Umblebailu, a village in Shivamogga district, has set an example in water conservation. Like any other village in the region, agriculture is the mainstay of the people here. In recent years, sustaining agriculture has been a challenge due to water scarcity. The vast Gang Tank that supplied water to the village had gone dry. Silting had also affected the tank. Though the village decided to rejuvenate this 45-hectare tank, initial efforts failed as there was no consensus among villagers.
It was then that the women self-help groups of the village decided to shoulder the responsibility. Initially people, particularly men, were apprehensive about the success and responded passively. Such reactions didn’t deter the women as they felt it is their responsibility to revive the lake, that once was the lifeline of the village. Soon, about 250 members of 11 self-help groups sat together and discussed their plans. At the end of the meeting, a team called Annapoorneshwari Lake Users Group was formed with representatives from all the groups as its members. It gathered information about various government schemes on water conservation. It also collected complete information about tank rejuvenation from the State government’s Jalasamvardhana Yojana Sangha. The group led the conservation work, which resulted in the revival of the catchment area, removal of silt and strengthening the tank bund. After continuous efforts they were able to convince farmers who had encroached upon the catchment area to vacate. Once the tank was revived, they developed a system to manage the tank and introduced fishing as an income-generation activity.
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