CNH-EX: Monsoon Harvests: Assessing the Impact of Distributed Storage Tanks on the Vulnerability of Subsistence-Level Agriculture in Tamil Nadu, India

该项目的总体目标是使我们更好地了解雨水收集箱（池）如何能够在印度南部泰米尔纳德邦缺水的农业地区加强水储存和增加地下水补给。这样做的目的也是为了使我们更好地了解这些水箱灌溉系统在依赖这些系统的乡村社区中所发挥的作用，特别是在尽量减少社会、经济和环境脆弱性方面。 为了实现这些目标，项目团队将访问各种数据源，获取有关气候，土地使用，水箱数量及其位置，水治理系统，地下水枯竭，水箱贡献的水量和劳动力市场的信息。将确定泰米尔纳德邦水箱灌溉系统多年来有所下降的地区，并与持续使用水箱的地区进行比较。为了了解与水箱相关的储水动态，项目团队将在一系列确定的水箱中放置水位传感器，这些传感器将在整个季风和旱季提供有关储水的连续数据。据推测，这些蓄水池提供的生态和经济效益，如果得到适当维护，并有有效的社区治理结构，可以使这些仅能维持生计的农业社区不那么容易受到该区域每年季风变化的影响，特别是在面临气候变化和地下水迅速枯竭的情况下。 印度泰米尔纳德邦南部的马杜赖地区面临严重的缺水问题，因此需要广泛的灌溉系统。 随着泰米尔纳德邦的种植面积在近几十年来不断增长，对灌溉水的需求也在增加。 随着这种增长，地下水供应日益枯竭。 因此，人们现在认识到需要以更可持续的方式提供灌溉用水。 水资源管理的一个有希望的趋势是重新评估和恢复使用较旧的、利用水箱系统的地方规模灌溉做法。 这些蓄水池基本上是用于收集当地雨水的小型水库，收集水用于地表水灌溉和地下水补给，数千年来一直是印度的灌溉和饮用水来源。 目前的项目将侧重于提高我们对与这些小型灌溉系统相关的水储存和地下水补给动态的理解，以及这些系统对相关村庄的重要性。该项目将使人们更好地了解传统的雨水收集做法如何能够在严重缺水的地区增加获得饮用水和灌溉用水的机会。由于全世界有8亿人生活在缺水问题持续存在的地区，印度在雨水收集和地下水补给方面获得的更多了解将不可避免地具有跨文化价值，并可能适用于从撒哈拉以南非洲到美国西南部的一系列地区。本项目开展的研究将为进一步探索各种文化背景下的地方水管理系统和机构奠定基础。

The overall objective of this project is to better our understanding of the ways in which rainwater harvesting tanks (ponds) are able to enhance water storage and increase groundwater recharge in water-scarce agricultural areas of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The intent is also to enhance our knowledge of the role that these tank irrigation systems play within the village communities that depend on them, especially with respect to minimizing social, economic and environmental vulnerability. To achieve these goals the project team will access a variety of data sources, obtaining information about climate, land-use, the number of tanks and their locations, water governance systems, groundwater depletion, the amount of water contributed by the tanks, and labor markets. Areas in Tamil Nadu in which tank irrigation systems have declined over the years will be identified and compared with areas where use of the tanks has persisted. To understand the water-storage dynamics associated with the tanks, the project team will place water level sensors in an identified series of tanks that will provide continuous data regarding water storage throughout the monsoon and dry seasons. It is hypothesized that the ecological and economic benefits provided by these tanks, when adequately maintained and with effective community governance structures, can make these subsistence-level farming communities less vulnerable to variations in the region's yearly monsoons, especially in the face of climate change and rapid groundwater depletion. The Madurai region of southern Tamil Nadu, India, faces issues of acute water scarcity, making extensive irrigation systems necessary. As the areas under cultivation in Tamil Nadu have grown in recent decades, so has the demand for irrigation water. With this growth, groundwater supplies have become increasingly depleted. As such, the need for a more sustainable means of providing irrigation water is now being acknowledged. A promising trend in water management has been to reassess and revive the use of older, local-scale irrigation practices that utilize tank systems. These tanks, which are, essentially, small reservoirs used for local rainwater harvesting, collect water for both surface water irrigation and groundwater recharge, and have been a source of irrigation and drinking water in India for thousands of years. The current project will focus on improving our understanding of the dynamics of water storage and groundwater recharge associated with these small irrigation systems, and the importance of the systems to the associated villages. This project will lead to a better understanding of the ways in which traditional rainwater harvesting practices can increase access to both drinking and irrigation water in regions of acute water scarcity. As 800 million people worldwide live in regions where water scarcity issues are an ongoing problem, the greater understanding that is gained in India with regard to rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge will inevitably have cross-cultural value and potential application to a range of regions, from sub-Saharan Africa to the southwestern United States. The research carried out in this project will lay the groundwork for additional explorations of local-level water management systems and institutions in a variety of cultural contexts.