Matkuli (lat 22.35 N, long 78.27 E) a market village at the edge of the Satpura hills. The plateau rising above the town recieves over 1000 mm of rain in the 3 monsoon months alone, and most of it is drained by the Denwa river that flows to the south of town. Babbu-bhaiya, a retired schoolteacher and farmer, has this to say.

" The river remains swollen around the year, but compared to ten years ago, the river is not as full in the summer months, about 30-40% less than what it used to be. Now people only collect and drink flowing water, we do not drink water that stands in lakes and ponds. There is no problem about water availability here today, but i feel it is a matter of time before that happens. Ever since tubewells (bore wells) began to be dug here, the ground water level has fallen. Why? because these wells bring water up from 300 -400 feet , and so drain the water that is closer to the surface at 50-60 feet. I consider the tubewell to be the culprit for this. In every village now there are tubewells, anywhere from 25 to 2 even in the smallest, poorest villages. Most farmers want go in for irrigated crops these days."

Q.s "Is there any way to stop their spread ?" A. "Who will stop them. Even the government is digging tubewells. If people agree, then its possible to stop it. It is possible to store rain water, but you need land for that. Now i have 2 bighas (5 acres) of land . If i were to store store rainwater on it, then what would i grow, what would i eat."