Uttarakhand women end water woes on their own; revive dry water springs

What comes to your mind when you hear of Uttarakhand? A land with snow clad peaks and glaciers. Mighty rivers like the Ganges originate from this state. It quenches the thirst of millions in the northern plains of India. For an outsider, Devbhumi is nothing other than a land of prosperity. But for the people of Uttarakhand, it is a parched land of stagnation and agony. Most will not believe that the state is facing an acute water shortage. According to a 2018 NITI Aayog report, approximately 50 percent of the mountain springs in India’s Himalayan region, which also includes Uttarakhand, are drying up. . But what are these mountain springs? And how are they formed?. Himalayan springs are a natural discharge from the groundwater aquifer. It is considered as the greenest and cleanest form of water. About 90 per cent of Uttarakhand's rural population depend on these springs for water. Drying springs puts a misery for the women of Uttarakhand, because they have to bear the brunt of this water crisis as they have to fetch water for all the domestic needs. I need to go 10 to 12 times a day to fetch water for the household needs, says 22 year old Deepa Bisht. She and other women in the Dubroli village of lamgara district had to travel at least 1.5 to 2 kilometers a day to collect water. The Government of Uttarakhand had installed a pipe connection in their village. But water comes out through them once every 4 to 5 months, says Neeta Saha. People living in villages of Uttarakhand spend on an average, 43 minutes per day to fetch water from outside their habitations. This is far higher than the national average which is about 35 minutes. Chirag, is an NGO working on recharge and rejuvenation of Himalayan springs. Since 2008 it has been helping the local communities across Uttarakhand. In 2019, they started the rejuvenation project in Lamgara, a village in Almora district of Uttarakhand. Instead of using a conventional watershed approach, where water recharge pits, ponds and bunds are made without any focus, Chirag adopted a springshed hydro-geological approach. This approach is cost effective as a small area of land is taken for recharge and rejuvenation, says Badrish Singh Mehra, Executive Director of Chirag. There is surety that the water will come out from the spring on which the work is being done, he added. Chirag formed a village committee which is led by women. Under this committee, the rejuvenation of the springs started. Women from the village made recharge pits, checked dams, bunds and planted trees in the recharge zone of the spring. Each household contributed 25 rupees per month for the rejuvenation of the springs. Chirag contributed the rest of the amount which covers 80 per cent of the total expenditure. Climate change, deforestation and urbanisation are threatening the existence of Himalayan springs. As per a 2018 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Uttarakhand is among the states where less than 50 percent of the population had access to adequate quantities of safe drinking water. As the springs across the himalyan region disappear, big perennial rivers like the Kosi, which is recharged by these springs are slowly becoming non-perennial. In 1992 the base flow (it indicates the water in a river that has come from groundwater) of the Kosi river was 790 litres per second. This base flow dropped to just 75 litres per second in 2016. Kosi may become dry in the next 15 years. Himalayan springs also play a vital role in the ecology of Uttarakhand. They protect and nurture the oldest forests in the region. Women of Lamgara are not trained hydrologists or geologists, But they were relentless and rooted when it came to conserving water. With the help of experts and through the community, they found a solution to their hardships. They have created an access to clean water. Women of Lamgara can now rest and dream about a day when water from the springs that they have regenerated can reach their houses through pipes.

[@shaileshgururani9788]

The Chirag foundation has been very helpful and later part of this video was shot in my village. This video also features my uncle (seen in the video with blue cap) who is retired from Army and now started dairy farming in our remote village, he is also helping the foundation and is a ground worker. After the work done in my village now we have ample amount of storage if water.

[@noguruespanol]

I plan to travel from my adopted country Chile to Utterkhand this year for 2 months, would visit this village with my daughter ( from Chilean mother), to understand the complexity & greatness of Bharat.
I follow Paani Foundation which brought me to this video. Thanks to all the people involved in this project

[@bluemountaincottage]

CHIRAG NGO's work is really appreciable.They are reviving spring water (Naulas)in our Village Rausil near Kathgodam. Digging recharge pits and planting baanj trees near it ...looks like the spring will be revived

[@GautamKumar-mj2ci]

Great coverage down to earth team.

[@deepika2644]

Absolutely. I love seeing local people like this and discovering the issues and progress❤️

[@crypton_8l87]

The springs don't nurture the forests, that is ulta! It is the forests or protected sacred groves that nurture the springs!!

[@kiku_to_herself]

This is amazing ....
I wish I could do something in order to help such villages

[@Manojsinghk]

It's not "Ganges", it's Ganga both in Hindi and English.

[@humble6979]

News is old but idea is innovative and will live forever 👍

[@user-bbwisdom]

Hard work, bright minds, and natures wonders in union save these people. Great and inspiring video!

[@ashalaishram8091]

🌧💦💦🐬🐟🦈🐟🌳🌳🌳🌴🌴🦜🦢🦩🕊🌾🌾🌾🐪🐂🐃🐐🐏🐑❤❤❤🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@deepakkamath7513]

Beautiful and inspiring. Thanks for bringing us these stories

[@kiranbhattacharya1945]

Vasudhaiva kutumbakam Thank you for this insightful story.

[@deepakbagdwal328]

Yes i have seen all these problem I am from Lamgara and seen all the problems it seems to be beautiful life but the tough things are not shown anywhere.

[@deepika2644]

Indeed awesome work

[@tempcadoganenright]

Wonderful work

[@pranjalmahanta4596]

Fantastic.

[@SeeJey.]

The narrator seems an Indian still he pronounced Ganga as Gangees , bro its a shame that a person educated like you is following foreigners blindly. Even if he is not an Indian he should have researched beforehand.

[@jaswantsinghbisht9369]

जला चिराग तो रौशनी आयी
काली अंधेरी रात में चांदनी आयी।

[@swatcat19]

Great

[@5yfgh7hcbbg]

salute....

[@naturewithculture9108]

Village Life style jabardast updated video so beautiful ❤️ se 🙏🏼

[@animegatr8d516]

I hsve seen a speing at renuka lake himachsl,with water seeping down even in summer

[@chandurawat300]

Scarcity of water... Major challenging part of hill area... Also with in 10 year we lost many NAULE and DHARE...# recharge the water system...

[@Kunal-df9eu]

Great work as usual, by the DTE team and the villagers.
But can we PLEASE not call it "gangies(गैंजीज़)"?
The name is गंगा and it shouldn't be changed as per how foreigners speak it. Please 🙏🏼

[@vthilton]

Save Our Planet

[@rishbhgoswami2984]

How can buy khand khand Uttrakhand

[@KarmavsWild]

First image is of Leo (h.p)

[@AbhishekSharma-lb7ot]

Mighty river gange nhi ganga bol

[@YouTuber-fi4vl]

Gan gies

[@jigsaw2281]

M uttarakhand s hu mujhe yaad h jb m 9th m tha to pani lane jada tha kbhi kbhi jb pani ni aata tha...Mangre p...Mcd p thu h

[@badlad2001]

Pahad ka pani or pahad ki jawani pahad k kaam nhi ata