Kutch and Saurashtra face a looming drought, with some talukas receiving less than 10 per cent of normal rainfall and reservoirs nearly dry.
Farmers’ kharif crops have wilted, prompting urgent demands for Narmada water via the Sauni Yojana.
Despite high storage in Sardar Sarovar, the state is prioritising drinking water and delaying large-scale irrigation releases.
The Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat are teetering on the edge of drought, even though the state itself has received 18 per cent less rainfall than normal in the current monsoon season (till September 7, 2026).
As farmers’ kharif crops have wilted, demands for release of waters of the Narmada river have increased.
Saurashtra’s Devbhoomi Dwarka district has received 88 per cent less rainfall than normal, Porbandar 74 per cent, Kutch 61 per cent, and Jamnagar 62 per cent. Furthermore, Gir Somnath has recorded a 40 per cent, Junagadh 38 per cent, and Rajkot 35 per cent rainfall deficit. Despite this, the state government has not yet declared drought in these areas.
The situation is particularly dire in five talukas (subdistricts) of Saurashtra where less than 10 per cent of normal rainfall has been recorded from June 1 to September 3, 2026. Abdasa, a taluka in Kutch, has received only 10.28 per cent rainfall. Dwarka taluka in Saurashtra’s Devbhumi Dwarka district has received only 2.28 per cent rainfall. This taluka recorded only 15 mm of rainfall, compared to the normal 657 mm.
Kalyanpur received only 33 mm of rain, or 3.41 per cent, against the normal 967 mm. Khambhalia received 91 mm (9.54 per cent) of the normal 954 mm, Bhanvad received 77 mm (9.75 per cent) of the normal 790 mm, and Porbandar received only 75 mm (9.34 per cent) of the normal 803 mm. These two talukas recorded a rainfall deficit of 713 and 728 mm, respectively.
Due to lack of rain, the water level in the dams (reservoirs) of Saurashtra and Kutch has reduced considerably according to the “Reservoir Storage Status” report of the Gujarat water resources department dated September 3, 2026.
As of September 7, 2026, only 50.04 per cent of the total storage capacity was left in 141 reservoirs of Saurashtra, whereas the usable storage i.e. live storage was 48.27 per cent. The situation of 20 reservoirs of Kutch was even worse, where the total storage was 23.79 per cent and live storage was only 18.19 per cent.
In Saurashtra, surrounded by the Arabian Sea on three sides, the crisis is most visible in the western districts. The reservoirs of Devbhoomi Dwarka had only 0.8 per cent water, Jamnagar 8.5 per cent, and Porbandar 18.3 per cent. In Junagadh too, the reservoirs were only 22.4 per cent full. Many reservoirs have dried up completely. Gadki, Sani, and Sindhani in Devbhoomi Dwarka, Rupavati, Vodisang, and Phuljar-II in Jamnagar, Prempara in Junagadh, and Sorthi and Adwana in Porbandar recorded zero storage.
The situation in Kutch is also dire. Reservoirs like Gajod, Sanandro, and Kaila have around 2.59 per cent, 1.84 per cent and 1.41 per cent respoectively. This is at a time when the state’s main Sardar Sarovar reservoir has approximately 90.9 per cent water capacity. This means there remains a significant gap between water availability in Saurashtra and Kutch and the rest of Gujarat.
Farmers are angry seeing their kharif crops planted in the fields getting destroyed. On August 6, 2026, farmers from 27 villages of Devbhoomi Dwarka held a meeting and demanded that water be released in the Sani dam under the ‘Sauni’ scheme. The full name of the Sauni scheme is Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation Scheme. Farmers from 20 villages from Vijalpar to Suryapar situated on the banks of the Sani river and seven villages of Kemna area of Garh participated in the meeting held in Mowana village. They said their kharif crops are getting damaged due to a lack of rain.
In the second week of August, Down To Earth visited several villages in Saurashtra’s Surendranagar, Rajkot, Devbhoomi Dwarka, and Jamnagar districts and found that the crops farmers had planted in mid-July had completely wilted. Many of these villages receive irrigation water from nearby dams, but the dams’ reservoirs have either dried up or are severely depleted. Because of this, farmers are demanding the release of water under the Sauni scheme.
Saurashtra has approximately 71 rivers, flowing from its centre toward the sea. These rivers are generally short in length and prone to flash floods. Most of the region’s rivers are seasonal and lack water year-round. Except for the Shetrunji and Bhadar rivers, most of them dry up after the monsoon. Therefore, water is supplied to the region through irrigation projects, of which the Sauni Yojana is a major one.
Its objective is to transfer excess Narmada water available during floods through pipelines to 115 major reservoirs in water-stressed areas of Saurashtra.
According to the official description of the project, the plan was structured into four main links and several packages. Link-1, Link-2 and Link-3 of the first phase were inaugurated in August 2016, April 2017 and June 2017 respectively.
According to the Water Resources Department, the objective of the project is to increase water availability in 11 districts of Saurashtra. A recent government document states that approximately 1,371 kilometres of water transfer infrastructure has been built to connect 115 dams under Sauni.
At an event in July 2023, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel stated that the Sauni project has been a significant initiative in Gujarat, with 1,203 km of pipelines laid over the past seven years. According to him, Rs 18,563 crore had been spent on the project, and it was reported to be 95 per cent complete. Despite this, a provision of Rs 473 crore has been made for the project in the Gujarat budget for 2026-27.
The Sauni scheme provides for excess water in the Narmada to be transported to the dams of Saurashtra through pipelines laid as part of it. According to a state bulletin, on September 3, 2026, the Narmada Basin held 17.777 billion cubic metres of water (bcm), which is 6.13 per cent more than the normal storage of 16.748 bcm. However, the corresponding water storage for the previous year was 19.864 bcm. This means that this year the Narmada Basin has 2.087 bcm of water, or about 10.5 per cent less water, than last year.
As the situation in Saurashtra has worsened, the state government has had to take some steps. On August 30, 2026, the government approved lifting 600 cusecs of water from Machhu-2 reservoir through Link-1 of the Sauni Yojana for Jamnagar and Devbhoomi Dwarka. The authorities clarified though that this water will first meet drinking water needs and after that, the remaining water will be used for agriculture and irrigation.
A cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Patel on September 2 reviewed the situation in districts with deficient rainfall. Instructions were issued to ensure adequate availability of drinking water and fodder in affected districts, including Kutch, Jamnagar, and Devbhoomi Dwarka. The relevant departments and ministers in charge have been asked to continuously review the situation on the ground.
But the government has not yet made concrete arrangements for irrigation, leaving farmers pinning their hopes solely on rain.
Experts have questioned the release of water through Sauni to the dry reservoirs of Saurashtra.
Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (Sandrap), says the Sauni project was designed to ensure that when the Narmada overflows, the water released after the Sardar Sarovar dam is filled will be diverted to the dams of Saurashtra. However, this time the Sardar Sarovar Dam has not reached the point of overflow. “There are still at least two weeks of the monsoon season are still left. Let us see what the situation will be.”
According to Thakkar, such a situation hasn’t arisen in recent years. Almost every year, excess Narmada water was diverted to Saurashtra through the Sauni project. However, Saurashtra also received adequate rainfall in previous years, which reduced the need for Sauni water. The current situation though raises questions about the utility of large projects like Sauni.