Sankalpa Rural Development Society (SRDS)

The NGO’s mission is to restore ground water using water harvesting systems like borewell recharging. This is achieved by sensitising the community members and conducting awareness drives in drought prone villages. The NGO’s vision/goal is to end water scarcity in India by 2020. With financial assistance from Deshpande Foundation and Sri Satya Sai Trust, SRDS has built more than 150 bore well structures in Haveri, Shiggaon and Savanur districts in Karnataka, and also in Aurangabad and Sangli, Maharashtra. In FY15, the NGO received support from Fidelity, USA.

Farmers Technology Transfer Fund (FTTF) was launched to conduct the following activities: (i) Conducting Gram Sabhas for imparting information on borewell recharge and the use of technology, (ii) Capacity building training for farmers on borewell recharge through rain water harvesting, (iii) Exposure visits for more than 1,000 farmers from different villages, and (iv) Wall paintings on borewells.

SRDS's founder, Mr. Sikandar Meernayak, devised a method to reduce the cost of constructing borewells by 60% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas. The technique used by SRDS to recharge and conserve a water table involves digging up a large pond and directing rainwater to this catchment pond through a series of trenches and piping. This channelled water from ponds is then streamed out to a percolation pit to replenish the water tables and aquifers. This technique is cost-effective, eco-friendly and can be customised to the needs of farmers. 

To create awareness about water conservation in the minds of villagers and farmers, SRDS paints pictures depicting water saving on the walls of hutments. In FY15, the NGO made wall paintings in 67 villages.