Water Conservation and Ground Water Recharge in Aurangabad District in Maharashtra

Project Background:

Gangapur 19.699°N 75.0°E is located on west side of Aurangabad-Ahmednagar Highway, 38 km from Aurangabad. Gangapur Taluka is bounded by Aurangabad Taluka towards East, Nevasa Taluka towards South, Khultabad Taluka towards North, Vaijapur Taluka towards west. Aurangabad City, Vaijapur City, Paithan City, Shrirampur City are the nearby Cities to Gangapur. The Project villages are situated in Gangapur block in a periphery of 10-15 kms from each other and 20-25 kms from Gangapur. The livelihood in the area is primarily dependent on Agriculture with 80 % area is cultivated under rainfed Agriculture.

Availability of Water for drinking and Irrigation purpose are the major concern in the project villages due to low rainfall and poor water harvesting structures. Agriculture is another area of concern where the crop productivity is declining. The villages has majority of marginal and small farmers who are facing the economic crises due to dependency on rainfall for agriculture and poor irrigation facility.

Surface water plays an important role in the regulation of groundwater and not only provides scope to various industrial and agricultural activities, but also opens pathways to improved livelihood and income generation for the rural population. Thus, to increase the groundwater potential and fulfil the demand of water to support various agricultural and allied activities, it is imperative to rejuvenate existing water resources & also create new structures for effective Conservation of surface water. Hence the project aims at promotion of ecologically sound and efficacious water harvesting to augment groundwater supplies locally; improve water efficiency and ground water quality through freshwater recharge.

Project Objectives:

The project will be addressing following specific objectives and interventions.

• Working towards improved Water Productivity and Water use efficiency through active community participation
• Ground water augmentation through artificial recharge/rain water harvesting.