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(a) Khadies or streamlets : -In this village there are
four Khadies. One forms its natural boundary on the
south and south-west; and another on the north and
north-east. Two other streamlets pass through the vil-
lage. In spite of such a good number of streamlets the
village has inadequate supply of water for irrigation. The
reason is that the water in each of these streamlets is
soaked up into the bed as early as January except at few
points of its course.
(b) Tanks : The village has fourteen tanks. Four of
these are owned by government and the remaining by
private individuals. The same reason as is given above
for the inadequacy of water-supply holds good in this
case too.
(c) Wells : Wells constitute almost the only source of
water for irrigation in this village when the Khadies and
tanks are empty. Of all the Talukas of the Surat Dis-
trict Bulsar possesses the highest number of wells used
for irrigation, since sugarcane, a wholly irrigated crop, is
its principal commercial crop. In this particular, Atgam
is representative of the Bulsar Taluka in which it is situ-
ated. It possesses no less than eighty-six wells. Of
these only one has fallen out of use ; 16 are used for drink-
ing purposes only, and the remaining 69 are used both
for drinking and for irrigation. Of the 86, 5 are owned
by government, 7 by groups of villagers and the rest by
private individuals.
In view of the importance of wells in the village under
study it is necessary to note their principal characteristics
and how they affect the activities of the people. The
following are some of them :
(i) Water is generally found in most of these wells at
the depth of about 30 to 40 feet. There are, however,
about a dozen wells in the south-west corner of the
vilkge where it is available at a comparatively higher
level varying from 25 to 30 feet from the top. It is
noteworthy that a little to the west of the village site in
Survey numbers 484 and 265 are two wells that