Assured Drinking Water Supply through Community Mobilisation

This success story was sent by Mr. D. Rajasekhar (Asst. Adviser) of Department of Drinking Water Supply, as an exemplary instance of community involvement for the sustainability of drinking water in Gujarat.

Avaniya village in Gujarat is situated in Bhavnagar district and has a population of 2750 people with 483 households, and 1200 cattle. Being a coastal village and due to geological reasons, the drinking water sources have high amounts of fluoride (6.5 mg/l) and high total dissolved solids (upto 3000 mg/l) making it unsafe for drinking purposes. Further,during summer seasons, the local sources also dry up.

Community Involvement and Government Handholding

The community here is actively involved in solving the drinking water quality problems.They decided to construct one pond, three check dams having a capacity of 0.019 Mcum,one well recharging structure and 50 roof-top rainwater harvesting structures in households and in one school. The community contributed a part of the capital cost as given below:-

This success story was sent by Mr. D. Rajasekhar (Asst. Adviser) of Department of Drinking Water Supply, as an exemplary instance of community involvement for the sustainability of drinking water in Gujarat.

Impacts and Benefits Accrued

1. Dual water supply has been introduced for availability of Narmada water for drinking andlocal source water for domestic use.

2. l Water table has increased and quality of water has improved.

3. l People are getting safe drinking water regularly.

4. l Eighty percent households have water connection.

5. l Hundred percent water tariff is collected.

6. l Water quality monitoring by the community, regular chlorination at village level.

7. Roof-top rain water harvesting structures in 50 households and a school.

8. Storage structures in every household for water security.