According to Harnath Jagawat, Director of Sadguru, "When I discussed the idea to work on water problems in this area, many government officials and politicians laughed at me. They asked where would I work when there was no water in the area. They did not realise that I was thinking of rainwater."

Later, a series of dams were build all along the Machhan to slow down the run-off and impound the water for irrigation. The Sadguru Foundation has also carried out an intensive watershed project by stone trenching and bunding, terracing and planting trees in the area. Since then there has been a total transformation..

"This has been possible only because of constant recharging of groundwater through watershed interventions," explains Rakesh Pandey, Deputyy Director of Sadguru, Who led the team that worked out the technical aspects of the water harvesting structures. "The 'cascadal reservoir model' has been very successful".

The N M Sadguru Water and Development Foundation, a non governmental organisation (NGO) functioning in Dahod district that is known simply as Sadguru, and the residents here have constructed a series of concrete check dams to collect rainwater for irrigation. Moreover, watershed management (WM) measures have been adapted for recharging wells and hand pumps. Their past efforts are bearing fruit today.

Drought is nothing new here, but this year's water scarcity has been particularly devastating. Apart from Saurashtra and Kachchh, the districts fo Dahod and Panchmahals in Gujarat as well as Jhabua and Dhar in the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh are facing a serious drinking water crisis. With little water for irrigation, the first casualty has been agriculture. After the kharif crop (harvested in autumn) failed to a large extent in these areas, there are already signs that the rabi crop (harvested in spring) will suffer a similar fate. "Rainfall was low this year and distributed in such a way that there was no run-off. So, harvesting of water did not take place. Yet many watershed areas, where rainwater harvesting and soil-water conservation measures have been implemented, are better off in terms of water availability," says harnath Jagawat, Directory of Sadguru.

..... "They have tried hard to make running water walk and walking water stop".
..... "Monsoons have failed Gujarat for so many years now that the fact that these people have fought against it is a tale of achievements in itself".