Clean Water for Drought-Affected Families in India

With your support GRAVIS is taking generous steps to improve conditions in rural communities in Rajasthan.  Recently, Suzanne York, a writer and Taming the Tiger blogger, wrote about GRAVIS' work to ensure access to water in Rajasthan including one project working to build water storage tanks:

"GRAVIS works in the Thar Desert, home to the world’s most densely populated desert ecosystem with 23 million people. Life is tough, with unpredictable rainfall, environmental degradation, climatic extremes, resource scarcity, few health clinics, and oppressive social standards for women. GRAVIS incorporates a holistic approach, focusing on water security, food security, health, and education, and reaches approximately 1 million people."

"GRAVIS, a local IDEX grantee with field offices in Rajasthan’s Thar Desert, strives to create self-reliant villages. One such initiative is helping implement a traditional way of harvesting and storing rain water to help Rajasthani communities. Using taankas, or underground water storage tanks, GRAVIS helped 20 villages construct these tanks that resulted in vastly improved water security during times of drought. At the same time, it eased the water burden on women.

A taanka captures, filters, and stores rainwater normally collected from rooftops. Each taanka holds 20,000 liters of water. Once a tank is filled, it can last a family for 5-6 months. Freed from the need to collect water, more girls are able to attend school. A win-win for the family and community."

To read more on how your donations help bring water security to local communities and to learn more about GRAVIS' work visit the IDEX blog featuring more from Suzanne York and her talk with GRAVIS director Dr. Prakash Tyagi.

Links:

• Desert Empowerment in the Thar