Access to Water for 500 Rural Indian Families

We are very grateful to everyone who has supported this project so far and your donations mean we are now in a position to enable 78 families to be able to access a WaterWheel.

Our initial plans had been to hold two pilot projects at the end of June 2014 at different locations in India, working together with our Indian partner and being supported by Wello personnel. However the plans had to change due to a number of factors and we are rescheduling the pilot projects for this autumn but now with the potential to have many more WaterWheels available for this.

Another important factor is that Wello has been finalising their registration in India which has been be a long and complicated process. They are almost there but this has also meant that the production of the new version of the WaterWheel, we will be using, has also been delayed. Wello expect that the new WaterWheels will be rolling out by the end of September or early October. The design of the new wheel with a larger opening which has been influenced by the feedback Wello have received during their various trials.

Micro-Loan Scheme
The funds we are raising for the WaterWheel mean that we will be able to have a stock of WaterWheels to start the project and set up schemes where by families are able to buy a WaterWheel through a micro loan scheme. One of the key questions we are looking at what families in these communities can afford or will be willing to pay in order to get hold of a WaterWheel. The funds we have received will in effect be recycled as the loans are repaid and can be used to invest in more WaterWheels. Our partner has already operated this kind of programme successfully with Water Buffaloes which provide milk for families with the extra being sold to earn an income.

The WaterWheels also have been seen to have different uses whether just being used to transport water for a family or by farmers as an easier way to irrigate their crops. In some communities it may be possible for someone to set up a business of collecting water for others by investing in a WaterWheel. We are learning from Wello what has worked in different areas but India is so diverse you always find that a new community might come up with other uses or ways in which they will use the Waterwheels.

54 Reasons

Wello recently shared this story which came out of their ongoing work and research into how best to make WaterWheels available to communities in India.

  It was a wonderful surprise to meet Manohar a few weeks ago in the Vidharba region of Maharashtra. He braved 49Celsius (120F) heat and an 8-kilometer trek from his village to show us a list he had compiled of 54 families from his village interested in the WaterWheel. Manohar's reason: “I had to meet Wello so that I could tell them how much our village needs WaterWheels.”

Matched Funding
Our goal is still to provide 300 families in  this first phase of the project. Now that things are clearer about the next steps for implementing the project we need to continue with the fundraising effort and there is a special opportunity at the beginning of September being offered by Global Giving. From 2pm on Monday 1st Sept to 1:59 on 8th September every gift given to a project on the Global Giving Web site will received 50% more from a matching fund up to a maximum of £600 for a single donation.  So if you are thinking of investing in another WaterWheel or know friends who are interested in the project please encourage them it make their donation in that first week of September.

Thanks again for your support for the WaterWheel project you are very much appreciated.

Warm Regards

Andrew