Validating Impact: Field Observations from Waterbody Rejuvenation in Madhya Pradesh
Ramneek Kaur, Postdoctoral Fellow, ACT4D group, IIT Delhi
16 February, 2026
Clear skies and a refreshing cool breeze welcomed us as we landed in Khajuraho for a field visit to remote areas in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Nearly a year has passed since the CoRE Stack team began tracking the impact of waterbody rejuvenation efforts carried out by the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation (ATECF) across India, using remotely-sensed satellite imagery and other secondary data sources. To date, ATECF has rejuvenated 13,720 waterbodies across 13 states and 100+ districts, improving water access for 33,301 villages and over 4 crore people. This three-day visit aimed to validate our methodological choices, indicators, and hypotheses, and to plan the next steps for the Waterbody Impact Monitoring Dashboard being developed by the CoRE Stack team.
Our itinerary was packed with visits to desilted waterbodies and interactions with farmers who had benefitted from the work, either through applying silt carted to their fields, drawing water for irrigation from rejuvenated waterbodies through pumps or irrigation channels, or engaging in fisheries. The desiltation work for waterbodies in this region was facilitated by the Arunoday Sansthan.
Understanding the Local Agricultural Context
As we drove to Manwara village for our first farmer interactions, bright yellow mustard fields stretched across the landscape. The region’s lower water availability compared to the upper Gangetic plain shapes distinct cropping patterns: kharif crops include less water-intensive varieties like masur, soybean, sesame, and groundnut, while winter cropping is dominated by wheat, gram, peas, and mustard.
Our conversations with farmers proved invaluable in connecting waterbody rejuvenation impacts to local realities – surface and groundwater availability, cropping patterns, borewell presence, and agricultural practices including natural farming.
Key Impacts Observed
Enhanced Water Availability and Retention
The most pronounced outcome of desilting was increased water availability, both in surface area and temporal retention. Waterbodies that previously dried up by late November now retain water through February. This extended availability has:
- Boosted winter crop yields
- Enabled shifts in cropping patterns, such as from mustard to moong and soybean to wheat
- Benefitted farmers practicing fisheries through sustained water levels
Productivity Gains from Silt Application
Farmers who procured the silt removed from waterbodies reported significant productivity increases. The black soil prevalent in the region makes the excavated silt highly fertile. Silt-treated plots are visibly greener and healthier, with crops clearly distinguishable from those in untreated fields.
A typical desilting operation extracts approximately 10,000 m³ of silt, which is transported in about 3500 tractor trolleys (each carrying roughly 2.8 m³). Individual farmers may collect anywhere from a few trolleys to as many as 200, depending on their land holdings and resources. The extracted silt may be spread over 0.3 to 0.5 hectares, though the coverage area varies based on whether the waterbody was deepened, widened, or both.
The optimal thickness of silt application remains an important research question that could improve both efficiency and equity in distribution. Current practices suggest that spreading silt 4-5 inches thick over one bigha (in Madhya Pradesh, one acre equals approximately 3.5 bighas) requires about 40 tractor trolleys. By this estimate, desilting 10,000 m³ of silt could benefit approximately 90 bighas, a modest area that raises another critical research question: what is the optimal frequency for waterbody desilting to maximize long-term agricultural benefits?
Synergy with Natural Farming Practices
Over the past decade, natural farming practices have gained momentum in the region, driven by awareness campaigns from government agencies, CSOs, and NGOs. Farmers reported using locally prepared inputs such as Jeevaamrit and Ghan Jeevaamrit to enhance soil health and manage pest infestations.
Prior to silt application, farmers typically needed to supplement these natural inputs with chemical fertilizers – generally applying 1 quintal (100 kg) each of DAP and urea per acre. However, after incorporating nutrient-rich silt into their fields, farmers noted a significant reduction in chemical fertilizer dependence. This synergy between silt application and natural farming methods not only reduces input costs but also creates a promising pathway for transitioning to fully sustainable agriculture.
To date, roughly 2 lakh farmers have benefited from silt carting for the waterbody rejuvenation works done by ATECF across India, reducing dependency on chemical fertilizers and contributing to significant cost savings.
Challenges in Equitable Access
Despite these positive outcomes, we observed equity concerns in silt procurement. Farmers owning tractor trolleys bore only fuel costs, while others had to rent equipment at ₹200–400 per round, depending on the distance between the waterbody and their farms. This resource constraint affects the equitable distribution of silt among village farmers.
Critical Learnings for Impact Assessment
Our field observations yielded two major insights for refining our impact tracking methodology:
1. The Essential Role of Primary Data
We encountered scenarios where satellite data alone may not capture meaningful impacts. Examples include:
- Reduction in chemical fertilizer use due to silt application
- Nature of excavation (widening versus deepening, or both)
- Increases in fisheries activity
These impacts require ground-level data collection to complement remote sensing.
2. Enhanced Criteria for Prioritization
While satellite data can detect reduced water availability over time, prioritizing waterbodies for rejuvenation would benefit from integrating primary data such as:
- Number of households dependent on the waterbody
- Past impact evidence from similar geographies (productivity increases from silt application, reduction in chemical fertilizer use)
This combination of remote sensing and primary data can provide stronger decision support for targeting rejuvenation efforts where they’ll have the greatest impact.
Waterbody Impact Monitoring Dashboard
The Know Your Landscape tool developed by CoRE Stack now includes the functionality to visualise all waterbodies in a Tehsil from a hydrological perspective – with their catchment area, drainage line network, and so on. For waterbodies that are rejuvenated, the Waterbody Impact Monitoring Dashboard shows a deeper analysis in terms of impact of desiliting on surface water availability.
The following visualizations from the waterbody impact monitoring dashboard illustrate how waterbody size influences impact visibility. While improvements in smaller waterbodies may be readily apparent through satellite data, the same may not hold true for larger waterbodies. Water availability is influenced by multiple factors such as rainfall patterns, catchment area, inlet channel conditions that modulate rainfall-to-runoff conversion, and water withdrawals – which can mask the direct impact of desilting interventions.
As we develop the impact assessment dashboard, these field insights will be instrumental in creating a more nuanced, context-aware system that captures both the quantifiable and qualitative dimensions of waterbody rejuvenation.
