AHMEDABAD: Water scarcity is a burning issue for several villages in Gujarat. Two non-government organisations (NGOs) – Dr KR Shroff Foundation (KRSF) and Vicharta Samuday Samarthan Manch (VSSM) – collaborated to implement participative water management projects across 24 villages of Sabarkantha district.
As a result of their efforts, some 17 crore litre water was made available across 24 villages.
To execute the project – implemented since early 2023, the two organisations have joined hands to address water scarcity issues in the villages by desilting, deepening and maintaining lakes. The entire project is supported by the Government of Gujarat, as all water management projects have been approved under its Sujalam Sufalam Yojana.
“Water scarcity was a key issue in several of these villages of Poshina taluka. With water levels in lakes and borewells plunging to some 1,000 feet, the availability of water for daily use was a key concern among villagers. However, after key interventions in water bodies, mainly lakes, not only the groundwater levels have recharged but villagers have easy access to water for daily necessities as well as irrigation for their crops. In fact, in certain areas, it opens up the possibility of harvesting two crops in a year which will boost the annual income of villagers and lead to an improvement in their living standards,” said Pratul Shroff, founder, KRSF.
With the support of villagers, the two organisations have worked on the lakes to add an additional 7,500 cubic metres of water storage in each lake. This means, an estimated 17 crore litre water will be made available for usage to a population of 64,000 people across these villages.
