Many residents of Jalna, Maharashtra, are compelled to purchase drinking water each year as a result of their wells depleting during the sweltering summers. Many of these trucks are operated by private enterprises, which raise their prices as demand increases. But in the village of Kolegaon, things were different. After the most recent monsoon, locals were able to plan their water security in Maharashtra and extend their water supply. They used gauges to record the amount of precipitation, computed how much had accumulated in their wells and storage facilities, and determined that there would be no water left over once their main crop was harvested.

Water budgeting and water stewardship India is the most recent attempt by Watershed Organization Trust and it addresses an issue that is becoming more and more prevalent in rural India: water scarcity brought on by ongoing drought and unrestricted extraction. Over the past 50 years, these improvements have contributed to a rise in India’s agricultural output and food security, but farmers are now coming up against environmental constraints, particularly in hard-rock areas like Jalna where the earth cannot effectively absorb or store rainwater. At least half of India’s farms are rain-fed, while large portions of the country are semi-arid.

India has historically spent enormous sums of money building irrigation canals and dams to increase water supplies and look over water conservation plans in India. The government has also made investments in watershed programmes recently to replenish groundwater and stop soil erosion by collecting rainfall runoff through the construction of bunds, ponds, and mini-dams.

The difficulties are clear in Jalna, an area with inconsistent rainfall and persistent agrarian hardship. Many farmers were seen drilling fresh wells in March to supply their fields with water. For watering their orchards, some people installed enormous clay tanks with plastic lining that held thousands of gallons. In the meantime, residents of impoverished communities were already scurrying for drinking water and abandoning their lands in search of wage jobs.

The goal of water stewardship India is to restore community understanding of water resources through the application of contemporary technology. Although it may appear strange, maps and statistics may help us understand what is happening, including how much water is coming in and going out as well as who has access to it and who doesn’t. Read through the publication and download to know more.