Project Drishti
Drishti, a funding organization from Mumbai, has given funds for watershed development project in the village Aghanwadi, a small tribal hamlet approximately 15 kms from Kasara. Aghanwadi and another tribal village Fugale are situated near an ancient lake dating back to 18th century. After February, wells near these villages dry up and the women have to walk a distance of about 2 kms to fetch water from a well which is located inside the lake and which becomes accessible when lake water recedes during summer. The lake has capacity to store nearly 60 million liters of water but due to silt formation and crumbling of the surrounding wall the water stored prior to implementation of this project was much less and unsuitable for human consumption.

The project consisted of the following steps to ensure availability of water near the village for 12 months.
  • Repairs of the lake well
  • Laying of a pipe line to siphon water from the lake well
  • Collection tank for the siphoned water near the village
  • De-silting of the lake, constructing new stone masonry walls on the entire periphery of the lake. Due to silt and dilapidated condition of the surrounding walls the lake water could not be used for domestic applications by the local communities.
De-silting of the lake Building the wall with villagers participation
   
Aganwadi lake - before desilting Aganwadi lake - after desilting

All the above steps have been successfully completed in June 2006. De-silting of the lake was one of the most challenging jobs since all along; Bridge Trust team was going against time and weather. De-silting required pumping out the residue water and removing of the silt from the lake with the help of heavy machinery, which was rather tough since monsoon arrived earlier than expected. Considering the inaccessibility of the site and the undulating terrain, getting heavy machinery like ‘Poclain’ at the lakeside was itself an arduous task. Despite these adversities the entire work of de-silting was completed along with the construction of masonry walls on the periphery of the lake – to the satisfaction of the villagers.

With the first showers of monsoon, the lake is full of good quality water (60 million litres) almost up to the brim. It is expected that with these interventions, the water availability in tribal village Aganwadi will improve substantially. With availability of water near the village throughout the year, the drudgery of the women will reduce considerably.
 
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Copyrights 2006, The Bridge Trust