With much enthusiasm, I left the village of Surodi on 15 May 2005 after having seen the many bunds that the villagers built, providing water nearly year-round in this village located in a drought-prone area between Pune and Ahmednagar. Ashok Rupner, a village native now living and working in Pune, cheerfully guided me around the village, showing me the various bunds that have been newly constructed and the pre-existing ones that have been repaired since 2001.

Of the 42 bunds in Surodi, 21 were constructed by the villagers over four years while the remaining were built by the government earlier and in need of repair or reconstruction; 27 are earthen and 15 are concrete/stone. Initially, individual members of Vidnyanvahini provided a seed grant, and AID-Pittsburgh funded the majority of the Surodi's watershed development program shortly thereafter.

Villagers construct bunds
Thanks to the 42 bunds enhancing the landscape throughout Surodi, it has been 2 years since a tanker truck was last needed to deliver the village's drinking water supply. Also, due to the increased availability of water, green grass can grow, in turn providing more nourishing fodder for the cows. Consequently, milk production has more than doubled since the start of the watershed work, leaping from 450 to 1,000 liters per day. Ashok declared that, "Anybody can buy a cow and make a sustainable business from selling of milk. [sic]"

The significance of this relief and increased self-sufficiency was evident from the villagers' optimism and eagerness to begin working on the next set of projects towards total village re-development. Plans have already been sketched for a "micro watershed" program, meaning earthen bund construction on individual plots of land to promote soil conservation, benefiting villagers' farmland more directly. Chapters interested in learning more about Surodi's future plans should directly contact Ashok via email at ashok_rupner@yahoo.com.          

Contributed by: Shrayas Jatkar, AID New Mexico