JalTara - 45,000 recharge pits, 27 billion liters of groundwater

The monsoon rains have arrived.

That means we have finally completed our third year of the JalTara groundwater recharge project.

I am excited to report that, as part of this year's JalTara project, we dug about 26 thousand pits. These JalTara recharge pits (6 feet deep, 4 feet across at the lowest point in every acre) were dug during the months of April and May in about 55 drought-impacted villages within Jalna district of Maharashtra.

While I was hoping to dig north of 30 thousand JalTara pits, I am very heartened by the progress we made this year in spite of challenges due to unseasonal rains, equipment availability and tight funds.

Over the last three years we have now dug in total about 45 thousand JalTara recharge pits - one recharge pit per acre of farmland with a goal to replenish groundwater at nation-scale. These pits have the ability to recharge about 27 billion liters of groundwater annually.

The real heroes behind JalTara

A large, village-by-village project like JalTara does not get done by one person - there are many many helping hands that are crucial in it's successful execution. And without their help, JalTara would have just remained a dream of mine.

I first want to thank the scores of JalTara sevaks on the ground - without whose unrelenting efforts in mobilizing farmers, managing the digging process under the blazing sun in 40-45 degree heat, this project would not be executed.

No words are enough to thank my dear friend Purushottam Wayal for managing the entire field execution in the villages - from inspiring, training, encouraging the young JalTara sevaks, as well as developing and leading the project on the field.

Much gratitude to the Art of Living Foundation and its social impact team for their wonderful partnership and support for the JalTara initiative. The Jalna field visit from Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Eknath Shinde was a huge boost to the JalTara project.

Also thanks goes to the local governments, sarpanchs, panchayats for their help in facilitating the project in their villages. Also a big thanks to the entire OVBI team for their support.

This year the JCB Corporation generously donated a machine and operator to help the project - much thanks to the executive team there including Jasmeet Singh and Tarun Das for making it happen. Look forward to expanding our partnership in the coming years!

I am also most thankful to my friends and family who donated so generously, encouraged my JalTara vision, connected me with other organizations and individuals who can help with our big goal of making India a water rich nation within this decade. You know who you are, so I won't call you out here. Thanks a million!

Finally, a big thanks to my wife Neema for her strong support for my non-profit passion! She puts up with my frequent trips to India for months on end - encouraging me to pursue this social impact vision wholeheartedly, as she had done during her time in Canada.

As we analyze the data from this year's project, I will share more metrics, reports as well as big plans to take the JalTara dream forward. Our goal is to learn, adapt and build so we can get to our big goal of 50 million recharge pits across 100,000 drought-impacted villages within five years.

Thanks! And stay tuned.