SOFILWM has won the prestigious UNESCO Water Digest Water Awards 2011-12 in the category of "BEST WATER NGO - Revival of Rural Water Resources''. Award ceremony was held on January 10, 2012 at New Delhi in presence of Hon'able Minister of Water Resources Shri. Pawan Kumar Bansal as Chief Guest along with Chief- FAO, Director- UNESCO and President- PHD Chamber as the special guest of the event. Water Digest is country's only water award who encourages the private companies and non-profit organizations for its initiative.

WDWA is an opportunity for individuals & organizations from around the world to meet and highlight the exemplary work done in the field of water. The event showcases the Water Digest Water Awards winners and discussions and talks presented by leading international industry figures.

Mr. Manoj Kumar Sharma - Executive Director of SOFILWM and Mr. Ismailbhai Sheru progressive farmer and Governing Body member of SOFILWM were attended the ceremony and received award from Mr. Shegaru Aoyagi- Director UNESCO. SOFILWM's endeavors in the field of groundwater management in North Gujarat was appreciated at national level by Water Digest. Mr. Sharma dedicated this award to the farmers of North Gujarat and SOFILWM team along with their donors Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai for their constant support to this initiative.

The project is blowing winds of change in north Gujarat’s agricultural landscape. Nearly, 40,000 acres of irrigated crops have been brought under MI systems in just Banaskantha and Patan districts alone owing to various project interventions. In an area, where farmers used to grow traditional crops, around 1500 acres of land is under high valued orchard crops which are low-water consuming, mainly pomegranate. More than 2,000 farmers have taken up organic farming with vermi composting. The total farmer investment towards these was estimated to be around 150 crore rupees against a total investment by the project to the tune of 3.0 crore rupees.

The impacts of the project are quite sharp and visible. The introduction of high valued orchard crops with drip irrigation is found to be raising water productivity at least five times from nearly Rs. 6.88/m3 to Rs. 37 per m3. The use of micro irrigation devices in vegetables, and cash crops is also raising water productivity. The net incremental income from farming due to adoption of orchards with drip irrigation is in the range of US$ 110 to US$ 2,400 per acre in a year. Use of vermi-culture and composting is not only improving the availability of quality manure for soil nutrient management, but also giving new opportunities for women farmers to earn income.

There are positive developmental outcomes of this project with the changes in farming system brought out through the introduction of new crop and irrigation technologies. With the use of efficient micro irrigation (MI) systems, the adopter farmers could cut down water use not only for every unit of land irrigated but also at the aggregate level. Their income from farming has increased substantially with the yield increase in existing crops and with adoption of high valued crops.