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Gujarat: For successful water conservation, let people collect, act on own data

SELF HELP: Experts say teaching data collection to villagers would help create plan of action

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The need to manage water at the local level, including letting communities collect their own data about water consumption and wastage, is imperative for water conservation efforts to be successful, said experts at a two-day conference on addressing gaps in achieving rural water security.

Balkrishen Pandit, a geologist with the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board said that when communities are empowered to measure their own water tables, it helps them better understand how much water needs to be saved, how much is wasted and what they can do to prevent it. He said that it also makes them more receptive to the idea of water conservation and they are more likely to own assets created for the same.

He gave the example of Kheralu block in Mehsana, where the government initiated a project to help conserve water but it was the community that was made to do the data collection. "Initially when we went, they expected that we would be giving them something. When we asked a villager to measure the level of water in his well he thought we were just wasting his time," said Pandit.

He said a discussion with the community — on how much water the well had a decade ago and how long they thought the water would last them in the future — made them realise the need to conserve water.

"It also helps in many other ways. We also encouraged villages to use rain gauge on their own to measure their rainfall and keep a diligent record. So, in a drought year, the villagers can seek that their village be declared drought-hit just on the basis of the data they have collected," said Pandit.

Sharing his experience of working in areas where water scarcity was the norm, Sachin Oza of Development Support Centre said that there was a need to work on the supply and demand side. "On the supply side, we can look at how to conserve and improve water conservation by desilting of existing ponds and such. On the demand side we can introduce a new variety of corp that uses less water or encourage farmers to switch to crops that are less water intensive but economically profitable," said Oza.

PREVENTING WASTAGE

Balkrishen Pandit, a geologist with the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board said that when communities are empowered to measure their own water tables, it helps them understand how much water needs to be saved, how much is wasted and what can be done to prevent the same

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