Adequate supply of water is vital to sustain life.. It is central to any developmental activity. The desert people had their own water culture which ensured conservation of water in all their activities. However, over the years, this unique desert culture has been lost. They are now in a grip of huge water scarcity situation. Whereas, state planning promoted exploitation of groundwater, it ignored recharging. The problem has become acute, due to virtual non-availability of surface water. Over exploitation, population growth, recurrent droughts and climate changes are primarily responsible for a continuous declining ground water table. Project Sahyog has initiated a unique experiment of recharging ground water in the selected cluster which has shown promising results.

So far, 18 ground water recharging structures in the form of anicuts having a total catchment areas of 9.29 sq. miles and storage capacity of 19.50 mcft have been constructed in the project area at a cost of Rs. 93.5 lacs with 30% community contribution. Considerable increase in area and intensity of vegetation cover as also substantial increase in ground water level has been noticed in vicinity of these water harvesting structures. Despite successive failure of monsoons in 2002, 2004 and 2005 the cluster of villages continues to enjoy adequate availability of drinking water in wells and hand pumps which otherwise would have dried up. In areas, irrigated by wells and tube wells, agriculture production during both rabi and kharif has increased. Soil erosion on down stream sides of these water harvesting structures has also been checked.

To provide safe drinking water to the people, 31 hand pumps have been installed at a total cost of Rs. 8,37,170/- with only 15.4% community contribution as beneficiaries were mainly destitutes. Seven tankas having a storage capacity of 2,91,078 liters have been constructed at a total cost of Rs. 3,44,730/- with 35% community contribution. Six open wells / berries have also been constructed at a total cost of Rs. 3,26,105/- out of which 36% has come through community contribution. These substantial water resources have been created in remote areas. This has ensured life saving drinking water to the deprived population resulting in non-migration in search of water. Infact, the area of village Rajgarh and Jianbera adjoining Gotabar River is now in a position to provide limited support to other areas during drought due to adequate availability of water throughout the year in the six open wells constructed in this belt.

To provide drinking water for the animals, three nadies were desilted and three new nadies in the form of water harvesting structures have been constructed. Total catchment area of these six nadies is 1.31 sq. miles and the storage capacity is 1.07 mcft. Total cost of desilting and construction of these six nadies is Rs. 12,70,814/- out of which community participated to the extent of 32%. The nadies ensure that no ground water is used for animals for better part of the year, thus ensuring conservation of groundwater. Further, traditional nadies are the only source of water for wild life.