Enables secondary income for farmers through rabbi sowing
MUMBAI: The ‘Satat Jal’, program initiated by the Wockhardt Foundation under its ‘Adarsh Gram Yojana’ has today resulted in nine villages around Aurangabad having plenty of drinking water for 3,000 households. It also enabled 400 farmers to sow a wheat crop and have sufficient food grains and fodder for their livestock. Women too are happy that they don’t have to walk long distances in search of water, thus reducing their drudgery.
The Satat Jal program, launched prior to the monsoons in 2016, laid an emphasis on de-silting and renovation of the nullah and water percolation tank near the village water supply well through community participation. Farmers from the village came together to widen, deepen, desilt and increase the water holding capacity of existing water structures and recharge aquifer (underground layer of water). The program was launched in 21 adopted villages, of which 9 were completed before the rainy season.
These include the villages of Mandki, Maliwada, Mausala, Khirdi, Ghodegaon, Rasulpura, Apatgaon, Virangaon and Abdimandi, where water conservation structures were renovated before the monsoons to store and recharge the aquifers (groundwater) with a capacity of minimum one crore litters of water. Average rainfall in the project area was between 546.7 to 689.1 mm during the last monsoon (From June to September, 2016). Each water structure was full of rainwater and recharged aquifers three times during the period.
Commenting on the success of the initiative, Sir Dr. Huzaifa Khorakiwala, CEO and Trustee of Wockhardt Foundation, said, “Community based water conservation initiatives have provided the villagers and farmers security against drinking water crises and ensured a gradual increase in livelihoods through the rabbi season crops. We hope to replicate this success in the other villages we adopted, which we believe will go a long way in building a more sustainable future.”
Wockhardt Foundation’s ‘Adarsh Gram Yojana’ was launched in January 2015 and in 2016-17 it adopted 21 villages. The seven key elements of Adarsh Gram Yojana are literacy, primary healthcare, sanitation, employment, water security and purity, electrification and cleanliness.
