The life-changing impact of clean water

The story of Shravan Lal’s family shows how clean water can transform lives

In 2014 we wrote a piece about Shravan Lal, a farmer whose involvement in one of our projects allowed him to install a rainwater harvesting system in his home. Five years later, it is clear that this solution has had a huge impact on not only his life, but those of his daughters. Here, we highlight the potential of clean water and long-term, sustainable solutions for changing the lives of families in rural India and breaking the cycle of poverty.

Thoughts from the field

Om Prakash Sharma, WaterHarvest’s India director, shares his views on the charity’s achievements eighteen years after joining

It was exactly 18 years ago, on 1st April 2001, that I joined WaterHarvest. The journey has been an inspirational and motivating one. When I look back at all these years I always think how lucky I am that I got the job which I love: supporting the poorest of poor with compassion and love, but above all working with an organisation which has a very strong ethos and values.

Wise Water Solutions in Rajasthan

WaterHarvest’s collaborative book is available now

Across the Indian state of Rajasthan, the local people have developed a profound understanding about water and a wealth of wisdom concerning its management. The water management solutions represent the distilled wisdom of centuries of innovation, closely adapted to local needs, changing climatic, geographical and cultural conditions and the ways that people collaborate for survival and wellbeing. Now, WaterHarvest and its partners in the UK and India have drawn attention to thirty different water harvesting structures in their collaborative book, Wise Water Solutions in Rajasthan, 

Leaving No-one Behind

Today is World Water Day

22nd March marks World Water Day: a UN initiative which provides the opportunity for countries around the globe to appreciate the value of life-giving water, learn about water-related and sustainability issues and encourage people to take action. This year’s theme is ‘leaving no-one behind’, highlighting how people are often being disadvantaged in their ability to access water because of, for instance, their sex or disability. It is vital that everyone’s basic human right of access to safe water and sanitation is realised, as fresh water is essential for life,

WaterHavest begins crowdfunding

Can you help us in our first crowdfunding campaign?

Crowdfunding first came to many people’s attention during Obama’s 2008 presidential bid. Through his grassroots campaign, Obama reached out to everyday Americans who then donated ‘small’ amounts of $10 or $20. Since then, communities around the world have raised significant sums for projects close to their hearts. Crowdfunding engages and empowers people to get involved in causes that they believe in and, at WaterHarvest, we have just launched our first crowdfunding campaign to provide 18 farmers with a drip irrigation system to lift them and their families out of poverty.

Bicycles for 70 girls on International Women’s Day

As part of International Women’s Day, WaterHarvest and our partner GRAVIS are providing girls in the remote Thar desert with bicycles so they can attend senior school, just like their brothers.

When faced with limited resources, families are often forced to choose which children will go to school and they typically choose the boys. This leaves girls, who don’t live within walking distance of a senior school, stuck at home and unable to complete their education, due to the simple problem of not being able to get to school.

Climate change threatens serious implications for our natural resources, our infrastructure as well as our food and water security. India is recognised as one of the most vulnerable countries to climatic variability, with much of the nation’s lowest socio-economic communities directly dependent on primary natural resources for their livelihoods, including rainfall for water consumption and crop production. For these marginalised communities, the impact of climate change cannot be understated. The World Bank projects that the pressures on India’s water, air, soil and forests are likely to be the most globally intense by 2020.

Rajasthan is amongst the most climate-sensitive states in India.

For the rural communities of the Kutch district of Gujarat, access to sustainable water supplies has been a distressing issue for decades. Considered one of the aridest zones throughout India, water security has become a deepening crisis and devastating consequences are continuing to occur. In 2017, we began a partnership with Samerth Trust, to collaboratively tackle these water security issues. In seek of improving the conditions for those within this perennial water scarce area, we are constructing 73 roof rainwater harvesting systems in Dholavira village, helping families capture the precious monsoon rains and store in individual tanks for year-round drinking water.

Grant awarding bodies, when they provide WaterHarvest with funding, always ask us to submit evidence that our projects are achieving their objectives. Reporting that we have constructed 100 taankas in a village or have established 10 self-help groups, our outputs, are easy to report on. Much more challenging is to provide evidence of longer-term change; the impacts. These are not usually visible for a few years after a project has ended.

We have recently received a copy of a Master of Science thesis entitled Gangeshwar Watershed Analysis and Soil Erosion Modelling in Southern Rajasthan, India. The author,

In April earlier this year, we launched the Revive and Thrive appeal to help the farmers of 10 villages within the Tonk District of Rajasthan to regain control of their suffering livelihoods. Following persistent droughts and the degradation of pasture land, many poor farmers have been deprived of good grazing, leaving them in a battle with impoverishment. Unable to feed their herds, these farmers have not only been stripped of their income, yet their way of life. The Revive and Thrive appeal has been designed to overcome the collapse of nomadic farming in these communities, enabling a greater future for these farmers and their families.