Kul Bahadur Adhikari, a farmer from Rajabas, Bardibas Municipality-3, Mahottari, used to cook with vegetables he bought from the market until two years ago. He was forced to buy vegetables including potatoes, onions, cauliflower and others from traders who came from the southern part of the district to sell them.

If no traders came to the village to sell, he would buy it from the market and run his kitchen. However, this compulsion has now been removed for Kul Bahadur Adhikari. 'There was a severe shortage of water here. We did not grow any vegetables because of the lack of water,' he says. 'Now we have water facilities. Then we started growing vegetables. And the compulsion to buy vegetables and eat them has also ended.'

The conservation pond built through the Chure Upliftment Project, run with the support of the Green Climate Fund, has fulfilled the irrigation needs of the locals. According to Shiva Kumar Rana, a local of Rajabas, 36 families there have received irrigation facilities through the conservation pond built on 13 kattas. 'Rainwater is collected in the pond, and the farmers have used it in their fields by pulling it by motor,' says Rana. 'This is a place where there is a shortage of water. The pond has fulfilled the water shortage.'

Rammaya Khatri of the same place says that the water that comes to every house for drinking water is not enough to irrigate even the vegetable garden. Rammaya has now planted vegetables such as cauliflower and cabbage on two kathas of land. She has thought of selling the excess produce at home. 'We cannot eat all this at home. We will have to sell it,' she says, 'Ours is a fertile and good field. However, we were facing problems with winter crops until we had irrigation.'

Rammaya Khatri has brought and installed an agricultural meter from the Nepal Electricity Authority Bardibas branch. Due to which the cost of drawing water from the pond and bringing it to the garden is also low. She says that drawing water from the pond and using it for vegetables and grain crops will also incur costs.

Kul Bahadur Adhikari says that the irrigation facility has also helped mustard, rice and wheat crops. 'Rice seeds used to burn in the beds due to lack of water. But now, we don't have to face such a problem,' he says.

According to Shivkumar Rana, a small pond was built at that place with the help of various organizations. The water in the pond was not enough. The pond was expanded after demanding the Chure Upathanshiel Project. After the pond was expanded, there is now enough water in the pond. He says that water remains in the pond even during the dry season like Chait-Baishakh.

The locals have a plan to bring water to the pond through a pipe from the water source at the foot of Chure. Rana says that if the water from the source can be brought through a pipe and mixed, there will be no shortage of water even in any dry season and it will be a relief for the farmers.

The pond built within the Marka Community Forest is also an attempt to stop wild animals from coming to human settlements in the forest. It is believed that the trend of animals leaving the forest in search of water due to the lack of drinking water will stop. Shivkumar Rana says that there is a problem of wild animals coming to the settlement in search of water due to the lack of water in the settlement connected to the forest area of ​​Chure.

Last Ashar, the government declared Madhesh Province a drought zone. Along with that, the provincial government also distributed drinking water through fire engines. Although the government distributed water to solve the crisis for the time being, there is no concrete plan from the government for its long-term solution. At the same time that the entire province was declared a drought-stricken area, Bardibas, which is located in the center of Madhesh, became an example. In Bardibas, where the province was declared a drought-stricken area due to the shortage of drinking water, the locals have not only not suffered from the lack of drinking water, but have also imported Chaite rice. Local Ganesh Basnet said that many locals have imported Chaite rice from the Ratu rice fields by planting Chaite rice.

The ponds built in the water sources of Bardibas-3 Kalapani and Marka Chure areas to store water are always in full swing. The ponds, which look like they were built for fish farming, have not only provided employment to the locals, but have also saved thousands of Bardibas residents from water shortages.

Recharge ponds replenish groundwater in the land that is drying up. Rainwater collects in the ponds and keeps the land moist during the dry season, preventing the plants from drying out. Along with protecting the Chure, the organization Paravi Manch Nepal, which is working to conserve water, has built more than 230 ponds in Kalapani, Patu, Bhapsi, Maraha and other areas of the district with the aim of recharging water.

There are facts that water sources are drying up in the world. Environmentalist Nagdev Yadav said that recharge ponds are the most important measure to protect water and water sources in such a situation. Yadav said that if rainwater is collected, stored and recharged, water shortage will be greatly reduced. Yadav, who is also the chairman of Paravi Manch Nepal, claimed that Bardibas was saved from water crisis and said that the objective set by the Paravi Manch and the work done by it are being successful. Yadav informed that the advocacy forum has already constructed about 300 ponds in the Chure area of ​​Dhanusha and Mahottari.

Even though the drinking water scheme elsewhere has not been able to provide water as per the demand, the drinking water organization Bardibas has stated that the entire demand for water has been met in Bardibas. Bhulansen Thakuri, the chairman of Bardibas Small Urban and Drinking Water Consumers' Association Bardibas, says that since the water sources supplied by Bardibas Drinking Water have not decreased much, they are distributing water as per the demand throughout the year. Thakuri said that the drinking water scheme, which has been difficult to meet the water demand of consumers during the dry season after every river, ravine and ravine in the Terai Madhes has dried up, has not been affected this year.

The small urban drinking water organization is storing water from 4 springs around Ratukhola and supplying water to about 6,000 households in Bardibas. Thakuri said that even when water does not fall from the sky and all the rivulets including the Ratu River have dried up, ponds are very important because the water demand is not met from all the sources in the lower Gauridanda foothills, which are reached by flowing through 4 sources, including Kalapani, 2 sources of Patuka, and the source of Gauridanda foothills. He said that it is necessary to conduct a campaign to collect rainwater and save water.

The Ratu Youth Agriculture Group has built 5 ponds on the banks of the Ratu River in Kalapani-Marka with the technical support of the advocacy forum. The members of the group who are connected to the ponds said that along with the storage of water, the youth also earn money. As the ponds did not allow the water source to dry up, farmers in the Kalapani area are planting two crops of rice and the farmers do not have any problem with irrigation to plant any other crops, said Ambar Ale, the group's president. 'Until the pond was built, there was a problem of drinking water and irrigation during the dry season,' said Ale, 'now there is no problem of water at any time.'

Farmers grow two crops of rice, namely spring paddy and winter paddy, from 25 percent of the 150 bighas of cultivable land in the Kalapani area. Chairman Ale said that the group has been using the ponds to conserve water for financial gain and has also been doing fish farming.

The ponds built after the dam was built on the Ratu River through the President's Chure Conservation Plan are now at risk as the dam has weakened. Although efforts are being made to conserve the ponds again, the group's advisor Ganesh Basnet said that the challenge is to protect the ponds from the floods of the rains as the concerned bodies have not shown interest and are avoiding them saying there is no budget. Basnet said that the group's aim is to conserve water and create self-employment for the youth. Since experts have said that the ponds in Chure have reduced the water crisis, if the concerned parties build more ponds in Chure, the water crisis in the Bhawar area can be averted, Basnet said. He says that it would be better if both the pond-building and youth self-employment campaigns could be carried out together.