1000 Springs Initiative

Last Updated27/12/2021

“Ensure access to water and sanitation for all,” states the 6th Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations.
Aligning with such initiatives, in order to address the water scarcity in Tribal areas, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to harness the potential of springs to meet the scarcity issue.

The 1000 Springs Initiative has been implemented in Odisha with a Community-based organization Gram Vikas.
The initiative aims to ensure better access to clean water to the indigenous tribal communities.
1000 Springs Initiative works to replenish the water bodies in the indigenous communities, situated in the hilly mountainous regions, often facing water scarcity.
This is due to the geographical challenges in reaching the water in these upper areas.
Further, conventional methods for groundwater development using wells, tubes, boreholes are also limited in hills and forests.

This initiative identifies and rejuvenates natural springs which then supports communities by improving sanitation, nutrition, and livelihoods.
In addition to this, the initiative has highlighted the importance of springs or Jharana (as known in the local language) and prompted people to take care of this natural water source.
As part of the 1000 springs initiative, youths from indigenous tribal communities are trained as barefoot hydrologists by leveraging traditional and scientific knowledge.
These trained para-hydrologists identify and map potential springs in their own and nearby habitations using a mobile application.
After this, the data is added to a GIS-based Spring Atlas.
This online inventory of springs helps in locating springs, analyzing their health status, quality of water, discharge capacity, and other physical, chemical, and biological properties.
The data is also used to fill the information gap to develop a national map of springs in the state.
These trained hydrogeologists also go on to train communities and help them form Spring Shed committees to protect, rejuvenate and manage the springs.

According to WHO, globally 827,000 people die as a result of inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene every year.
The lack of access to clean water affects the food security, health, and well-being of human beings.
Further, they also challenge life and make it difficult for socio-economic development.
Springs are natural sources of groundwater in the hilly areas.
These can address the water needs of remote rural areas in mountainous regions.
However, its potential remains unused.
The communities could not do any agriculture, due to the drying of springs, due to climate change.
Moreover, daily household activities were a difficult thing to accomplish due to water issues.
However, the initiative, has not only enhanced their agriculture production but also helped with daily life, increased livelihood potential, and helped in maintaining the ecological balance.
The initiative also encourages the community to practice contour- trenching.
Contour- trenching is the digging of ditches to hold overland runoff rainwater so that it can percolate slowly into the soil.
Moreover, they also engage in plantations.