Ambuja Cement Ltd

Community-based water resource management

in Western Rajasthan
Company Information

Ambuja Cements Ltd. (ACL) is one of the leading cement manufacturing companies in India.
The company commenced cement production in 1986. In 2006 global cement company
Holcim acquired management control and today holds just over 50% equity in ACL. ACL’s
current capacity for cement production is about 27.25 million tonnes per year (MTPA). ACL
has five integrated cement manufacturing plants and eight cement grinding units across
India. The company has about 4500 employees and the annual turnover was INR 9,257
crores (~USD 1.5 billion) in 2012. In Western Rajasthan, ACL has 3.6 MTPA plant at
Rabriyabas (Pali district) and a proposed cement plant of 4.5 MTPA at Marwar Mundwa
(Nagaur district).

The business case for good water management

ACL, in line with its corporate sustainable development philosophy, has been in the forefront
of environmental improvement initiatives in India. In Western Rajasthan, ACL operates a
cement plant at Rabriyawas of Pali district and one more upcoming plant at Marwar Mundwa
of Nagaur district. This part of western Rajasthan is very arid: rainfall here is
characteristically scanty and uneven which varies from 100 to 350 mm. The maximum and
minimum temperatures so far recorded are 47°C and 1°C respectively.

There is no perennial source of water and the groundwater is the only source to fill the
drinking water well as irrigation needs in the area. Day by day the groundwater table was
depleting due to over-exploration of this very critical natural resource in the area. Water is a
critical resource for cement plant operation and about 2,000m³ of water is required per day
to run a 2.0 MTPA plant in the area. Looking to the scarcity of rainfall and continuously
depleting groundwater table, it was very difficult to obtain groundwater extraction permission
from the government, as well as to negotiate water use with the community.

To ensure the long-term sustainability of the plant operations and to address the drinking
water needs of the community, ACL decided to take-up this challenge and develop a long
term strategy plan to work on Water Resources Management in the area. This responsibility
was taken by the Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) who took on the long-term planning and
delivery of this programme for the company. Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF),
established in 1993, is the social development arm of Ambuja Cement Ltd. working
exclusively with rural communities on the issues related to water resource management and
socio-economic development. The company’s ‘water journey’ started in 2003 in 2 villages
around Rabriyawas plant and is now operational in the 75 villages around both plants in two
districts.

ACL is the first cement company in India to be certified as being two times “Water Positive”
by a third-party auditor. This exercise has not only yielded systematic accounting of our
water footprints in all our operations, colony and offices but also water recharges through our
mine pits and water structures in the community. After establishing the base-line it will help
us to be water positive by even greater margins in the years to come. Hence ACL, in line
with its corporate philosophy of ‘Sustainable business and development’, has committed to
be water positive by five times in the next 5 years

The issue

Western Rajasthan has an arid to semiarid climate, characterized by low and erratic rainfall
distribution, extreme annual temperature fluctuations, low humidity and high wind velocity.
With average annual rainfall of only 317mm, this is the most arid region in India. Water is
available through rainfall and groundwater. Rainfall is only really available in the summer
monsoon season and through water collected in small ponds or tanks which remains for a
limited period only. There are no major surface water bodies like rivers, lakes or canals:
groundwater is the principal source to fulfill demand for domestic, agricultural and industrial
purposes. The average rate of groundwater table depletion in the Pali and Nagaur districts
has been more than 0.4 m per year, and over-abstraction of groundwater has led to water
quality problems. Between 1996 and 2001, the number of villages suffering from quality
problems in drinking water in Pali increased from 13.3% to 66.2% and in Nagaur from 42.5%
to 82.7%. Groundwater in this region is already over-exploited, with high salinity and high
fluoride content, making it unfit for human consumption. About 80% of the population of both
district lives in rural areas and has agriculture as the primary source of livelihood. Famines
are frequent, often causing mass migration of populations.

Manufacturing of cement is a highly water intensive activity: the Rabriyawas plant requires
approximately 2,124 m³water per day. The local communities depend on the same water
resources as the company. To ensure drinking and irrigation water availability in the
surrounding villages, ACF has initiated rain-water harvesting and water conservation
activities, and is creating awareness on the judicious use of water in agriculture. Assured
availability of water leads to prosperity in agriculture, and reduces pressure on groundwater
resources.

