Ruia was inspired by severe droughts in 1999/2000 and 2003 to improve water harvesting in Rajasthan villages.[1][2] She founded the Aakar Charitable Trust(ACT) to partner with villages to build check dams that provide water security.[3]
Her first check dam project was in Mandawar village,[1]Rajasthan, which was a success. Farmers managed to earn up to 120 million rupees in a year via the two check dams built by Aakar Charitable Trust.[1] By the end of 2017, Aakar Charitable Trust had built more than 200 check dams in more than 115 villages in Rajasthan, with flow-on effects to almost 200 other villages.[4][5][6] The Trust provides 60-70% of the resources required to construct each check dam, while the village where the dam is sited provides 30-40% of resources, participates in its construction, and is responsible for its maintenance.[3][4] The check dams allow the aquifers to be replenished during the monsoon, so that bore wells and hand-pumps are recharged.[4] Villagers have been able to grow up to three crops per year and keep livestock.[1][3][4] Ruia estimates that the resulting increased income gives a 750% return on the investment in the check dams.[3] |Girls are able to attend school, as they no longer need to help their mothers carry water from long distances,[4] and students can undertake tertiary education.[3] Ruia is popularly known as Paani Mata ("Water Mother").[1][7]
In 2011, Ruia was awarded a Lakshmipat Singhania - IIM Lucknow National Leadership Award in the category of Community Service and Social Upliftment.[8][9] In 2016, she was nominated for the Women of Worth Social Award category.[6] In 2018, she received the India Eye International Human Rights Observer Achievement Award 2018.[10]
