33,000 Volunteers Join Reliance's #Water4Life to Restore 1,400 Water Bodies

Aimed to be a continued effort, the campaign will protect, restore, and sustain India's water ecosystems. Over past 10 days Reliance Foundation has led community volunteering efforts in over 1,400 waterbody locations across 912 villages. On-ground clean-up actions were combined with long-term water governance and community ownership, engaging farmers, women's groups, youth, local institutions, Reliance employee volunteers, healthcare providers and more, as per the press note by Reliance Foundation.

According to the press note, the #Water4Life campaign builds on years of Reliance Foundation's Rural Transformation work across 91,000+ villages, where water has long supported rural livelihoods. To date, Reliance Foundation's water conservation efforts have resulted in harvesting 2,000+ lakh cubic metres of water, enriching the lives of millions of rural communities. The campaign aims to be a long-term, participatory movement contributing to national water security.

#Water4Life included pre-Water Day awareness actions with participatory engagement of government structures and local institutions with an easy-to-replicate approach, including community mobilisation, volunteerism, awareness on waste reduction and water literacy.

Over the past few days, volunteers have removed plastic and solid waste, with segregation and safe disposal, restoring inlet and outlet channels to improve water flow. They also enabled collective action for soil and water conservation in collaboration with local institutions and the government, as per the press note.

Across 108 districts in 15 states and one Union Territory, over 85,000 kg of waste was collected. Some prominent locations that were part of efforts over the past few days included the Narmada river ghats, Dipeswar Talab in the heart of Pratapgarh, Kulbehra tributary of the Godavari basin, the Kochi Beach, Rankala Lake and more.

People from all walks of life came together. In southern Kerala, for instance fishing communities and municipal sanitation workers helped clean the historic Kochi Beach in Ernakulam district. In Belagavi, Karnataka, school children came together todemonstrate early ownership of water conservation, while in Sangli, Maharashtra, health workers initiated cleaning the ghats of the Swami Samarth stream, a tributary of the Krishna River.

A key role is being played by 2,500 Village Climate Champions, trained by Reliance Foundation to spread awareness and encourage local action on water and waste management. Moving ahead, this community-driven movement aims to ensure thatwater bodies are cared for, protected and restored in the long term.

- ANI