Sustainable Development - International School of Public Leadership

SALINITY REDUCED BY THE ‘TRENCH’ SYSTEM
Mundra’s story
The story of Mundra Taluka is a tale of how exploitation of resources can drain the
prosperity of a land and its people. Mundra was a green belt where crops such as banana,
groundnut and sugarcane were cultivated and villages such as Zarpara, Dhrub, Bhujpur,
Navinal and Siracha were flush with natural reserves of sweet water.
Dhrub, situated east of Zarpara village, witnessed large-scale migration of Turks in ancient
times. With Turks, came dates from the Middle East. As time passes, The Turks started
sowing date palm seeds in Dhrub -- a land whose soil, water and climate were perfect for
growing dates. The success story of date cultivation in Dhrub spread to nearby villages
and soon date palms covered the entire Mundra Taluka.
Ground water was the major source of irrigation. Earlier, water was drawn by using
leather bags. The seventies saw the use oil engines and electric motors. As a result of
proper irrigation, farming progressed. But this success lured farmers to dig deeper and
draw more and more ground water.
This, unfortunately, was the beginning of a vicious cycle. The greed to have “more” water
brought down the level of ground water. Saline water ingresses in these areas increased
the salt content in ground water. The water was now unfit for irrigation purpose. Farm
produce drastically declined.
People now realised that not using water with discretion was a grave mistake. Their
greed to exploit resources had cost them dear.
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