Lots have been spoken and written about water problems faced by the people. We in Goa receive heavy rainfall from the south west monsoon from June to September. The annual average rainfall of Goa is around 120 inches that is approximately 3000mm. In spite of this we complain about water. Why are we facing this problem of water shortage? There are many who suggest that we should have a water harvesting system, so that we don’t have water scarcity. Water harvesting is not new to Goa. Our ancestors were visionaries and they knew the importance of water for sustaining life. Historically, we will find that people would start their settlements near a place where there is availability of potable water. A good example is of Fontainhas ward, where the new settlers in Panjim started constructing their houses. The choice was because of the spring called ‘Fonte Fenix’, which gave potable water for the people of the area.
Goa’s main activity being agriculture it was important to have water resources throughout the year and not only depend on the monsoons, because it rained only during June to September. In October the monsoons would recede with sporadic showers including some in November. So a territory that depended on agriculture for their subsistence had to look around for other sources of water besides the rainfall, even if it was abundant.
Fortunately our ancestors had foresight. They decided to solve the problem of water by building water tanks in the villages which is called ‘tollem’ (Alagoa in Portuguese). The stored water was used to irrigate and cultivate paddy in the rabi (vaigon) season, which gave us the second crop of rice and also other horticultural produces. If we peruse the land records of the villages or go through the Bosquejo Historico das Comunidades, Filipe Neri Xavier’s opus magnum, one will find that every village had at least one ‘tollem’. These were manmade reservoirs to store the rain waters for agricultural activity during the remaining months. The farmers would cultivate a second crop of rice beginning from November. The main activity was carried in midland (kher) fields, which were closer to the tollem.
There were rules to be followed for management of the tollem. Firstly, the paddy cultivated in these fields had to be harvested within a certain fixed date. For example, Filipe Neri writes that the closing of the gate of the Comunidade of Morombim-o-pequeno tollem had to begin from August 29. That was in the mid nineteen century. However, my personal experience in sixties and seventies is that it had to be closed on September 3.
This cutoff date would enable the committee in charge of harvesting the water to be sure that they got heavy rains to fill the tollem. There were times when the rice was not ready for harvesting. In this case the farmers moved an application to the concerned authorities, to the Administrador das Comunidades in olden times and later to the Mamlatdar to allow them a few more days to harvest the paddy and not to close the doors or opening of the tank. A maximum of two to three days was granted. Closing in time was important because if after closing there was no sufficient rainfall, it would not be possible to harvest rain water. In the Comunidade of Murda, also in the village of Merces, the huge water tank lies on the border line with neighbouring Santa Cruz village (running parallel to the new highway road), the opening had to be closed on September 3.
Retaining the harvested water is done by a very old system where wooden planks called ‘daram’ (door) are used to close the opening of the tollem. The planks would be removed only after harvesting the paddy from the fields cultivated for rabi season or when they wanted to drain the water from the tollem. The water was also used for pisciculture. With little water left, it was easy to harvest the fish, which was sweet water fish variety. These included the ‘dadde’, tigur, sangtam, which were used by the house wife to dry and make the tasty fish pickle, ‘para’.
The tank was not completely dry and water remained in the nulla inside the tank. This was put to good use by the farmers who tilled the land to cultivate winter crops like beans, water melons, radish, onions, chillies, etc.
To begin the rabi season cultivation, the fields would be irrigated with the water of the tollem. Special paths are made from a few smaller openings from where the water would flow for irrigation. These openings are called ‘sadd’. The comunidade appointed a person responsible for irrigating the fields. He was called ‘Regador’. To begin with, he had to make a small pathway, which allowed the released water to flow. Water would be released by the ‘Regador’ according to the needs of the farmers.
This system of having tollem in the village not only helped the farmer increase the yield of the fields by having a second crop of rice but also increase horticulture produce. The Comunidade would benefit from pisciculture and they leased the fish harvesting to the highest bidder.
The tollem also helped in increasing the water table of the wells and provide coolness to the surrounding area. Besides the fruit bearing trees in the vicinity also gave a better output. A number of migratory birds visited the tollem, and when hunting of birds was allowed many hunters visited the area to shoot the birds and enjoy the catch.
Unfortunately, today many of the tollems are not used for harvesting the rainwater and they are left fallow. The Comunidades have no interest in looking after the management of these age old tradition as they are not getting any income from the fields. Earlier the income obtained by the Comunidade was used for maintenance and infrastructure of the land. Presently it is managed by a committee called Tenants Association (Xetkar Committee). The members of this committee are politically appointed persons, and as always, wherever politics have entered we have hit a deadwall!
