Living Water Landscapes

          Integrated Landscape Approaches to Water Governance 

DCAP’s work on water resources conservation advances an integrated, landscape-based framework that addresses water scarcity, pollution, and governance as interlinked ecological and institutional challenges rather than discrete technical problems. Rooted in regions experiencing acute hydrological stress due to predominantly extractive natural resources use, resulting in their severe degradation, the programme combines regenerative restoration of surface water systems, nature-based pollution treatment, and participatory geospatial planning to realign water use and management with ecological limits and community stewardship. Across its interventions, DCAP foregrounds decentralized institutions, indigenous knowledge, and low-energy ecological technologies, while strategically deploying modern tools such as GIS to enable locally grounded planning and decision-making. Together, these efforts position water not merely as a resource to be managed, but as a living component of socio-ecological systems, requiring governance approaches that are restorative, democratic, and biocentric in orientation.

 

Reviving Surface Water Systems for Groundwater Recharge in Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh.

DCAP has focused on the restoration of traditional surface water bodies (Johads) as decentralized rainwater-harvesting structures. By rejuvenating these historically embedded systems, the programme strengthens groundwater recharge, enhances seasonal water availability, and reconnects communities with indigenous water-management practices that are resilient, low-cost, and ecologically grounded.

 

                                                        

                                                                           

 Pollution Mitigation through Nature-Based Wastewater Treatment

To address growing water pollution, DCAP initiated a pioneering natural wastewater treatment project in Dhikoli Village, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh. The project employs Reed Bed Systems (constructed wetlands) as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional sewage treatment.

These systems harness anaerobic, facultative, and aerobic microbial processes to treat sewage and wastewater without chemical inputs or high energy demand. As the first initiative of its kind in the district, the project sets a benchmark for nature-based technologies that simultaneously mitigate pollution, recover water quality, and rejuvenate local ecosystems.

 

                                                           

                                                                                                            Treated Sewage collected in Johad

 

Community level Application of GIS Technology for Integrated Natural Resource Mapping and Planning

DCAP’s approach to planning begins with understanding landscapes as living systems. Decentralized Natural Resource Mapping (DNRM) is a participatory, community-based approach to the identification, documentation, and management of natural resources such as water bodies, forests, grazing lands, soil types, minerals, and biodiversity at the local level. It emphasizes local ownership, indigenous knowledge, and local environmental decision-making, and it often serves as a foundational step for strengthening biocentrism.

Building on this philosophy, DCAP initiated a pioneering project in Takula Block, Almora District (Uttarakhand), to bring Geospatial Information System (GIS) technology to local communities for decentralized, participatory Resource Mapping and Planning. While GIS in India has largely benefited national and state -level governance and business, this project aimed to empower local bodies—particularly Panchayati Raj Institutions—to prepare development plans (annual and five-year) focused on Integrated Natural Resource Management, especially water resource conservation and the revival of the non-glacial  Kosi River.

Key Features and Achievements:

  • Conducted a Participatory Inventory of natural resources, demographics, and infrastructure in all 175 villages of Takula Block, Almora District.
  • Digitized cadastral maps at 1:1000 scale for 175 villages.
  • Created comprehensive GIS-based maps:
    • 175 Village Resource & Planning Maps
    • 89 Gram Panchayat Maps
    • 7 Nyaya Panchayat Maps
    • 1 Block Map
  • Integrated database covering 45 main and 133 sub-parameters across demography, infrastructure, natural resources, and development needs.
  • Developed thematic maps on natural resource issues at the block level, linked to individual village maps and datasets.
  • Outputs are actively used by revenue villages and shared with local administration. The data has been uploaded to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) website, GoI