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Farmers like Ashok need a strong base of water conservation and one important way of increasing water conservation is to dig standardized storages in rainwater flow channels so that water can be conserved in these for a much longer period. A typical doha is about 20 meters long, 3 meters wide and 2 to 1.5 meters deep. In Sugira village 16 such dohas were created last year with a storage capacity of 1296 cubic meters which can provide irrigation water to about 70 bighas of land belonging to 15 farmers.
At a wider level these dohas help to raise the water level in the wells and more generally in the nearby land area. The silt that was taken out while digging these dohas was used to level and stabilize village paths near the water channel. As a local farmer Sunil said, the path has improved significantly now while earlier it was very uneven. This silt can also be useful for creating or improving bunds in nearby fields.
Sunil said that the dohas have helped to improve his farm production by a quarter, but under ideal conditions this can be more. Torrential rain has damaged some dohas and after the planned repair work, their contribution will increase further, he said.
Another significant contribution of the dohas is that these help to quench the thirst of a significant number of farm animals, stray animals, wild animals and birds. As Aman, a senior team member of SRIJAN said, earlier the rainwater remained in smaller quantities only up to November while now it is likely to remain up to April next year in the dohas.
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