WASMO's Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (ERR) Project aims to restore and develop water supply and sanitation facilities in all 1,260 villages of the drought-prone Jamnagar, Kutch, Patan and Surendranagar districts that were affected by the January 26, 2001 earthquake. This five-year project, starting from October 2002, incorporates the principles of decentralised, demand-driven, and community managed water and sanitation systems.

The earthquake, measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale, took a heavy toll on lives and infrastructure, especially in Kutch, and also in Patan, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Surendranagar. Water supply and storage systems, the backbone of any community, were completely destroyed or severely affected. In the aftermath, the Gujarat state government has been implementing a complete rehabilitation and reconstruction programme for key infrastructure areas, including water and sanitation, in all 1,260 affected villages. Although Rajkot district was also affected in the quake, it is not covered under the ERR Project as it was already covered under the Sector Reform Pilot Project funded by the Government of India.

From April 2003, WASMO has been looking after the water supply and sanitation programme through its ERR Project, initially with financial and technical assistance from the Royal Netherlands Government. Due to changes in policy since April 1, 2004, the Government of India has taken over the financial commitment from the Government of the Netherlands.

For the implementation of this project, WASMO has established three Coordination, Monitoring and Support Units (CMSUs) at the district level who in the field are supported by Engineering Support Cells (ESCs) and Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs). The latter interact directly with the pani samitis that have been created in each village as a subcommittee of the panchayat.

The region of Kutch district and Santalpur taluka, where there are very few individual household sanitation units, are now initiating towards 100 per cent total sanitation. So far, 43 villages have achieved 100 per cent individual household sanitation units and 19 villages have crossed the 80 per cent mark.

It is commendable that in a region characterised by drought with an annual rainfall of less that 20 cm, several villages have 24-hour household water supply with the help of this project.