In 1999-2000 the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM) started Sector Reform Pilot Projects that eventually covered 67 districts of the country. This pilot programme was meant to test the adoption of a demand-responsive strategy and ways to institutionalise community participation that would increase sustainability of drinking water sources and systems in rural areas. Under the new approach, the communities would get the level of service they required on paying a part of the capital costs and full operation and maintenance costs. The programme operated on the belief that local communities would participate if they were involved in the planning process, they themselves owned, implemented and managed the assets, and had sufficient funds to do so.

Gujarat took part in this initiative right from the beginning.

In view of the success achieved under Government of India’s pilot SRP and the national Swajaldhara programme and the growing popularity of decentralised, demand-driven, community-managed water supply programmes, the Government of Gujarat in October 2004 decided to introduce its own sector reform scheme, henceforth referred to as “Sector Reform Scheme (State)". To avoid duplication, this project is being implemented in non-Swajaldhara districts only. WASMO is presently coordinating its implementation in 11 districts in Gujarat. As the SWSM, WASMO functions as the state level coordination agency, overseeing work of all the District Water and sanitation Committees (DWSCs), which, in turn, oversees the activities of the Village Water and sanitation Committees (VWSCs).