Water stewardship to be 'climate smart': Lessons from Maharashtra

This case study describes the Water Stewardship Initiative launched in 2015 by the Watershed Organisation Trust's Centre for Resilience Studies (W-CReS). The initiative aims to promote "climate-smart water governance" in semi-arid areas of Maharashtra, India, by shifting villages from the over-exploitation of groundwater to judicious use through community participation, water budgeting, and the establishment of local management institutions.

• The Water Stewardship Initiative, implemented in 100 villages across the Ahmednagar, Dhule, and Jalna districts of Maharashtra since late 2015, focuses on treating local water users as 'water managers' rather than 'beneficiaries or target groups'. The program utilizes a Village Water Management Team—comprising diverse groups including women, landless people, and various farmers—and trained youth called Jal Sevaks to provide technical guidance.
• The initiative improved the water status of participating villages, with the number of 'healthy' villages increasing from 20% pre-intervention to 57%, while the percentage of 'severely ill' villages dropped from 41% to 18%.

APA

Kale, E., D'Souza, M., & Golechha, A. (n.d.). Water stewardship to be 'climate smart': Lessons from Maharashtra. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/story/feature-water-stewardship-to-be-climate-smart-lessons-from-maharashtra

Chicago

Kale, Eshwer, Marcella D'Souza, and Arpan Golechha. Water stewardship to be 'climate smart': Lessons from Maharashtra. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, n.d. https://cdkn.org/story/feature-water-stewardship-to-be-climate-smart-lessons-from-maharashtra.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kale |first1=Eshwer |last2=D'Souza |first2=Marcella |last3=Golechha |first3=Arpan |title=Water stewardship to be 'climate smart': Lessons from Maharashtra |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |url=https://cdkn.org/story/feature-water-stewardship-to-be-climate-smart-lessons-from-maharashtra |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kalendwater, author = {Kale, Eshwer and D'Souza, Marcella and Golechha, Arpan}, title = {{Water stewardship to be 'climate smart': Lessons from Maharashtra}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, url = {https://cdkn.org/story/feature-water-stewardship-to-be-climate-smart-lessons-from-maharashtra}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }