In the desert, the most natural resource, water is absent. Non-arrival of critical rain can devastate the life cycles of the entire population living in the Thar tearing apart families, and communities and causing them to migrate. Water is their constant struggle and such scarcity of water jeopardizes the health of villagers not only when the reserves are low but also whenever high concentrations of minerals degrade its quality. To add to this, modernization during the past century brought with it its perils and unsustainable change which was to last for an era. Excessive reliance on drinking water tube wells led to mounting operating costs and sinking groundwater levels. Over time traditional techniques started to fall apart and when that happened the ones to suffer the most were the ones who were marginalized and had the least or no access to resources. While the poor could not afford to independently maintain and operate these mechanized systems, women had to fetch water from long distances.

To tackle this deepening crisis, GRAVIS entered the region intending to help villages regain self-sufficiency and sustainability. This could become possible only if access to water was availed and sustained. Achieving water security is hard but it is the most basic need for human civilization to be able to survive and exist. Hence, this became the first and the most important goal for us to mitigate the socio-economic impact of accumulated drought years in the Thar.

One of the key strategies of GRAVIS to achieve water security was to promote and advocate for the age-old traditional water harvesting techniques and structures. These are easy for the villagers to maintain, more environmentally sustainable and practised for hundreds of years. With these methods, even little rainfall can yield enormous benefits and harvest substantial quantities of water which would easily meet the needs of inhabiting communities.