World Water Day 2024: How Club Mahindra Supports Water Security for Local Communities

At Club Mahindra, we understand the importance of water conservation for securing the planet’s future. Water has enormous and complex value for our households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment. Overlooking any of these connections could lead to mismanagement of this finite and irreplaceable resource. Organisations, therefore, need to understand water’s multidimensional value and protect it in the communities they work in.

This World Water Day, Club Mahindra shares with you some of our efforts towards achieving water conservation and sustainability.

Water Conservation at Club Mahindra

Club Mahindra’s Jal Jivan initiative aims at saving and improving the efficiency of water utilisation across our resorts by following the 4 R principles: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rainwater Harvesting.

For instance, we have installed water flow restrictors at all our resorts. Treated wastewater is used to irrigate plants and gardens on our properties and for flushing. We also try and reduce reliance on external water sources. Six Club Mahindra resorts – Club Mahindra Corbett, Club Mahindra Kanha, Club Mahindra Gir, Club Mahindra Naukuchiatal, Club Mahindra Madikeri, and Club Mahindra Virajpet – are self-reliant in terms of water.

Rainwater Harvesting at Club Mahindra

Rainwater harvesting is a responsible sustainability practice, and we take it seriously. Club Mahindra has installed rainwater harvesting structures in 20 resorts and will install them at 19 more resorts in the next 3 years. To date, we have utilised 275 million litres of harvested rainwater across our resorts. Around 50% of the total water consumed by our resorts was recycled in 2019-20, which led to over 156 million litres of water being saved compared to the previous year.

Community Water Conservation initiatives - Jal Jivan

Now let’s look at some recent examples of Club Mahindra’s efforts to conserve natural resources and maintain the quality of water.

Puducherry: Rejuvenation of a water body

The project, undertaken with the Sri Aurobindo Society in FY 2019, primarily entailed the cleaning (desilting) of Bahour Tank at Sitheri in order to enhance its water storage capacity.

To ensure the lasting success of the programme, Club Mahindra organised sensitisation sessions across local educational institutes on water conservation, and also collaborated with the Bahour Commune Panchayat to organise awareness workshops in the community.

The  components of the project involve:

- Cleaning the Bahour Tank – This involved removing silt to enhance the dead storage of the tank. The tank has great potential to become a tourist attraction in Puducherry, taking suitable action to clear the water and enhance its water storage capacity helped in many ways.

- Sensitisation programmes at 6 local educational institutes on water conservation - Participative interventions like creative competitions, quizzes and water camps were organised with children and teachers.  Faculty members and students were invited to submit innovative actionable ideas on water-related issues. Schools were also advised on setting up roof-top rainwater harvesting systems.

- Engagement of local administration and community forums – Our NGO partner, in collaboration with the Bahour Commune Panchayat, conducted awareness workshops for the local panchayat office, Anganwadis, primary healthcare centres, youth clubs and women’s self-help groups in the region.

Wayanad, Kerala: Chlorination of drinking water sources

This project started in 2019, focuses on the chlorination of drinking water sources in Wayanad. The 2018 floods in Kerala had caused water sources like ring wells and open wells to get completely submerged and polluted by dirty flood water. Under this project, the community was trained in the chlorination process so that they are equipped to clean these wells if the need arises. Around 30-40 wells were cleaned, and an estimated 200 families were benefitted from the project, which was conducted in partnership with the NGO, SEEDS.

The components of the project involve:

-  Cleaning of wells: This includes pumping out water, then removing the sludge at the bottom of the well and ensuring that the well is untouched for 24 hours.

-  Chlorination: A mixture of bleaching powder and water is prepared and poured into the well 2.5 hours prior to the well being used.  

-  Follow-up: In order for the well to be functional, the process of chlorination must be repeated every 2 weeks for 2 months.

Udaipur: Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting Structures

Under this project, Club Mahindra facilitated the installation of rooftop Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) structures in 20 schools in Udaipur District. The project benefitted 7,623 children of 20 government schools by fulfilling their daily requirement of potable drinking water in the summers of 2019.

The components of the project involve:

- Self-sufficiency - Making schools self-sufficient via RWHs, and to inculcate sustained water management practices through a school-based IEC (Information, Education and Communication) approach.

- Awareness - We have partnered the Students Relief Society (SRS), who will create awareness, form and strengthen School Management Committees (SMCs), and plan and execute conservation, protection, enhancement and management of the RWHs with SMCs.

Solapur, Maharashtra: Taking water to drought-hit villages

Solapur is one of the most drought-affected regions in Maharashtra. An on-ground survey done by our NGO partner United Way of Mumbai in the villages in the Barshi block of Solapur showed that the government had been providing water tankers for drinking water supply. However, the storage facilities were not adequate. In addition, the water supply systems in the surveyed villages were old and need repairs to prevent water wastage and ensure equal water supply to the community. Due to this water leakage, only half of the supplied water actually reaches the villagers.

The components of the project involve:

- Construction of a new storage tank with 20,000-litre capacity at Shripat Pimpari. The tank will solve the water problems of 3300 people.

- Replacement of an old damaged pipeline with a new one in Dhamangaon.

- Provision of new taps (4 stand-posts with 2 taps each) in Dhamangaon.

- Extension of the water supply line in Dhamangaon.

On this World Water Day, let us all pledge to guard this irreplaceable resource. Don’t forget - we don’t have to wait for large tides of change; even small ripples of positive actions will do. 

About Mahindra Holidays

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL), India’s leading player in the leisure hospitality industry, offers quality family holidays as also stated by Club Mahindra Resort Reviews, primarily through vacation ownership memberships. While Club Mahindra Membership Fees gives you an opportunity to explore your holidays across the world, the other brands offered by the company are – Club Mahindra Resorts Fundays and Svaastha Spa. As on Mar 31, 2019, MHRIL has 100+ resorts across India and abroad and its subsidiary, Holiday Club Resorts Oy, Finland, a leading vacation ownership company in Europe has 33 resorts across Finland, Sweden and Spain.