The response

The main objectives

1) To ensure availability of potable water in every household in 75 neighboring villages
by 2020
2) To increase water productivity which leads to crop diversification and higher incomes
in the farming community
3) Awareness and sensitization of the community towards water use
4) To attain and sustain ‘five times water positive’ by 2020 i.e. return five times more
water to the surrounding area than is used in the plant in each year

Actions taken

Within the plant boundary, ACL is reducing its own water consumption per unit of cement
production through adoption of efficient technologies, water recycling and water harvesting.
In parallel, ACF began awareness campaigns in the local villages in 2003. Several village
level meetings were conducted, and the community problems analyzed through participatory
approaches. The communities’ priority is water for drinking and irrigation, and so the future
action plan was jointly prepared to address water scarcity and the frequent famine problems.
The following actions were taken:

Rainwater harvesting:
 Revival/renovation of traditional water harvesting system such as Talab/Nadi
(seasonal rivers/ponds): Nadi’s are used to store water from an adjoining natural
 catchment during the rainy season. 313 Nadis and Talabs have been de-silted and
therefore now have an increased storage capacity. The sites of every Nadi
renovation were selected by the villagers based on available natural catchments
and water yield potential. Water availability from Nadis ranges from two months to a
year after the rains.
 Roof Rainwater Harvesting Structure (RRWHS) at household and community
levels: ACF promoted 1,112 RRWHSs (capacity of 18,000 l per RRWHS) at
Kaccha (made of mud, grass, bamboo or thatch) and Paccka (made from durable
material eg stone or brick) houses in the area to meet the potable water
requirements of households. Safe and secured drinking water is now available at
the doorstep for at least 4-5 months, greatly reducing time-consuming and laborious
water-collection by village women. ACF provides 30% of the total cost of RRWHS
whereas the remaining 70% is contributed by beneficiaries in terms of labor and
materials from the community.
 Khadin/Dhora: this ingenious construction harvests surface runoff water for use in
agriculture. Its main feature is a 100-300m
earthen embankment built across lower hill
slopes lying below gravelly uplands.
Sluices and spillways allow excess water
to drain off. The Khadin system is based
on the principle of harvesting rainwater on
farmland and subsequent use of this
water-saturated land for crop production.
 Farm ponds: to harvest runoff water from
local fields, 38 farm ponds were
constructed to ensure supplementary irrigation covering about 75 ha.
 Check dams: these are small barriers constructed across drainage channels to store
rainwater for agriculture purpose and groundwater recharge.

Check dam Tube well recharge

Groundwater recharge
 Tube well recharge: in nearby project villages, some tube wells are dry and defunct.
These tube wells can be used to recharge the groundwater table, so ACF helped
connect them to the nearby roof area to recharge groundwater in the hard rock
region.
 Subsurface dykes: sixteen subsurface
dykes (a subsurface barrier in river bed
where alluvial deposits found)
constructed by ACF in 11 villages to
conserve and utilize groundwater are a
unique feature of Pali district. The
success of the sub-surface dyke shows it
to be one of the most feasible methods
for conservation and well-managed use
 of groundwater resources in sandy rivers in the arid or semi arid areas.

 Percolation well: 32 percolation wells (which divert surface runoff water to open
wells and stored water percolates down and join groundwater) were built in 15
villages. A huge impact on the groundwater recharge has been recorded due to
these percolation wells. The groundwater level of pre and post monsoon shown
positive change in water levels. A total of 120 tube wells recharged are located
downstream of the percolation wells,
which helps bring a larger area under
cultivation.

Percolation well

Improve water use efficiency

The productivity of available water is improved through the promotion of water efficient
irrigation methods and by creating awareness among farmers through demonstration and
exposure visits to other areas. Methods include:
 Promotion of improved surface irrigation i.e lining of canals, irrigation through closed
pipelines to minimize evaporation.
 Promotion of micro irrigation systems i.e drip irrigation /sprinklers
 Earthen farm bunds: these are constructed across the land slope to harvest surface
runoff as well as control soil erosion. These structures are very useful in soil moisture
conservation (eg below picture).

Earthen Farm bund

Village level institutions

Generating awareness on the use of available water is an important way to ensure
community participation in all aspects of good water management. ACF focused on creating
future water champions through school rallies and drawing competitions on water
conservation and environment, and village institutions have been established e.g. Water
User Association (WUA) in which all water users members are responsible for water
management awareness creation, organizing seminars/workshops, strengthening the WAU
sub-committee, links with local governments e.g. Panchayats. The Plant managers, Health
 and Safety managers, and environmental experts from ACL are also involved to strengthen
these institutions.

Problems and difficulties

A key challenge at the outset was mobilizing people and ensuring they could organize
themselves in a structured and technically sound manner. At the start, ACF had believed that,
because water is a common problem for all people living and working in the area, and its
magnitude should be large enough to mobilize everyone together, little financial support would
be needed. However, communities expected a high level of financial assistance from the
company. ACF organized exposure visits and learning sessions with voluntary/non-
governmental organizations, which work on community-based natural resource management in
rural region. This direct exposure and learning convinced the communities that both active
participation, along with financial contributions, were necessary. This meant that strong internal
communication on progress and challenges was important throughout the work. It was also
important to understand what the communities themselves would be contributing: in the case of
pond deepening and de-silting, ACF provided the technical support and did soil excavation,
whereas the soil excavated was transported away by the communities and used to spread on
their fields for farm bunding (embankment creation). In the case of rooftop rainwater harvesting,
several families in the village were too poor to afford the one-time investment cost, and, in these
cases, ACF took the decision to financially support them up to 25 % of the total cost of
construction and the remaining cost born by the beneficiary’s family. They did construction work
themselves, ACF only provide technical inputs during construction.

