At TOTAL, wherever we operate, we engage with communities and ensure that our actions consistently deliver economic, social and environmental value-addition. Welfare of society at large is a priority for TOTAL and in India, TOTAL helped a village in drought prone rural India to overcome the problem of water shortage by helping them with rain water harvesting facilities. This project benefited the village immensely.
Agriculture and the challenge of draught
Agriculture in India has a significant history. Agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic fabric of India. A majority of cultivated land is dependent on monsoons for irrigation.
Monsoon pattern is quite uneven. Some areas witness very heavy rainfall while some areas have lesser rains. The distribution of water is quite uneven resulting into draught prone situations in some areas. Because of lack of proper irrigation facilities, agriculture activities in draught prone areas are suffering.
Draught in rural areas
In the Indian state of Maharashtra, rural Marathwada region is one such draught prone area where scarcity of water is an acute problem.
Tondoli village in this region has always faced shortage of water for agriculture as well as domestic purposes. Due to the lack of storage facilities, almost 8000000 liters of the rainwater was wasted. The water supply was done through water tankers which were inadequate and the water was not potable enough.
Overcoming the water woes
Total India undertook an initiative ‘Varsha Jal’ – a rain water harvesting project to help the villagers overcome water shortage.
TOTAL India helped the villagers to make underground ponds using the patented technology for storing the rain water. This structure of Rain Water Harvesting (RwH) patented by the service provider replenish underground water table and create water security for generations and provide clean drinking water. Excavation work is done using construction machineries to insert plastic sheet made by the service provider’s patented products which does not have any negative impact to soil. A slope is then created to guide rain fall to reach the trench created which is 15-30 meters down the sub soil. The bottom of the trench is filled with Porous soil.
For agriculture purpose, five such structures were created. These structures enabled the farmers to harvest more than 25 million liters of water every year and increased moisture levels and productivity in five hectare land.
For domestic purpose, 15 structures were created around the community wells which helped villagers to harvest more than 75 million liters of water every year and provide drinking water security by increasing water levels in these wells due to increase in water levels in sub soil.
TOTAL is committed to ensuring that our activities have positive impacts for the society as a whole, local economies and countries. In this spirit, TOTAL looks forward to carrying more projects for the benefit of all.
Team TOTAL with the members of village.
A trench being created to store the rain water in sub soil .
