*Labourers singing a Tulu folk song*
Chinnappa’s skills are highly sought after
before the summer sets in.
He is often called to repair traditional water conservation structures, locally called katta.
Like all check dams, a katta holds back flowing water in the stream or river and lets the excess flow.
In the case of this check dam, however,
it is the community that funds and builds it.
For 20 years, I have been constructing kattas.
Construction of kattas finishes within two months.
“Then we have to harvest pepper, plough and do other jobs in the local fields.”
“After the water dries in the kattas, we collect soil to reuse it next year.”
“The kattas not only help the farmers, but the entire community.”
It stores water the farmers need for irrigation
for six to seven months, annually,
“and recharges groundwater, benefiting everyone nearby. ”
Kattas are a lifesaver during water shortages.
“Kattas are built with locally available materials like sand,”
rock,
stones, and sacks.
“It also relies on the community’s
traditional wisdom ”
“knowledge regarding the identification of a suitable location, ”
preparation of sticky mud to bind stones,
“or using banana or areca leaves as coating agents, to name a few.”
“They are constructed in November every year after the monsoon”
for the following dry months.
Before monsoons, in May-June,
they are dismantled manually.
“Farmers come together, split expenses about Rs. 2 lakhs annually ”
and build kattas every year.
They also manage their repair and maintenance.
My father…
constructed Nerappadi katta for 35 years.
“Venugopal owns farms and has been supervising the construction of kattas for over 15 years.”
We took notice of the usefulness of katta.
“For instance, in 1997, the katta was not built and it wasn’t filled with water. ”
“When the katta was not filled, the streams dried up on March 8, 1997. ”
“There was a situation where our farms didn’t have water. ”
“That day we understood the problem and the usefulness of a katta. ”
“Because, whenever kattas are full, we will have abundant water. ”
“Be it for cattle or farming, the region’s economy is dependent on water. ”
“Only if we have plenty of water, we can farm.”
“And only if we farm, will the region’s economy get better.”
“Since cash crops such as areca nut, coconuts, banana, and black pepper are mostly grown here,”
” any issues with such crops will affect the local economy. ”
So, water is important for these crops.
“The setback we saw in 1997-98 taught us a lesson. ”
We did not look back after that.
Every year we maintain the katta.
A few kilometres away,
“Berkadavu katta is said to store about 120 million litres of water when full.”
“The 50-year-old katta sustains around 100 acres of farmland.”
“In fact, there are about 40 kattas in the Yethadka stream”
within a 20 km radius.
“The residents believe that Kumbadaje village is the birthplace of kattas.”
However, these symbols of human ingenuity
are not unique to Kerala’s Kasaragod.
“Water bodies running through the villages in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts ”
are also serially dotted with kattas.
“Every year, we observe November 15 as a day for katta.”
“On that day, people from 15 kattas in the village participate and decide how to run them. ”
“We review and discuss the negatives points from the past year on November 15”
“and also decide on a day for the construction of kattas.”
“This annual gathering happens across villages with kattas.”
“At other times, farmers also visit adjacent villages with functioning kattas ”
to learn how to implement them back home.
“Several innovations and modifications to the design are also discussed and shared within the community,”
such as ways to reduce material costs
or how to prevent crabs from making holes in them.
“Journalist Shree Padre writes about farming for regional and national publications. ”
His efforts have repopularised kattas.
“May be half a century ago, thousands of kattas were being built in almost every village.”
With the advent of borewells and
pumpsets,
“people started thinking individually and in a very self-centred way.”
“Katta is useful to all the people living around this area.”
And not only for irrigation,
“even in all the wells and lakes whatever is the increase
in water level in the kattas,”
“corresponding increase in water level will happen in all the water bodies around.”
“So, it helps the community by increasing the local water table considerably.”
According to government reports,
“Kasaragod’s groundwater has been over utilised,
reaching a critical’ level. ”
“However, the potential of surface water, like water flowing in streams,”
remains underutilised.
“While Padre and Venugopal’s works have revived interest in kattas,”
they highlight the need for more.
“The number of kattas has declined over the past few decades due to multiple reasons, ”
such as dependence on groundwater,
lack of skilled labour,
“difficulty transporting raw materials, and issues in sharing costs.”
“The government doesn’t fund the construction of temporary structures such as kattas. ”
“It only supports permanent systems such as vented dams,”
also called vented cross bars.
Kattas are effective,
but, actually, they are a primitive method.
Now, we have more permanent methods
“we have machine-operable shutter like systems, there are regulators.”
Then we have removable FRP [fibreglass reinforced plastic] shutters, vented cross bars.
“So, these kind of systems could be used for so many years.”
“The effect of katta is mainly that it is not economical,”
“because every year they have to re-build the same thing.”
“Once they build the kattas, they will break it after the year ends.”
“Next year, they have to re-build it again and again.”
“So, that will cost them additional labour and cost.”
“We have been using VCBs that were constructed 60 years ago. ”
“After doing some minor repairs, we can use it for 60 more years.”
“Though governments are building VCDs or vented check dams,”
maybe it is our misfortune
“that those who are constructing VCDs do not have enough knowledge”
about water or kattas.
It has become a tragedy.
“Because, they come and think of their own benefit, but water does not store in their check dams. ”
“Even after putting in lakhs and crores, they don’t have the process to withhold the water. ”
It is a failure.
“If farmers are involved and if they are given the funds,”
“even the construction of a small katta would have been profitable.”
“Even for the government, it would have been profitable.”
“The sites are selected through generations, by trial and error.”
“The site is so perfect that there won’t be any side leakages and other things.”
“But when an engineer enters the scenario, a government engineer,”
“generally, the local practice here is that they will never cosult the local community.”
They will take a unilateral decision.
They will fix up a site
“thinking they have the final say in the things.”
When a cement structure is constructed,
every year the shuttering cost
“is far more than constructing a local temporary check dam.”
“The shuttering material what they use is, generally of poor quality.”
“After two-three years, if all planks and shuttering material get damaged,”
“the local communities can’t replace it because it is very expensive.”
“Permanent dams are good, not that it is not good.”
But while constructing those kattas,
“the agricultutralist or whoever is getting the advantage of the katta,”
should definitely be involved.
So, he will know certain things,
which he has been doing for years together.
He will be knowing certain secrets of that place.
But it does not happen in India.
We [Kasaragod] get 3,600 mm of rain.
“If we cant retain water, no one else can retain water!”