Coca-Cola India Foundation partnered with Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation and the Rajputana Society of Natural History to put an end to water problems in the Dholpur region of Rajasthan which was also recently announced as the aspirational district of India, by building two masonry check dams on the river Bamani, which not only store water but have also increased the groundwater in the Dholpur area.
For many decades prior, the people in the Tontari village had been facing a severe water crisis and were struggling to perform their daily chores such as cooking, irrigation, and feeding animals. Since its inception, this project has positively impacted the lives of over 11,000 people in 5 surrounding villages: Tontari, Bhimagarh, Reti, Jhande ka Purrah, and Kallapura, making multi-crop farming possible.
With water available for irrigation, villagers in the region now grow bajra, tomatoes, potatoes, okra and a variety of other vegetables over an area of around 500 acres. The produce is sold to mainstream markets like Delhi also.
The project has supported the National Water Mission “Catch the Rain – where it falls, when it falls” and created a 4.5 km long pond. The project has created a replenishment potential of more than 1.4 billion liters of water annually. The project has all recharged more than 100 bore wells and 70 hand pumps in an area of 10 sq km and the water table has increased by almost more than 2-3 meters in open wells.
The company is committed to improving the lives of marginalized communities in water-stressed areas of the country. To maximize its impact, they primarily focus on the areas that are drought-prone, areas of water scarcity concerns, and areas that should be compact and contiguous to sustain replications of programs.
Their water stewardship and conservation initiatives in Rajasthan span across 10 districts, namely – Jaipur, Ajmer, Dholpur, Banswara, Sawai Madhopur, Tonk, Sikar, Dungarpur, Alwar, and Baran.
They have successfully implemented more than 75+ water conservation projects to form ‘Amrit Sarovars’, which have created a storage capacity of more than 8+ billion liters of rainwater annually in Rajasthan.
Through meaningful collaborations with its bottling partners, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Civil Society Organization (CSOs), and community members, they have been able to positively impact and enhance 2 lakh lives across the state overall.
