Situation
Tamil Nadu is once more experiencing particularly hard droughts. 3 years ago, droughts have ruined most of the crops, pushing many farmers to suicide and much more to give up agriculture and go to the cities to search for other jobs. We fear a similar situation to happen again as no single drop of water has felt on our land from October 18 to April 19 and we are now heading toward the summer season!
Crops die, forest are burning every day and night, the river has become a dry path and the lake is now a totally evaporated crater.
The biggest concern is for sure that the big drought a couple years ago forced us to pump more and more in our existing well like all of our neighbours, leading most of the ground water to be taken out.
The situation is such that now our well is running short of water and may cease provide us this so precious liquid at any time.
If we do not find a solution to this problem very soon, we might no longer be able to welcome our mentees in good conditions, offering them drinking water, food and shower.
Goal
As government doesn’t supply water to the most remote country locations, we have no choice but to drill at least one new well, as have already done our neighbours.
However, they just relied on the predictions of a water deviner which were not perfectly accurate.
The result is such that they ended up spending consequent amount of money to get a really small flow of ground water which wasn’t worth the investment.
As our organisation cannot afford mistake, we decided to pay more (Rs 10 000 or 125 €) and to go for a more scientific method before drilling the wells.
Process and Costs
We have then contacted an expert to come and realise a measurement of electrical resistivity in our ground, to determine if we have ground water and where precisely.
Luckily, the research brought very positive results and points out the presence of important supplied reservoirs on our property.
-One is particularly big and is constantly being replenished with large amount of water thanks to an important stream of underground river, but particularly deep, and therefore expensive to drill to!
It is 500 feet deep, and we should dig at least 300 more feet to get create some kind of a tank; we must then drill more than 800 feet, which will cost at least RS 80 000 , or 1 000€.
-A second one is closer from the surface, only 120 feet but will provide significantly less water. We still decided to drill it as it comes from a different underground river, and can serve as an emergency water supply in case we have troubles with the first one, and to serve as a complementary supply for the extreme droughts. We decided to drill it down to 320 feet to have a reservoir to withstand the next droughts. The price for such drilling is around Rs 15 000 or 200€.
We also need to hire masons to build the structure protecting the borewells, and purchase the construction material as well as connecting.
Finally, considering the depth of the main well and the fact that we will be using several water supplies, we will require a powerful compressor motor, which costs around Rs 35 000 or 446 €.
Progress
We have yet had the visit of the groundwater expert to realise measurement, and immediately started the drillings as the situation was a serious emergency.
Both drillings turned out to be success and provide satisfying amount of water.
The masons also made a good job building the reinforcement structures that will ensure the protection of the drillings over time and conditions.
We are currently raising funds to purchase the expensive compressor motor.
Once purchased and set, the project will finally be achieve and grant us a sustainable water supply.