The DS Group’s signature project, ‘Water Economic Zone’, initiated on World Water Day in 2018, is spread over an area of around 11,385 hectares in Alsigarh and Kurabad, districts of Udaipur and aims to reach out to more than 24,000 people of 26 villages. The company has already treated 5,316 hectares of land and has created 9.64 Lakh cubic meter of water storage and recharge capacity. The DS Group is a water sensitive organization and ‘Water Conservation’ is the mainstay of its CSR initiatives. The company is committed to improve water security in areas identified as critical and water vulnerable with a focus to improve water table of the areas for agriculture, thus improving the livelihood prospects of the community. DS Group commissioned its first water conservation project in Sikar in 2013 and has since constructed 23 check dams in Deepawas Mokalwas & Ajeetgarh villages in Sikar district. The Company has also developed water conservation projects in Mahoba & Banda in Bundelkhand; Surata in Dungarpur; Karauli; and the ‘Water Economc Zone at Kurabad & Alsigarh in Udaipur.
The DS Group has already saved around 20,83,855 cubic meter of water till date in Rajasthan , covering 617 hectares and impacting about 33,000 lives.
According to the Central Water Commission, India needs a maximum of 3,000 billion cubic metres of water a year while it receives 4,000 billion cubic metres of rain. The country captures only 8% of its annual rainfall, which is amongst lowest in the world leading to , the scarcity of water .
Water scarcity is a big problem, particularly in Rajasthan. It has 13.88% of India’s cultivable area, 5.67% of population and about 11% of country’s livestock. But it has only 1.6% of surface water and 1.70% of ground water. The water conservation projects will significantly improve the social and economic conditions in the State.