Wells and Step-wells

Featured Articles
February 24, 2021 Baravas, the unique water harvesting structures of Maharashtra continue to stand the test of time. Urgent efforts need to be made to conserve them and learn from them!
A barav from Limb village in Satara district, Maharashtra (Image Source: Aarti Kelkar Khambete)
November 18, 2019 Bangalore's water utility is understaffed, under financed and unable to service the city's water needs.
Image credit: Citizen Matters
November 13, 2019 News this week
A cyclonic storm that hit India in 2016. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
November 4, 2019 Despite being the lifeline of India’s water supplies, groundwater is overlooked by policy makers and users alike.
An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra. Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr. Image used for representational purposes only.
October 25, 2019 Groundwater use has doubled in Pune. Comprehensive mapping of groundwater resources and better management and governance is the need of the hour.
Groundwater, an exploited resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
September 26, 2019 New report documents India’s rich traditions of water harvesting and sustainable use.
Bandhara (in Nashik, Maharashtra), a low masonry weir of 1.2 to 4.5 m height, which is constructed across a small stream for diverting the water into a small main canal taking off from its upstream side (Image: Shailendra Yashwant, Oxfam India)
The Vand women of Kachchh - A case study on drinking water management from the work of Samerth Trust in Kutch, Gujarat
This case study is about Samerth Trust's efforts to achieve drinking water security, in participation with local village communities, particularly the 'Vand' women in Rapar, Kachchh (Gujarat). Posted on 07 Mar, 2010 02:23 AM

This case study is about Samerth's efforts to achieve drinking water security, in participation with local village communities in Rapar, Kachchh (Gujarat). Arghyam has been collaborating with Samerth on this effort since 2007.

The Vand Women of Kachchh: Guest post by Keya Acharya

She gazes unflinchingly with direct eyes into the camera with a feminine mystique and physique that could, be gracing the front cover of a beauty magazine. Her red, mirror-worked blouse, in the traditional Kachchhi style worn by tribal women, is strapped at the back in stringed bows, greatly practical in the dry, wilting heat of that arid expanse of land in hinterland Gujarat called Kachchh. Her skirt is a colourful hue of printed green, and her ‘dupatta’ is a blazing red piece of cloth swept forward from her waist, partially covering her back, brought over her head and tucked back demurely into her waist again. Her name is Ammi.

The best part of the story - A case study on drinking water management from the work of Samerth Trust in Kutch, Gujarat
This story is a continuation of the series on the 'vand' women of Kutch, whose efforts to restore and supply drinking water in the region is much appreciated. Posted on 07 Mar, 2010 02:18 AM

This case study is about Samerth's efforts to achieve drinking water security, in participation with local village communities in Rapar, Kachchh (Gujarat). Arghyam has been collaborating with Samerth on this effort since 2007.

The Best Part of the Story: Guest post by Keya Acharya

The landscape is barren in parts with just high heat and sun-bleached sand, the hallmarks of wastelands; in other parts there is some semblance of agriculture, with jowar, bajra and sometimes castor growing in small patches of mild green, without the lushness that good watering provides.

And in the middle of this landscape there appears, like an oasis without the accompanying palms, the ‘Tinnavahd talab’, a drinking water pond constructed by the community at Rabarkar vand, near Lakhagarh village in Rapar taluk of Kutch district. Inside the pond there is a dugwell, constructed on the pond bed.

Improving water quality through recharge of open wells - VP Thuruth - Trissur - Kerala - The Mazhapolima intervention programme
A case study that describes the work taken up in the coastal riverine island of VP Thuruth, Thrissur district, in the context of severe water scarcity and deteriorating water quality in the island.
Posted on 27 Dec, 2009 07:47 PM

Mazhapolima was a participatory well recharge programme initiated by the Thrissur district, under which domestic water sources were recharged with rainwater harvested (usually) from roof tops.

Status of groundwater in Wardha: A report from the Central Ground Water Board
The report lists out recommendations to utilize groundwater in Wardha, Maharashtra in an effective manner and is complete with data relating to geomorphology and the status of groundwater Posted on 13 Aug, 2009 10:30 AM

This report from the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) deals with the status of groundwater in the Wardha district of Maharashtra.

