MANGALURU: Karnataka has reported 79,440 water conservation and recharge works under the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB 2.0) initiative as of March 2026. Among the districts, Kolar leads with 18,422 works completed, followed by Tumakuru (11,014) and Chikkaballapura districts. On the other hand, Bengaluru Urban has reported zero works, Raichur only 18 works, Mandya (94) and Udupi (74).
The initiative focuses on intensifying community action and mobilization to build low-cost rainwater harvesting structures in low-cost and saturation mode. The JSJB initiative utilizes community funds, individual donations, Corporate Social Responsibility funds and others to build low-cost structures such as wells, recharge shafts, recharge pits, using locally available materials, to collect rainwater, raise groundwater levels and provide locally tailored solutions to water issues.
The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti presented a detailed picture of water conservation efforts in Karnataka in response to a question raised by Dr D Veerendra Heggade in the Rajya Sabha, recently.
Under the watershed development efforts associated with PMKSY 2.0, as many as 2,174 water harvesting structures (WHS) have been established or renovated in Karnataka, contributing to 6,397 hectares of additional conservation irrigation.
The state has also made significant progress in micro-irrigation through the Per Point More Crop (PDMC) scheme. Over the last decade, 108.07 lakh hectares have been brought under micro irrigation, with annual expansion peaking at 11.73 lakh ha in 2019-2020 and maintaining stable coverage of over 10 lakh hectares in recent years. In the last three years alone (2023-24 to 2025-26 to date), 29.57 lakh hectares have been covered.
