Meshwo River and Water Management in Sabarkantha

The Meshwo river, originating in the Aravalli hills of Sabarkantha district, is one of the Sabarmati river's major tributaries, providing water for irrigation across the hill-foot plains. The Dharoi Dam on the Sabarmati (which receives Meshwo waters) provides irrigation to downstream areas. Traditional water management in the Aravalli hills of Sabarkantha relied on terraced paddy cultivation with embankment bunds (paan), small check-dams (bandha), and tank systems (talav) maintained by community labour. Tribal communities have extensive traditional knowledge of identifying natural springs (jharna), reading water table depth from vegetation, and locating underground water for well digging. The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) has worked extensively in Sabarkantha on participatory watershed development, building on traditional water management knowledge to restore depleted hill aquifers.