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)
Citizens participate in mapping Bengaluru’s groundwater
A partnership between Biome, ACWADAM and WIPRO brought stakeholders together to map Sarjapur's aquifer. Posted on 14 Sep, 2017 11:34 AM

The problem of Bengaluru’s water is well known.

Talapariges, the small traditional water bodies of Karnataka. (Source: IWP Flickr photo by Mallikarjuna Hosapalya)
Well, as unique as this
A stepwell in Maharashtra stands for the spectacular architecture of a time when the importance of water conservation was acknowledged and water was stored and used with ingenuity. Posted on 10 Apr, 2017 05:12 PM

The annual droughts in Maharashtra have put tremendous pressure on the available water resources in the state.

A view of the stepwell. (Source: India Water Portal)
The search for a shelter
The sorry state of urban slums are testimony to poorly implemented policies for the rehabilitation of migrants. Posted on 01 Feb, 2017 08:46 PM

In the last few decades, India has seen an increasing number of people migrating from rural areas to urban cities in search of work and better living. These migrants often get employed in the informal sector as construction workers, vendors, domestic servants, etc. They also live in informal settlements, generally known as slums.

Residents struggle for a pot of drinking water at Bhuri Tekri, Indore.
Flood risk to Himalayan hydropower projects: Study
News this week Posted on 28 Nov, 2016 11:57 AM

Glacial lakes pose flood risk to 441 hydel projects in Himalayan region

A glacier-fed stream in Himachal Pradesh. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
WASH away Ujjain woes
The holy city of Ujjain is dealing with severe water and sanitation issues. A study reveals serious anomalies in the WASH situation in the city. Posted on 07 Nov, 2016 10:31 PM

Despite all the hype around Swachh Bharat Mission, the situation on the ground remains dismal. The city of Ujjain is located on the western part of Madhya Pradesh on the Malwa Plateau and is primarily a religious tourism centre due to the Mahakal temple.

Open well in Hira mill ki chaal slum situated next to an open drain resulting in its water getting polluted.
Call for Nominations: FICCI Water Awards 2016
FICCI Water Awards recognize excellence in water conservation and sustainable water management practices.
Posted on 28 Sep, 2016 03:56 PM
Water Awards_Call for nomination
Staying afloat, one stepwell at a time
Jodhpur has a unique problem. Unlike other cities, it is dealing with excess groundwater. Reusing its traditional water structures is the way forward. Posted on 19 Aug, 2016 01:09 PM

"Jatene dekho utene bawri" (wherever you look, there’s a stepwell). This is how the woman standing on the threshold of her house, in the walled city of Jodhpur, told us when we asked where we could find stepwells in her neighbourhood. 

Toorji ka jhalra, one of the step ponds that attracts tourists in Jodhpur.
Where the holy rivers meet
Millions of devotees travel to the Mahamaham tank every 12 years to wash away their sins in the holy rivers believed to converge in the tank. Posted on 01 Aug, 2016 07:53 PM

Temples in India have always had a water body near its premises. Whether it is a natural pond, a free-flowing river or a man-made tank, the water inside them seem to imbibe the sacredness associated with the temples, thereby becoming an integral part of the cultural, social and religious landscape of that area. 

Once every 12 years, pilgrims take a dip in the sacred tank where the holy rivers are believed to converge during the Mahamaham festival.
Rapar ends its long wait for water
How an arid, saline land where migration in search of water and jobs was a way of life, boasts of plenty of water now. Posted on 20 Jul, 2016 09:26 AM

Summer temperatures soar to a gruelling 50ocelsius in Rapar, a little known block in Gujarat’s Kutch district. Land here is dry, saline and arid; the monsoon is erratic. Many a times, the entire year’s rain falls in a short span of two or three days, doing more harm than good.

Rapar has many water structures now. (Source: Samerth Trust)
Once a drain, now a sewer
Barapullah drain, which was once a major drain in Delhi, is being clogged with human waste, thanks to the rapid growth the city is undergoing. Posted on 05 Jul, 2016 09:33 PM

Originally a darya (creek), locally known as Nizammuddin darya, Barapullah is a key drain of Delhi today. Barapullah gets its name from a pul (bridge) built across it by the then emperor Jahangir's chief eunuch, Mihir Banu Agha.

Construction debris of the Barapullah flyover project chokes the nallah.
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