Navrachna Trust has worked in 10 villages of Khargone district under the Holistic Rural Development Program of HDFC CSR which focuses on education, health, livelihood and advanced agricultural work with small and marginal farmer i.e. overall development of the village. After doing the initial survey of the villages, one of the common rampant issue was the drudgery faced by the women to carry heavy pots of water to their home for everyday use. It was seen that women carried about 50 litres of water everyday which affected their health adversely causing ailments like pain the back, neck leading to serious ailments later in the stage of their life.
The productivity also decreased making them tired and they were not able to give time for their household work as well since this took a comparative time. It was quite cumbersome not only for the women but also for the men carrying water over their cycles and quite risky too during rainy and summer seasons. Looking to this issue and the discussion with the people, Water Wheel was chosen as the intervention. The main objective of this initiative was to remove the drudgery of the women and provide the easy access of water facility to them. The Water Wheel can carry about 50 litres of water in a single unit at an ease. The structure is made such that it can work on the village terrain easily and can be moved at an ease. Even the elderly and the young adolescents can access the water wheel easily.
The health issues faced by the women reduced to a great extent and the women were able to give more time for the household work. The productivity increased due to reduced health issues and also the children were able to go schools easily since they did not have to tag along with their mothers to fetch water. The elderly were able to fetch water as well at an easy access. The women face no longer risks to bring water even during the rainy season. The communities expressed gratitude for this initiative and level of satisfaction increased among them.
