How can reviving traditional water bodies and placing women at the centre of water conservation improve drinking-water source sustainability in India's over-exploited blocks?

In 730 of India's 6,762 groundwater assessment units (10.8%), more water is pumped out each year than is recharged [2]. In these blocks, rural drinking water mostly comes from groundwater, so it is the source itself that is running dry. Reviving traditional water bodies refills the source. Putting women at the centre gives the source someone to look after it.

Reviving traditional water bodies: refilling the source

• Local recharge: restoring baolis, wells and village ponds and desilting them lets monsoon water soak in close to drinking-water wells [1].
• Scale: the JSJB 1.0 impact study estimates 2.43 BCM of recharge from 23 lakh structures. This figure is modelled from rainfall data, not measured in wells [1].
• Low cost: the works are hyper-local and paid for through existing schemes such as PMKSY's RRR of water bodies, CAMPA and Finance Commission grants, not through new large projects [1].
• Targeting: JSJB 2.0 focuses on over-exploited and critical districts [1].

Women at the centre: keeping the source working

• Stake: women are the main managers of household water, so they have the most to lose when a source fails.
• Policy push: the 2024 theme was "Nari Shakti se Jal Shakti" [5]. The Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman recognises women's conservation work [1].
• Upkeep: women's SHGs and village water committees can take charge of desilting and stop encroachment. The Standing Committee asked for more funds for local bodies to maintain water bodies [4].
• Community model: JSJB grew out of Gujarat's "Jal Sanchay" effort, which rests on Jan Bhagidari (public participation) [5].

Linking both to drinking-water security

• Current gap: CAG's audit of Jal Jeevan Mission in Punjab found that 88% of 506 schemes depended on over-exploited groundwater. None of the villages checked had planned rainwater harvesting to protect their source [3].
• Fix: write water-body revival into each JJM Village Action Plan, with women-led committees as its owners.
• Demand side: where higher MSP for paddy and free power drive pumping, recharge alone cannot keep up [4]. It should be paired with Atal Bhujal-style village water budgets, which the Committee wants extended to all water-scarce states [4].

Traditional water bodies refill the source, and women-led care keeps it working. If both are tied into drinking-water planning and backed by limits on pumping, "Catch the Rain, Where It Falls, When It Falls" can become lasting source security, in line with SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation for all).