40 years old Wafatan Khatun lives with her husband Mohd. Fekuddin-Ansari and their six children. A small broken road leads to her village which is situated 3 km in the west from Tikuna Farm. Village Badgaha comprises of people from different communities.
Her family’s livelihood is dependent on farming and making incense sticks. She did not have any source of water at home and had to travel a long to get water. The long time spent in collecting water use to hamper their incense making activity which in turn affected their income.
DISHA organized meetings with the villagers of Badgaha where people were given information on RWH and also on the whole process of rainwater harvesting. When she heard that under the initiative 50 tanks would be constructed free of cost in her village Wafatan Khatun was quick to approach DISHA and now she has a 2000 liter water tank in her home which once filled with rainwater lasts for 10-15 days. She says-
“This technique has not only helped me in solving water problem but has also added significantly in my family income. Even in dry season this tanks helps me a lot as by paying ten rupees I get filled it up so it has added convenience”.
She thanks DISHA for its sincere efforts
Village Jahanbigha is located 9 km (north-east) away from Bodhgaya. There is perpetual water shortage. The government installed hand pumps are poorly managed and as a result of which only one hand pump functions properly and therefore the entire village is dependent on it. As the burden of fetching water is on the woman they find it very hard to manage the time for it in addition to the other household chores apart from that they get tired in this process of queuing up and then walking a long distance.
In the beginning of the RWH project DISHA organized meetings, interactions at various levels. Special focus was given on the involvement of woman in the project. Door to door visits, puppet shows and nukkad natak were used to disseminate information on how harvesting rainwater could help them in their daily life. The women were particularly happy as they had to carry the burden of fetching water for the family.
The people were told on how the tanks would help them in storing the rainwater which would otherwise go waste. After receiving training from DISHA the members of the Jal Samiti started training the community members on the technical aspects of pipes connection, installing the filter, maintenance and repair.
The people of Jahanbigha took advantage of the project and 44 tanks were constructed in the village. The women expressed their gratitude as it has given them relief from the hectic task of fetching water from distant places. It has saved a lot of time which they are now devoting for their family, children and work.
Neelam Devi lives with her husband Aditya Sahu and three children. Her husband works as a daily wage labour and they don’t have any source of water near their house. There are three hand pumps on which almost 80% of the villagers are dependent. Neelam Devi has to wait in a long queue for waiting for her turn to get water.
As she has to cover a long distance to fetch water in the rainy season she used to get totally drenched while carrying water. Now she owns a RWH tank which is installed in such a way that it collects the rainwater from her roof top. The water stored in the tank helps her in her routine house hold work like washing clothes, bathing, cleaning utensils etc. Neelam Devi attends Jal Samiti meetings regularly and makes it a point that she talk to others on the issue of rainwater harvesting technique which not only makes water easily freely available but also helps in raising the underground water level.
This is the story of Kanti Devi a rural women of Bagdaha village in Bodhgaya district. Located in the west, Bagdaha village is nearly 10 km away from Bodhgaya district. Kanti Devi is a housewife who lives with her husband and five children. Her husband Nandkishore Sahu runs a grocery shop.
Earlier she has to spend a lot of time in fetching water from hand pump located far away from her home and she had to stand in a long queue to wait for her turn to get potable drinking water and for her cattle. As a result she was left with no time to do other chores.
Today Kanti Devi is free from all hardships related to fetching water after the RWH tank was constructed. Once the water tank is full it runs for many days. The water is utilized for domestic purposes ranging from cleaning, bathing cattle, feeding them etc. Now Kanti Devi is left with extra time with her cattle which has resulted in sizeable income growth
Malti Devi is 50 years old and lives with her husband Prabhu Singh and four children. She also owns livestock and runs a small hotel in the village. She does not have a hand pump at home so she gets water from the public hand pump which is quite far from her place. As she used to be busy in her hotel work her children used to miss school to fetch water. After attending the meeting organized by DISHA and understanding the benefits of the harvesting rain water she decided to get one made for her. Malti Devi is happy and contented after the construction of the water tank. The rain water gets collected in the tank in the rainy season and when it doesn’t rain they bring water from outside and store it the tank and use it as and when required. This has resulted in bringing in more income as now she devotes more time in her business and her children are going to school regularly