Kutch, the largest district in the country, is affected by cyclical droughts. Sahjeevan, which has worked in this area for over two decades, introduced a community-centric, decentralised drinking water model to help the villages in Kutch achieve water security.   Called ‘Pani Thiye Panjo’ meaning “Let’s make this water ours again”, the project assisted over 100 villages to develop their own water sources and no longer depend on outside sources for water supply. This was developed as a multi-stakeholder programme with three funding agencies – WASMO (Water and Sanitation Management Organisation-the state government’s agency to assist in providing rural water and sanitation, Arghyam and Suzlon Foundation.  The implementation of the programme was carried out by Sahjeevan, and 3 partner NGOs. Some of the main outcomes include:

• Ground Water protection guidelines prepared and implemented in 5 villages. This helped Pani  Samitis manage the shared aquifer judiciously
• Conjunctive use of water resources was ensured. Multiple water sources such as groundwater based piped water supply, hand pumps, rainwater harvesting and dug wells were used to provide water.
• Successful advocacy with government agencies. WASMO & GWSSB acknowledged the need for dual sources of water supply (from centralised distribution and management systems and traditional water sources), geo-hydrological based planning and implementation of drinking water projects and development of a cadre of people who could become barefoot hydro-geologists.

Now, around 60 villages have access to drinking water and hence are no longer face water scarcity.

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Drinking water has been central to any developmental agenda in Kutch due to its hydro-geology and arid climate conditions. In Phase I of this project, Sahjeevan demonstrated the potential of local water sources in drinking water security, even in drought years.

Phase II included capacity building at the Gram Panchayat and Pani Samiti level to develop self-reliance in water governance. The Pani Samitis were strengthened in order to effectively undertake the regional planning and governance of drinking water supplies and resources. The convergence of government schemes for drinking water security was explored under the project for evidence-based advocacy on the preferential pricing of local water with the state. Groundwater protection frameworks, developed by the Panchyathi Raj Institutions (PRIs) was also implemented.

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