Reviving a non-functional well through Roof Rain Water harvesting Reviving a non-functional well through Roof Rain Water harvesting
650 people of Tadepura in Amalner have daily access to water as against availing it on every tenth day

Antara Trivedi and Aneri Nihalani | MHT

Amalner city in Jalgaon, Maharashtra faces water scarcity issues. There isn’t enough water in the Tapi river, hence regions around the river are not able to get adequate supply of water. Community people avail merely two hours of water supply on every tenth day.

MHT intervenes at Amalner slums to make it Defecation free with support from Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). It voices for construction on an individual household (HH) toilet and also encourages on usage of community toilets to families who can’t have a HH toilet. However, community people shared that there was hardly any water for the construction of toilets and later even if the toilets will be constructed, they would not have adequate water for usage in those toilets.

After a holistic survey, a technical report was made which emphasized on the 3R model: Recharge, Retention and Reuse as a solution to the water scarcity problem. One of a technique discussed was Roof Rain Water harvesting. As a pilot project, the water problem of Fakirwada area in Tadepura slum was chosen.

Non functional well

A community meeting was organised in June 2020 in presence of 50 community members. They were made aware on the process and ways to do rain water harvesting. A well which was not functional since the past 5 to 6 years had to be re-constructed and water flowing from roofs of houses around had to be accumulated in the well. For community participation, sense of ownership and maintenance in future- if need be; they were encouraged to contribute some amount. Shobha Bhaviskar, Chief Officer accompanied with councilors paid visits to the site and an NOC from the Amalner Nagar Palika was availed as well. Community cooperation was necessary for a trouble-free process and it was on par. Community people helped finding apt contractors and labourers for the process. The construction raw materials were loaded at their homes and electricity for the construction purpose in the dark was availed from their homes.MHT staff’s meeting with community members Pipes from roofs of community people’s home navigated towards the well

Pipes from people’s home connected to the well through underground route

The well was dug upto 39 feet, accumulating water till 17 feet. Rain water from 18 households was made to flow in the well, benefiting over 650 people. Families who didn’t have adequate water supply, fetched from this well for daily chores. Continuous rains in month of June for 8 days, the water level increased to 31 feet. This stored water was of much help to families during the lockdown as well. Water in the revived well after monsoon 2020 MHT’s CBO monitors the flawless functioning of the well.

For 650 people of Fakriwada area in Tadepura slum, who had water supply on every 5th-6th day in other seasons which extended upto availiability on 12th-15th day in Summer, the community was able to accumulate 1,67,720 litres of water because of reviving this well, in 2020. Bebabai Shyamrao Bhil, a resident near Tadepura shared, “Changla zale MHT ne vihir changli karun dili. Hya vedi 8 divsani nal aale tar amhala khup tras zala asta zar hi vihir nahi zali asti. Amhala lockdown madhye panyachya samsyela hi samor zave lagle aste” (We were receiving water after an interval of eight days , hence it was difficult for us. If MHT had not revived this well, we would have been fighting water crisis, especially during the lockdown. It’s good that they made such a well)

Bharti Bhonsale, Program Manager, MHT shared, “This was a pilot project we did to learn if the community members can have an access to water from a traditional source and we were successful in the process. During the lockdown it was a big relief. Taking it forward, we’re now reviving 17 more wells with support from Misereor. Availability of water for people through this process, in a place where there is a problem of water scarcity and inadequate water supply encourages us to work more in this direction.”

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