Watershed management training, Maharastra, India

The research project, Conjunctive Use of Water Resources in Deccan Trap, India, ran from April 1, 1992, to May 31, 1996. BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune, India, and University of Windsor Earth Sciences, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, worked with the tribal and rural people of Akole Taluka, Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra State. The goal was to improve the management of water resources by the people. The purpose was to design a management strategy for year-round availability of a domestic water supply. Participatory management was an essential component of the project. Demonstration sites of water harvesting and spreading for conjunctive use satisfied the domestic water needs of the people within the project term (Sohani, Simpson, et al., 1998). The project outcomes are sustainable. Hartvelt and Okun (1991) and Oyebande (1995) emphasized the importance of education and training in capacity building1 for the management of water resources. The objective of the present account is to describe how these major components of human resource development contributed to the success of the project in Akole Taluka and also has provided a basis for continued cooperation of BAIF and the University of Windsor, up to the present day. The authors were the Canadian (FS) and Indian (GS) project leaders.