A Drop To Drink

Low cost appropriate technology brings water to the Himalayas

RIMLI BOROOAH
Freelance editor and writer

DAPPLING THE verdant patch of grass where a community meeting is in progress, the afternoon sun also brings out the roses on Janki Joshi’s cheeks. Or perhaps they bloom in empathy with her vocal chords, currently engaged in urging fellow villagers to get on with the setting up of an infiltration well (IW). It’s left to Puran Ram, a veteran of such meetings, to keep things on track in his unassuming way: several matters need to be thrashed out in detail, for water is an issue that dominates the minds of the villagers of Badl, in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon hills.

There’s a water crisis in the central Himalayan region — ironically, what with the Himalayas being the source of water for most of north India — and Kumaon is particularly badly off. Near our small cottage on the outskirts of a pretty Kumaoni hill-town, most houses have a hosepipe winding its way down for several metres from a single water connection on top of the steep path. In more remote villages, the gadheras (underground streams) and naulas (traditional ‘wells’ that tap subterranean water capillaries) are drying up because of deforestation, and women often trudge long, steep distances to handpumps.

A situation IW can mitigate, as Jankiji knows for she’s seen it at work in a relative’s village. This appropriate technology (AT) device is used globally in different forms, and the form devised by British hydrologist Dr Tim Rees in the late 1980s in Kumaon is very appropriate indeed for hilly areas. About 5 ft wide and 25 to 30 ft deep, it is a combination of a unique protected well — a porous cylindrical tank with a lid — and a pump of some sort, usually a handpump. Water trickles into the tank, filtered by the sand packed around it, and is drawn up by the handpump.

An innovative extension of the traditional naula system, the IW wins over other water supply systems in several ways. It scores over the age-old naulas by being safe from contamination, being a covered structure, and by ensuring more supply by tapping a much deeper water network. Conventional handpumps, which call for digging much deeper — more than 300 ft — can only be set up close to roads, where drilling rigs can travel. They also involve heavy expenses, as do conventional piped systems. But an IW can be established in remote villages far from motorable roads as the equipment required is lightweight, costs relatively miniscule, and maintenance easy enough to be handled by villagers themselves, if trained in the technology.

Dr Rees collaborated with the NGO Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation (Grassroots), based in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand, to pass on the technology to a number of locals, including Puranji. These barefoot engineers eventually formed the Kumaon Artisans’ Guild (KAG), which now plays a vital role in promoting AT applications in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Their method for setting up an IW involves the village community at all stages: from the initial community meetings to contributing towards the cost in cash and labour (currently Rs 55,000 to Rs 70,000; funding agencies tapped by Grassroots make up the balance), and helping in the maintenance. A KAG team, along with labour from the village, takes up to 40 days to build an IW; KAG also provides tech support later, when required.

The key factors for an IW are choosing a suitable site and maintaining the catchment area. Villagers are trained to tend to the catchment area by setting up check dams, digging percolation pits and undertaking afforestation: these ensure that the subsurface water matrix is properly recharged. Villagers have a sense of ownership and responsibility towards their water system, which ensures its smooth functioning, demonstrating that such community-managed water systems are the way to go in rural areas.

Pushpa Bisht of Ravalsera village is all smiles as she talks of how the IW in her village has made life so much easier for the women. The relief and happiness of the women laughing and joking at the IW handpump in Bhora village is palpable: the furthest any of them must walk now for water has been reduced to a few metres, as opposed to several kilometres only some months ago. Kalyan and Anita Paul of Grassroots are also happy as they impart some good news: the Uttarakhand Government has recently appointed the NGO as a resource institute to transfer knowledge of this AT to the water department staff, aiming to take this people’s technology across the state. Grassroots is keen to spread the technology, having already helped train many barefoot engineers and recently commissioned a step-by-step training film. At the same time, they sound a note of warning: it’s not enough to set up these wells; a holistic plan is required for water problems in the hills and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, if community meetings continue to be an integral part of Grassroots’ / KAG’s IW process, with the Uttarakhand Government pitching in with funds and resource transfers, perhaps other Janki Joshis will set up IWs in their villages without having to resort to a great deal of lung power. •