Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (KRWSA)  was set up, under the aegis of the World Bank, in November 1999 as an autonomous body functions under the Dept. of Water Resources , Govt. of Kerala. The primary aim of this agency is to facilitate and support year – round supply of adequate quantities of potable water to the rural Kerala, through the active participation of the user group themselves. The advances made by the Peoples’ Planning Programme in Kerala and successful decentralisation has made participatory planning a feasible and meaningful tool in adopting a demand driven approach rather than the hitherto followed supply driven approach. The rural water supply & sanitation project implemented by KRWSA -“JALANIDHI” .

The KRWSA, which is, today, an important player in the rural water supply and sanitation sector, has successfully developed a viable alternate model for service delivery based on the sound principle of cost recovery. Over the last ten years since its inception, this agency, which was constituted as a special purpose vehicle to implement Jalanidhi, Rs.381 Cr., World Bank aided rural water supply and sanitation project, has acquired unique expertise in establishing rural water supply and sanitation projects based on the cardinal concepts of sector-reforms, namely, demand responsiveness, community ownership and sustainability of investments through cost recovery. The Jalanidhi project provides a central role to the Gram Panchayats in implementing community based water supply projects. KRWSA has also networked itself with a large pool of NGOs in accomplishing the challenging job of mobilizing communities and enabling them to have water supply and sanitation facilities owned and managed by themselves. This model of implementation of schemes under JALANIDHI has demonstrated successfully an equitable, inclusive and decentralized delivery system mainly benefiting the SC,ST and BPL category of rural households in Kerala.  With the lessons learned from the initial phases, KRWSA has expanded this demand responsive and decentralized service delivery approach to almost the whole of state from the initially concentrated four districts on a pilot basis in 2005 by even trying out certain new institutional and financing models, such as, G-PAT (Gram Panchayath Action Teams), Ward Level Committees (WLCs) and Scheme Level Committees (SLCs) for large water supply schemes with more involvement of GPs and also joint ventures with Kerala Water Authority (KWA) for major schemes where bulk water shall be supplied to reservoirs by KWA and distribution by KRWSA through Gram Panchayath.

KRWSA was the nodal Agency of the State Government for the implementation of Rain Water Harvesting Programme in the State. For this a Rain centre , a separate cell for monitoring the activities  was set up under KRWSA.

KRWSA was awarded the First Runner up -Peoples First Award given by World Bank in 2008.

KRWSA is designated as the Water Supply & Sanitation Organization (WSSO) as per the GOI, NRDWP guidelines.

Based on the success , GOK moved for the Second Phase of Jalanidhi for Rs 1000 Crores in around 200 GPs.