Walking, trekking, and rock climbing - not for sport but to fetch water: Addressing the struggles of Shahapur’s Adivasi Communities in accessing water
A grueling walk through a risky path to a small canal in the interiors of a forest. This is the only source of water for the tribal communities in Umbravane village of Maharashtra. The women of the village should climb rocks, walk through bushy paths with a risk of encountering wild animals for at least 2-3 kms just to fetch a pail of water or maybe two if they can carry. While the men work in the fields, it is the women who go through this strenuous journey taking breaks in between and spending at least 5-6 hours of the day to get water and then go on to do all the household chores.
A day without this journey would mean, no water for any activity or food. So the people of Umbravane have no other choice but to go through this turmoil every day to get water despite the severe body pains they suffer from at the end of the day.
“The way to the canal is not safe for anyone to travel alone. Our women suffer a lot every single day just to get water to feed us and do the household chores. Sometimes, we would have to manage everything with just one or two buckets of water because it is impossible to make two trips to the canal,” said Shetanandu Purane, a villager.
Moved by their plight, Bala Vikasa, as part of a CSR initiative made efforts to provide safe and easy access to water and help the villagers to live a healthy life. As part of this, they constructed an Over Head Tank and Ground Level Tank with tap connections to their homes. Bala Vikasa’s Safe Water team initially conducted a feasibility study and mobilised communities to help them construct a pipeline for easy access of water.
“When Bala Vikasa’s team came, we felt very hopeful and happy. They conducted meetings on water-related issues and provided us with solutions to address them. They assured that with our support, they can complete the pipeline work in just a couple of days. We were happy to contribute as this would finally end the scarcity of water in our village and our children will not suffer like we did,” expressed Shetanandu Purane.
The tribal communities of Umbravane are now able to get water at their doorstep without having to walk or trek for kilometers. The women won’t have to suffer with body aches or exhaustion from the taxing journey to fetch water.
As part of our Safe Water program, we are working towards providing access to many such communities who are still struggling to get water with the support of our CSR partners and our team who work tirelessly to ensure community needs are met.
