Water Security on the Parched Lands of the Thar

GRAVIS has constructed ten taankas (traditional underground water storage tanks), which has directly benefited 15 families, involving 100 to 150 community members. Each taanka can store up to 20,000 litres of water when filled up. This amount satisfies the drinking water needs of an average family of eight to ten members for six to eight months. The taanka's are a great assistance to residents like Channi Devi (read on for story).

Channi Devi’s story: Channi Devi lives in a small mud hut in a hamlet situated about 1.5 miles north from the Jemla village in Rajasthan, India. She is the mother of 5 sons and 2 daughters. 3 of her sons and 1 daughter are married. However, her married sons do not live with her. It is the scarcity of water that has broken this family apart.

For this family the water requirements have to be met by carrying it on their head everyday from Jemla village. After the pond at Jemla dries out it has to be brought from Shekhasar, which is over 6 miles away. If water is brought on a camel cart, each trip costs $7.40, amounting to $74 to $100 a month, which is difficult for this poor family to pay.

Channi Devi’s husband Puna Ram is 65 years old and it is strenuous for him to work as a laborer. Her 2 sons are laborers but due to limited work in the village the income of the family is very low. Buying water is a heavy burden. Even if they buy water, there is hardly any place to store it. But the need to collect water, and the time it takes each day, is also the reason why the daughters of this family are illiterate. This was why the Village Development Committee, formed with the support of GRAVIS, proposed the family as a stakeholder in taanka construction.

At present, Channi’s taanka stands completed waiting for the monsoon to strike and provide the family with easy access to water, and reduce their financial burden.