Waste water a saviour for withering crops

PALANPUR: A mineral water bottling plant has come as a big saviour for distressed farmers in some villages of Chanasma taluka of Patan district.
Reeling under severe shortage of irrigation water, some farmers are purchasing waste water from this unit as a last-ditch attempt to save their crops that include castor and mustard.

Dharmendra Patel, a farmer in Karoda village, made numerous requests to the Chanasma mamlatdar to release water from Narmada canal through Khorsam-Matpur pipeline. Patel made repeated requests in October as well as November to save the castor crop in three bighas land, but in vain.

“After my hopes of Narmada water were dashed, I contacted the owners of mineral water plant to buy their waste water. The owners showed their willingness to sell their waste water at Rs 100 per tanker. Using my own tanker costs Rs 150 including diesel and labour expenses. So this was much more viable, Patel told TOI.

So far, Patel has used 15 tankers and requires 45 more for the crop to survive.

Patan district received just 30.98% of its average annual rainfall this monsoon with an average of 186 mm and Chanasma has been declared scarcity-hit too.

Two other farmers Bachhu Patel and Arvind Patel in Jabalpur village are also procuring tankers of waste water to irrigate their fields.

“It is under sheer compulsion that we are using waste water from hired tanker. Due to water scarcity, the state government asked farmers not to go for summer cultivation. In monsoon, the rainfall was too less to go for kharif crop and now in winter when we have to rely on irrigation, there is no water,” said another farmer in Chanasma.