Participatory Water Management

The world has realized the significance of water management and its impact on climate change phenomenon. Water and weather, the delicate balance between evaporation and precipitation, is the primary cycle through which climate change is felt. As our climate changes, droughts, floods, sea-level rise and storms intensify or alter, often with severe consequences. The state of Gujarat is no different as there are several regions in North Gujarat as well as Saurashtra which witness extreme weather conditions in the form of alternating droughts and floods. As it is popularly said, the next world war will be for water, we felt that the next deprivation and migration will be due to the water crisis. In the past, we had seen such instances in Saurashtra where a rich farmer had moved to the city living in a dingy room only because he could not till the land anymore in his native due to water crisis.

Vicharta Samuday Samarthan Manch (VSSM) – the mother organization – primarily works with the Nomadic and De-notified communities. While working, it realized the water crisis in the Northern region of Banaskantha. The ground water tables were below 800 – 1000 ft. The lack of awareness led the people to extract the water through borewell and the condition was worsening day by day. VSSM has been active in Banaskantha since its inception. It is a district bracketed in the dark zone by the state government or in other words, the citizens here are prohibited from sinking a borewell so VSSM decided to initiate the participatory water management efforts from some of the most remote and water starved villages of Banaskantha.

Vimukt Foundation is taking up the charge of programme with same vigor and zeal. It goes without saying that VSSM will ensure and supervise smooth functioning of the programme until Vimukt Foundation takes hold of the programme at full scale.

So far VF has excavated 9 lakes in Banaskantha District.

The entire initiative is carried out with equal participation from the village community. VF has walked out of the villages that have refused to comply to the required commitment.