Ferrocement Society, India has developed curved ferrocement structures. Er Ambegaonkar built a first experimental dam in 2013 near Pune. The dam was named as Bal-chandra bandhara after the ideas of Dr Balkrishna Divekar and Er Chandramohan Hangekar. The design was done by Ferrocement Society India based on the property of ferrocement that it gains strength through shape. Er Subhash Patil from Hatnur Village has now built one such ferrocement dam to conserve the rain water. The amazing part of this ferrocement dam structure is that, it requires less material compared to conventional concrete dam or a Kolhapur type weir or any other cement concrete based structure. This type of ferrocement small dam is very useful for tapping small streams or nallas, where there is a scarcity of water. The best part of the construction is that, we can construct it in any difficult terrain and less accessible areas. Transportation of construction material is not a major problem as very less construction material is required. The material can be handled separately with the light loads and it can be conveyed by unskilled people to the higher altitudes also. Such type of small dams can be constructed in series or like chain on a stream right from top to lower grounds. This makes the stream full of water during flow season. The construction can be done with minimum skilled labour. Even tribal or adiwasi people can be trained to construct the dam. Steel bars, meshes, sand and cement requirement is quite minimum as the thickness of the wall is about 50 mm. It requires not more than 8 to 10 days to construct such dam. The dam and the stored water helps nearby farmers in many ways. Increase in the water table results in rise of water in wells. This is the success of water harvesting in arid areas. The construction of ferrocement small dams is very economic. Govt of Maharashtra in water conservation department has taken a note of such ferrocement small dams. Govt has decided to construct such dams in all regions now. Er. Subhash Patil is living in Hatnur village of Sangli District in India. He is enganged in social activities too. Hatnoor village is a draught affected area in Tasgaon tahsil of Maharashtra. Er Patil decided to construct a ferrocement dam in his village to conserve the water. The dam was designed and constructed under the supervision of Ferrocement society, India. Ferrocement is a simple technology. This translated in to eradication of water scarcity in Hatnur Village. Ferrocement dams can be constructed with PPP model too. Even the farmers can come together and join NGO’s and can harvest water for their own area. They can independently construct such small dams on small streams. NGOs can use the funds from Companys Corporate social responsibility funds. Ferrocement dam structure’s height can be 1.00 m to 3 m. And if you can find a good valley, it can be extended upto 15 m too. The length of bandhara can be increased upto 40 to 50 m. Now the major advantage of the structure is that, when we use are curved components, we get more length for flowing water. 2 metre arch constitutes to 3.14 m of overflow length, so almost it increases 1.50 times of the flow length of conventional straight dams. During the first rain, 80 lakhs liter of water was stored at one stretch within few hours. The water percolated in the strata. The rains were intermittent. The dam got filled 7 times in the rainy season. So almost 5 to 6 crore litre water i.e. 2 mcft of water was harvested. All the wells and bores in nearby area were recharged for the first time. This transformed in to greenery. The farmers are very happy to see the magical construction. This is how the ferrocement dam based on the simple technology can harvest the rain water in the draught prone areas. Simple, rural friendly, cost economic, sustainable technology..- means ferrocement technology. Save natural resources, save time, save environment, use ferrocement. contact: [email protected]