integral structural component, since they allow flows to return downstream of the water body (Stephens, 2010).

Labeled picture depicting kothu trees, dam berm, and reservoir area. — Earthen dam site diagram, from right side. Photo courtesy of author.

Labeled earthen dam diagram depicting kothu trees and reservoir area. — Earthen dam site diagram, from front. Photo courtesy of author.

In recent discourse, many scholars and field practitioners have been examining dams and their impact more critically. When they’re built on rivers, large dams can cause more harm to the local ecosystem and communities than good. As such, large-scale dams are viewed by academics as inequitable infrastructure that often serve one population at the expense of another (urban populations being prioritized in receiving hydropower, rural geographies being inundated, downstream displacement of local populations, etc.) (Molle, 2009).

This rationale is largely responsible for the rise of civil society activist groups against the construction of mega-dams, such as Narmada Bachao Andolan, and the creation of the World Commission on Dams. The Commission operated from 1997 to 2001 under the objective of investigating the global social, environmental, and economic impact of large dams, and brought together leaders in industry, academia, and civil society to investigate the issue and bridge gaps in understanding (The Report of the World Commission on Dams, 2000).

Sheperd sitting on hill above riverbank. — Cattle shepherd perched on hill above river. Photo courtesy of author.

Engineering projects are in service of humanity, and when designed and implemented equitably, by working with the community rather than just in it, they can most effectively serve their purpose.

Reflecting on my day when I reached back home later that night, midway through my Nadiad cream roll, I felt grateful to be able to serve rural communities in my work. Operation and maintenance in water infrastructure is a dynamic, ongoing process, but community-centric projects draw from the learnings of the World Commission on Dams by democratizing water infrastructure. Hopefully, this earthen dam will holistically serve its people and their surrounding ecosystem sustainably into the future.

Sources

“Dams and Development | The Report of the World Commission on Dams.” Earthscan
Publications Ltd., 2000.

Merchán-Sanmartín, Bethy, et al. “Earth dam design for drinking water management and Flood
Control: A case study.” Water, vol. 14, no. 13, 24 June 2022, p. 2029, https://doi.org/10.3390/w14132029.

Molle, François, et al. “Hydraulic Bureaucracies and the Hydraulic Mission: Flows of Water,
Flows of Power .” Water Alternatives, vol. 2, no. 3, 2009, pp. 328–349.

Stephens, Tim. “Manual on Small Earth Dams.” Food and Agriculture Organization, 2010.

Author

Ananya Chandra

Ananya Chandra (she/they) will be supporting sustainable livelihood programs as a Fellow at VIKSAT. Having studied Environmental Engineering and Environmental Policy with a focus in geography, Ananya is attuned to the intersectional dimensions of environmental issues, the necessity of equitable infrastructure, and the importance of science communication in bridging gaps between communities. She is passionate about civil service and has interned at the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as environmental remediation work with the firm Haley & Aldrich. Further, their research experience is extensive, and ranges from soil biogeochemistry analyses in a wet lab to GIS mapping of federally-funded water infrastructure, both at Syracuse University. Her undergraduate thesis examined the drawbacks of neoliberal water governance, analyzing global case studies to disseminate the role of the private sector, the state, and multilateral institutions in water governance. As such, Ananya is curious about global linkages of water and environmental issues, which they have explored through experience as an academic ambassador to the UN and staffer for Model UN. They are excited to be a part of the social sector as an AIF Fellow with VIKSAT, and contribute to impactful work on the ground to advance climate action and sustainable livelihoods.

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