Read more

Half full, Half empty: A WaterAid publication on the drought and drinking water crisis in Bundelkhand
The paper presents a situational analysis of the crisis and challenges of drinking water in Bundelkhand in the overall context of the drought spell in 2007 Posted on 11 Aug, 2009 01:44 PM

This paper on Bundelkhand from their Water and Sanitation Perspective series of WaterAid presents how ecological degradation and faulty policies make drinking water scarce and less accessible.

About the Govt. of India's dugwell recharge programme
CAREWATER requires solicitation for comments on their research study on dug well recharge draws attention to a Government program on decentralised groundwater through dug wells. Posted on 17 Jun, 2009 09:27 PM

   CAREWATER's recent solicitation for comments on IWP blog (click here),  on their research study on dugwell recharge draws attention to a little-known programme of the government of India on decentralized groundwater recharge through the use of farmer d

Request for input and partners - Dugwell recharge research program by CAREWATER
As a response to water stress in hard rock areas of the country, Posted on 10 Jun, 2009 02:37 AM

Guest post on the Portal by Sunderrajan Krishnan, CAREWATER, (Center for Action, Research and Education on Water), www.carewater.org . === As a response to water stress in hard rock areas of the country, the Government of India has designed the Artificial Programme on Dug Well Recharge aimed at rejuvenating hard rock aquifers across the country. The idea is to divert rainfall runoff into open wells as a means of harvesting rainfall runoff and increasing recharge into aquifers. Currently as of April 2009, the program is underway in a couple of states, mainly in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and other states are following suit. The program is ambitious in the sense that it aims to bring in millions of dug well owning farmers towards recharging. How will such a program be implemented, monitored and channeled so that the results are achieved to satisfaction? CAREWATER has designed a network of partners and is conducting studies to understand Dug well recharge and providing feedbacks to this national programme on artificial dug well recharge. Towards this purpose, since September 2008 we have created a partner base of organizations who along with our expertise are carrying out ground studies and analysis. Some of these results are available now on our website http://www.carewater.org (Please click on the link at the bottom of the homepage). We hope to keep updating this page as the program continues and wish to have more partners join our endeavor. In particular we have published a study of dug well recharge. The study is summarized below. We would like a larger discussion of the results of the study. Your comments below will be very useful to take this project forward more effectively.

Regional meeting - "Mazhapolima", Thrissur
Regional meeting to discuss the effects of the Mazhapolima program. Posted on 02 Jun, 2009 09:22 AM

Forwarded to the Portal by: Nitya Jacob, UN

Dr Kurien Baby, District Collector of Trissur, Kerala, and Solution Exchange Water Community are organizing a regional meeting to discuss the effects of the Mazhapolima program. The dates are 16-17 June 2009, and it will be held in Trissur.

Background

Kerala has among the highest well densities in India, and 71% of the population depends on them for drinking water. The aggregate household investment in the state on wells is pegged at Rs 1800 crore and they have a combined yield potential of 6.6 million cu m per day. That works out to a water availability of 197 litres of water per capita per day (lpcd), well above the government's prescribed norm of 140 lpcd. These wells are threatened. Despite an annual rainfall of 3,000 mm, 70% go dry in summer. The surface runoff is heavy, and therefore groundwater levels in several blocks have fallen sharply, and coupled with saline intrusion at an accelerated pace, have led to water quality problems.

Corporate initiative 'Project Boond' by Bharat Petroleum and the Bridge Charitable Trust , Thane district , Maharashtra (2007)
Project Boond aims to make the seasonally water-scarce tribal region of western ghats water sufficient by repairing wells and constructing bunds Posted on 25 May, 2009 10:46 AM

This presentation describes Bharat Petroleum's 'Project Boond', funded by the Oil Industry Development Board and with

An open well revivial in Padiabadmal village, Orissa
Reviving the well was not a reactive initiative by the villagers. Rather it was a most calculated one planned in advance to create a contingency buffer to mitigate vulnerabilities Posted on 21 May, 2009 04:35 PM

A story from NGO MASS on successfully reviving an open well in Padiabadmal village in Orissa, that had been neglected for two decades. In a tube-well dependent drinking water supply system, an initiative by people of Padiabadmal, a tribal inhabited village in Western Orissa, has come as a refreshing fresh water splash.

×