The Result:
1. Outcomes – environmental benefit:
 75 villages covering 365,000 inhabitants saw a 14.81 mm³ (Million Cubic Meter) rise
in water storage capacity since 2003 by following interventions.

Name of Water Resource Management Total cumulative impact

activity (number)
Di-silting and renovation of Pond/Nadi 313
RRWHS 1,112
Khadin 16
Farm pond 38
Check dam 21
Tube well recharge 128
Subsurface dyke 20
Percolation well 32
Micro Irrigation System 540.27 ha

 A total of 1,715 water harvesting structures have been renovated or constructed.

 ACF interventions have reduced groundwater exploitation through water harvesting
to increase storage capacity, groundwater recharges and reduced pumping by
promoting efficient irrigation methods and awareness among local communities and
farmers.
 Increased availability of potable water in the villages for an additional 3-4 months in
the year (i.e. total now 10-12 months).
 Pond renovation leads to an increase in the groundwater table, which, in turn,
impacts the quality of groundwater in areas around the ponds.
 Observation wells within the influence zone of a Khadin show an average water level
rise of 2.21m between pre and post monsoon.
 In the Khadin in Balada village, an additional 41 ha of land belonging to 5 households
were brought under crop cultivation.
  Farm ponds and Khadin are a successfully demonstrated adaptation to climate
change/variability: during excess rain these structure hold water and when rain is low
they hold soil moisture.
 Soil and water conservation activities such as farm bunds have decreased soil
erosion. Treatment in the catchment area led to a decrease in soil erosion.
 The higher moisture content in the ground has led to an increase in the vegetation in
the area.

Outcomes – socio-economic
benefits in local communities:

 Reduced female drudgery:

water availability at a
household level has reduced
the heavy burden on women
to walk up to 5km per day to
collect water. Now, water is
available almost all the year
in their village ponds, open
wells rooftop rainwater
harvesting structures etc.
This saves between 1 and 4
hours of labour each day for
the women.
 Due to the availability of clean drinking water in the community, an improvement in
health conditions has been observed among ACL workers and their families.
 Increased water productivity means more production per liter of water. By promoting
efficient water management techniques i.e. micro irrigation system, farm pond,
improved surface irrigation method, water conveyance through lined channels or pipe
line etc., water productivity has increased in the area.
 Higher awareness levels in the communities about maintenance of traditional water
bodies and on the importance of people participation and collaborative efforts for
successful water management.
 Newly created storage capacity captures excess rainfall and ensures availability of
clean drinking water for longer periods throughout the year.
 Investment in Khadins was found to be economically sound: assuming a total life of
15 years and considering that 5 of these will be good rainfall years, the benefit/cost
ratio for the system is estimated to be 2.35.
 Farmers with wells within the influence area of a subsurface dyke saw increased
livestock holdings (of 55%) and higher milk yield per animal.
 Reduced family annual expenditure on water purchase (previously they purchased
from suppliers who bring water in tankers collected from tube wells or the canal at
Nagaur) and on medicines to cure water-borne diseases (INR 2,324/yr (~USD39/yr)
in Balada and INR 4,500/yr (~USD75/yr) in Mundwa)
 In Balada village, wells under the influence area of a rehabilitated pond showed a
rise in water levels. The increased recharge benefited 120 farmers with an additional
120 acres of land irrigated from the wells.
 Kharif crops (crops grown in the monsoon) grown on the Khadin bed gave a much
higher yield and net return compared to those cultivated outside the Khadin area.
 The aggregate incremental net return from crops cultivated using a Khadin in Balada
village water was INR 1,676,000 (~USD 28,000).
7. Lessons Learned:
After working so closely with the community from 2005 to 2013 ACL learnt several lessons:
 The revival of traditional, decentralized drinking water sources is the most reliable and
sustainable solution to water provision in water scarce regions. Structures like RRWHSs,
Water Storage Structures and ponds etc are more reliable and less erratic than a
centralized water supply and are effective as managed by local communities themselves.
These structures require less maintenance as well as fewer external resources.
 A high degree of local participation is essential for long-term benefits to the people.
Resource management has to be handed to the community for project sustainability.
Village level “Water User Associations” were successfully developed at all villages for
participatory planning, implementation and monitoring of the community assets
developed. The community and the company have evolved together and learnt much
from the project.
 Wherever possible, ACF develops a knowledge-based partnership with local NGOs and
Government departments to share the best practices, techniques and knowledge.

Support Material
Technical papers and impact assessment study can be provided.

Abbreviations
ACL – Ambuja Cement Limited ACF – Ambuja Cement Foundation
Ha – Hectare MCM – Million Cubic Meters
RRWHS – Roof Rain water Harvesting Structure
WUA – Water User Association WST– Water Storage Tank

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