Trees for Water™

Why trees?
The villages chosen for plantation activity face extreme water scarcity. Scanty monsoon fills up to 0.61% of the dam's capacity. As a result, the city receives less than 260 lakh litres of water daily against the demand of 513 lakh litres of water. Officials of public health engineering department supply water via train/ferry (up to 25 lakh litres of water). Plantation of trees in this drought-prone region is expected to improve the water table. The plantation of trees will hold the water with the help of its roots, preventing them both from percolating deep into the soil as well as getting evaporated, (Victoria State Government). The trees play an important role in the hydrological cycle of the forest ecosystems.  Barbara J Bond et al., in her article, ‘How Trees Influence the Hydrological Cycle in Forest Ecosystems.’ Mentions the role of trees in the forest hydrological system.

Tree Species
Neem (Azadirachta indica), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), Babool (Acacia nilotica), Kumtha (Acacia senegal), Kher (Acacia catechu), Chural (Holoptelea integrifolia), Karanj (Pongamia pinnata), Jangle jalebi/Kekar (Pithecellobium dulce), Imli (Tamarindus indica), Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana), Ronj (Acacia lecophloea).

Social Impact
Trees planted will generate employment for the rural communities. The drought-tolerant local species, will provide measures to tackle the consequences of drought. The trees in the desert have deep taproots that utilise deep capillary water and through transpiration maintain the moisture of the atmosphere, which in turn induces rainfall. Tree covers prevent evaporation from rivers, reservoirs, and gravitational and capillary water, thus, maintaining the groundwater table and saving water for agricultural purposes. Planting local trees will help in the sustenance of long-term benefits in Bhilwara. Upon maturity, each tree can absorb approximately 20kg of CO2 per year which is considered globally as a conservative estimate for sequestration potential of trees.

Adoption Summary