Community managed water supplies in rural Jaipur: Swajaldhara scheme 15 years on in Rajasthan

Community Water Plus, a research project, has investigated twenty case studies of successful community managed rural water supply programmes across 17 states in India. Through these case studies, the research has gained insight into the type and amount of support to community organisations that is needed, and the resources implications of this 'plus' – in terms of money, staffing, and other factors. This document presents the arrangements for support to communitymanaged Swajaldhara schemes in Rajasthan, and their costs.

Rajasthan is a semi-arid area, suffering from acute water resource challenges, where community-managed open wells, private wells, ponds and small-scale irrigation reservoirs have been the traditional sources of rural drinking water. Due to a rapidly growing population and increased demands for water, these water resources are increasingly unreliable. Swajaldhara was an early attempt by the Government of India to roll out community managed water supplies across the country. In Rajasthan, this saw infrastructure being financed jointly by the government and communities before being handed over to communities to run independently, but with little on-going support. This often leads to failing services. But positive exceptions exist, some of which are discussed here.
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