In four years, we have dug 65,000 JalTara recharge pits across 125 villages​ – recharging an estimated 34 billion liters of groundwater annually

Completed Projects

Over the last four years the JalTara approach has been tested, validated and we learned how to nation-scale our groundwater recharge projects through our work in Jalna, Maharashtra, India. We partnered with the Art of Living foundation to execute the JalTara projects on the ground

125

Villages

65,000

Recharge Pits

34

Billion Liters/Yr

200,000

Villagers

2025 goal – 500 Villages

Objective – Execute 250,000 JalTara recharge pits in 500 villages and improve the lives of 750,000 farmers

Plan to dig 250,000 recharge pits in 500 villages

One recharge pit per acre, with broad coverage of an average of 500 plots/acres per village

Multiple states, multiple districts

Majority of the villages will be in Maharashtra, and we will seed 50 village projects in 3-4 additional states to prepare for scale

Expand scalable framework/analytics

Build multiple partnerships to execute on ground, collect data and analyze for impact

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2023/24 – Pilot Project 4

Objective – Build process/systems to scale the JalTara approach to 100,000 villages in five years

Dug 20,000 recharge pits in 35 villages

One recharge pit per acre, with broad coverage of an average of 500 plots/acres per village (work in process)

Partnerships

Worked with Asian Paints on a project near their factory in Pune, as well as with Tata Hitachi who generously donated their effective backhoes

Research and validation

Partnered with Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org) and WELL Labs to study the science, effectiveness of the JalTara “One-Pit-per-Acre” approach and how to refine and scale up.

2022/23 – Pilot Project 2

Dug 25,000 recharge pits in 55 villages

Reconfirmed JalTara ROI

Developed scalable framework

2021/22 – Pilot Project 1

Objective – Learn how to scale the JalTara approach

Dug 17,000 recharge pits in 33 villages

One recharge pit per acre, with broad coverage of an average of 500 plots/acres per village

Reconfirmed JalTara ROI

Increased groundwater recharge and farmer income; plus eliminate crop spoilage due to waterlogged fields

Developed scalable framework

9-month process – training, villager mobilization, data gathering, plus digging/pit filling before the monsoon

2020/21 – Proof of Concept

Objective – Validate the “One Recharge Pit per Acre” hypothesis with a small proof of concept project

Dug 1,400 recharge pits in 4 villages

Across a total of one thousand acres within a 6-month timeframe

Validated JalTara hypothesis

“One recharge pit per acre” brought large increase in village water capacity, farmer incomes and prevented flooding

Proved repeatability of process

Use widely available JCB backhoes to dig – farmers fill the pits with locally sourced rocks, stones