We
believe that Decentralized drinking water is the most reliable alternative
to overcome the drinking water problem in the district. Decentralized
meaning the village is self reliant in terms of its drinking water
needs. This could be done through Shallow Aquifer Development and
reviving the traditional Virdas, Well, Talab etc. as well as creating
Village Water Committees for efficient management of available water
sources and resource.
Over these
last few years more than 60 villages have developed their own sources
and are managing these systems on their own. In collaboration with
WASMO (Water and Sanitation Management Organization) a government
organization in-charge of ensuring that the villages have safe drinking
water, Sahjeevan has developed a drinking water plan for the Taluka
of Abdasa. At present 12 of these villages have begun developing
their sources with Sahjeevan support and WASMO is providing the
finances and implementation support for the distribution network
within the village. The Taluka headquarters Naliya Panchayat too
is being supported to implement their independent drinking water
plan.
It is proposed that
over the next 2 years, Abdasa Taluka will be completely covered
under this concept. Simultaneously we propose that all the Talukas
(9) prepare their plans over these three years.
Aquifer
Management
In
the different areas where water recharge activities are being taken
up, there too it is important to support the systems developed by
villages for water sharing with policy. As the aquifers are developed
for drinking water, again it will become important to protect these
resources solely for drinking water alone. With the enormous information
and understanding of the water resources of Kutch, we propose to
mobilize support for a comprehensive ground water legislation being
designed that we will facilitate.
Master plan for drought relief
To ensure that the large
amounts of funds that come for drought relief are used for useful
works, we have demonstrated an alternative model in the form of
the drought proofing programme that was implemented in the drought
of 2002-03 in 30 villages. We also got a comprehensive analysis
done of the drought relief manual and proposed implementing strategies
to incorporate drought proofing. We have proposed that all the villages
have a master plan prepared well before a drought happens so as
to ensure that productive works are taken up. We also propose that
rural youth are trained as para water technicians to be able to
implement these plans in droughts.
Capacity
Building
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Perspective building
for decision makers in organizations |
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Skill based training for organization
staff, Para engineers, village committee members |
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Accompanying by deputing technical
people in the organizations, Sangathans; providing specific
inputs during planning and implementation. |
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