https://indianmasterminds.com

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Rainwater Harvesting in All the Schools of a District

In a bid to tackle Vadodara’s drinking water crisis, IAS officer Shalini Agarwal has installed rainwater harvesting systems in 963 schools of the district.
Indian Masterminds Stories

“Water is not our inheritance; it is a loan to us from our children. We have to give it back to them as we have received from our ancestors.” – walking along this principal of Mahatma Gandhi, District Magistrate of Vadodara, Gujarat Ms. Shalini Agarwal gifted the children of the district, a clean drinking water supply throughout their school life. This she did by taking help from nature and its resources.

In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Ms. Agarwal explained the process of gifting over 900 schools of the district with a rainwater harvesting system.

IAS Shalini Agarwal – DM, Vadodara

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK

The year 2009 brought one of the worst floods in the Vadodara, submerging most of it underwater. At the time, Ms. Agarwal was posted as the Commissioner of Vadodara Municipal Corporation. There was water logging everywhere for 3-4 days and right after the water level in the city subsided, it faced another issue – The drinking water crisis.

“I was surprised to see that the city was practically submerged in water a few days back and as it receded, there was suddenly a drinking water crisis. Where did all the water go?” she wondered.

That’s when she came up with the idea to harvest the rainwater so that the issue can be solved permanently. “In India, only 8% rainwater is harvested, the rest goes to waste. It is the purest and cleanest form of water and I wanted to preserve it,” she told Indian Masterminds.

Ms. Agarwal set on the journey to install rainwater harvesting systems in all the schools of the district

SCHOOLS FOR RAINWATER HARVESTING

In August-September 2019, right after the city was hit with floods again and the rehabilitation work was over, Ms. Agarwal and her team picked all 1000 schools of the district in rural areas out of which only 37 schools had rainwater harvesting structure, while the remaining 963 schools didn’t have it.

“We wanted to cover all the schools in 2019-20. Therefore, we immediately set out to work and converted funds from Government and CSR funds. For implementation, we decentralized the work and trained individual school management committees in the process, and formed their implementing agencies. These committees looked after the entire process and helped in all the work,” said Ms. Agarwal.

There were a total of 963 committees implementing the entire project. The process was entirely decentralized and the funds were transferred to the school managements directly.

Pointed out Ms Agarwal: “They procured the material, made constructions, they bore all the expenses, and they implemented the project, thereby receiving the ownership of the work.”

The officer interacting with school students

COVERING ALL SCHOOLS IN RECORD TIME

Ms. Agarwal wanted to finish the project within a year, but with the help of her team and the numerous committees, they were successfully able to cover all the 963 schools of Vadodara in a record time of nine months!

“Vadodara is probably the first district in India which has rainwater harvesting system in all the government schools of the place. The people felt a sense of pride after they received recognition from the Prime Minister, Central Government, and the State Government and became flag bearers of water conservation in the district,” stated Ms. Agarwal, happily.

DESIGNED BY EXPERTS

The officer had involved a committee of experts from the industrial sector, engineering sector, water conservation, and rainwater volunteers, etc. These experts designed two low-cost models for the place.

“One of them ranged between Rs 25,000-40,000 each for schools that already had tube wells or bore wells. And for the schools that had no boring or tube wells, we had to add in additional cost of the tube well, costing around 1 lakh per unit,” she added.

The machinery was specially designed

A SUCCESSFUL PROJECT

Ms. Agarwal continuously followed up with committees, and also did capacity-building training and monitoring of the people throughout the process. Even during the lockdown, right after construction activities were allowed, they again started with the project, which finally reached its completion in May-June 2020.

“The smallest school in the district has the capacity to harvest 1 lakh liter of water. In total, 1000 schools are harvesting 10 crore liters of water, at the minimum. This is just the data of the smallest schools. The bigger ones are helping in harvesting even more than 10 crore liters of water every year,” the officer told Indian Masterminds.

The district houses 1.5 lakh school children and the amount of water collected every year is enough to quench their thirst for four years.

The project was successfully completed in nine months

The entire project was implemented in front of the children. It has made them understand and work for water conservation even more. Therefore, the project is named ‘Bal Andolan’ as children are the brand ambassadors of the entire project.


Indian Masterminds Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Related Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
NEWS
SJVN
Leadership Continuity: Rajendra Prasad Goyal Given Additional Charge as Director (Finance) of SJVN Ltd- Know more about Him
government-of-haryana
Haryana Government Transfers 2 IPS, 13 HPS Officers in Major Police Reshuffle- Check Details
scam
‘Hello, This is IPS Officer Speaking…’: 9th-Pass Youth Tricks Cops in Three States with Fake Voice Scam
Screenshot 2025-07-18 214334
L&T Chairman Mr. S.N. Subrahmanyan’s FY25 Remuneration Jumps Nearly 50% to Rs. 76.25 Crore!
bureaucracy news
Appointments Update: IRS Kommisetty Murlidhar to Join Andhra Govt; Jay Nath Yadav Inducted into IAS
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)
Indian Overseas Bank Plans Rs. 4,000 Crore Fundraising via QIP; Net Profit Soars 76% in Q1 FY26
Paresh Saxena IPS
IPS Officer Dr Paresh Saxena Protests Empanelment Denial, Returns President’s Distinguished Service Medal
Screenshot 2025-07-18 212145
Chhattisgarh: CM Vishnu Deo Sai Unveils ‘Anjor Vision @ 2047’ - A Bold Roadmap for a Developed Future!
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
promila gupta
The Secret of The Secret – How To Make The Universe Conspire For You
AI 171 CRASH
AAIB Initial Probe In AI-171 Crash Questioned By Aviation Experts
Ravi Kapoor
Why Ex-IRS Officer Ravi Kapoor Walked Away from Power
ADVERTISEMENT
UPSC Stories
Bhavesh Royada
“People often don’t put in the effort required for exams of this level,” Bhavesh Royada
Bhavesh Royada left a stable engineering job to follow his passion for nature. Overcoming failures and...
WhatsApp Image 2025-07-14 at 15.58
The Economist Who Became an IFS Officer
How Abhimanyu Gahlaut balanced global economics and civil services dreams to crack UPSC with AIR 38
Disha Dwivedi UPSC
How Disha Dwivedi Cracked UPSC in Her Sixth Attempt with Unshakable Determination
Disha Dwivedi’s UPSC journey from five prelims failures to securing AIR 672 in 2024 showcases strategic...
Social Media
Screenshot 2025-07-18 203508
Majestic Tiger Rescue and Release in Sundarbans Captivates the Internet: IFS Susanta Nanda Shares Video On X
The video captures the tiger’s strength, agility, and instinct—a breathtaking sight as the big cat slices...
Standing Leopard
Leopard Stuns Internet by Standing on Two Legs Like a Meerkat
A rare video of a leopard standing on two legs in Kruger Park stuns viewers and goes viral across social...
G S Roshni
Kerala’s Fearless Forest Officer G.S. Roshni Rescues 16-Foot King Cobra with Bare Hands, Garners Praise & Critique
Beat Forest Officer G.S. Roshni’s first-ever king cobra rescue goes viral, earning her the title of ‘Green...
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest
SJVN
Leadership Continuity: Rajendra Prasad Goyal Given Additional Charge as Director (Finance) of SJVN Ltd- Know more about Him
government-of-haryana
Haryana Government Transfers 2 IPS, 13 HPS Officers in Major Police Reshuffle- Check Details
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
promila gupta
AI 171 CRASH
Ravi Kapoor
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT