water scarcity Bhokardan Maharashtra Jalna district gram panchayat To deal within drought-prone Marathwada, villagers are coming together to learn the importance of judicial use of groundwater resources by sharing it and developing resilience against the harsh climate. Residents from 14 villages intaluka of Jalna, located about 60 km from Aurangabad, are learning to efficiently use of groundwater and budgeting it through a democratic process.The implementation of water budgeting is based on the state government’sGroundwater (Development and Management) Act, 2009, which aims to protect groundwater resources and promote optimum utilisation of water simultaneously.“Majority ofsuffers from drought conditions and water scarcity is common. Hence, the district was selected as a pilot project earlier this year,” said senior researcher Eshwer Kale from Pune-based Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), a nongovernmental organisation. Kale said an aquifer under 14 villages on the ground surface was located. The authorities planned a water governance scheme for the communities around it.“It was found the villages shared a common aquifer and it was decided to attempt and educate a community- based water sharing plan for the villagers through water literacy,” he added. Kale said that if a well or borewell is dug at an individual’s property, it is often considered that the water source is owned by him and he possesses all the rights for the water use.“However, many people fail to realise that such water resources dug across a stretch from land come from a common aquifer and should be shared,” he said adding the challenge was to bring the change in mindset among the villagers. He added that the Groundwater Act of the state government has provisions to bring restrictions on exploitation of groundwater.The act bans groundwater extraction beyond 60 metres. “To implement it, the villagers were taken into confidence to form a Village Water Management Team (VWMT), who will understand the water stock and plan its usage. A resolution was passed atlevel to ensure that villagers accept it,” Kale added.He said the people were convinced that rules already exist and need to be implemented. “Rules were put in place regarding the direct lifting of groundwater, limiting the depth of digging, registration and restricting cultivation of water-intensive crops,” Kale said.Villages also prepared water health chart for the aquifer for chalking of water budget, water-harvesting and water- saving plans. “Slowly people learnt that water is a common property and water crisis is a shared problem. Understanding different aspects of water scarcity, climate change and its effects on their daily lives have helped them to address and adapt to the crisis in a better way,” Kale told Mirror.Meera Shinde from Lingewadi village said earlier no private well owners permitted to lift water from their wells. “The water literacy workshops helped to change the mindset among villagers some well owners allow to draw water upon request for villagers,” she said.Kisan Icche, sarpanch of Kotha Jahangir village, said, “A collective resolution was passed in gram sabha to ban drilling new bore wells and changing the crop pattern during the rabi season.” He added that farmers were also convinced to use drip irrigation techniques to save water.

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