Surdi village is an example for watershed water conservation due to its efforts. To overcome the problem of water, all the villagers including the women and children of the village have started a unique initiative. They have set up community development centers in an area of 18,070 sqm.
Villagers say that most of the wells present here have completely dried up. Because of this many people were forced to leave Surdi forever and go to live somewhere else. Many of these also tried to sell their farms but were unsuccessful. Due to paucity of water, no one was ready to buy their land. It was decided that to meet the water shortage in the village, the people of the community would jointly undertake watershed management projects.
Without waiting for help, the people of the village, including women and children, came forward to dig a 600-meter-long ditch along the border of Surdi village. By doing this rain water could be collected. The initial money for this work was invested by the people of the community. Then the gram panchayat contacted the state agriculture department which helped provide technical support for the project with necessary government approvals.
With a concerted effort and hard work, the villagers have made small basins and ponds to store water on the top of the mountain.
Source - Primary Research