Group exercise: Water Budgeting

After gathering information on the sources and water supply infrastructure, the VWSC and the planning team will use the information to prepare their village plan and integration into Gram Panchayat Development Plan.

A water budget is prepared by estimating how much water is available from the surface, ground sources and rainwater harvesting and comparing this with how much water the users require. This should be done for summer and winter. Communities should use a combination of rainwater harvesting, groundwater and surface water sources so as to provide the best value for money at different times of the season.

Based on the gaps between demand and supply, various sources are augmented, role and responsibilities are assigned. Different schemes such as MNREGA, PMKSY, IWMP, etc, are converged. Communities too contribute certain %ages. This plan once approved by gram sabha is termed as Village Water Security Plan (VWSP).