A ‘Cockatiel’ to remedy water crisis in Thane

Of what use is a borewell without pumps and pipes, asks Raghunath Bhoye (51), in Sakhara village, to every visitor and every official who cares to listen. Smruti Koppikar reports.

Of what use is a borewell without pumps and pipes, asks Raghunath Bhoye (51), in Sakhara village, to every visitor and every official who cares to listen. No one has an answer. In a 500-metre radius of his modest house are three borewells – one in his compound, and two further down in the village dug in June when scanty rainfall worsened the drinking water shortage. They are useless without pumps and pipelines.

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Bhoye offers drinking water from a sealed bottle. Rows of such bottles of mineral water are prominently stocked in each of the four grocery shops in the village.

From a distance, the bottles appear to be those of a reputable mineral water brand. Called “Cockatiel”, they sell for Rs 12 to 15 a piece. “We get them from the famous Coke company. We sell about 10 bottles a day here,” says Vilas Waghera, who runs a shop. Other shopkeepers say each of them sell about six to eight bottles a day.

Sakhara, about 120 km north of Mumbai in Thane district’s Vikramgad taluka, typifies the drinking water crisis across many parts of Maharashtra, and, indeed in the country. All the four tribal-dominated talukas in the district – Vikramgad, Jawahar, Mokhada and Wada – face acute water shortage. Thane is not even in the list of 15 (of 32) worst-hit districts drawn up by the Maharashtra government. Officials say nearly 80% of the villages in the district are struggling with water scarcity.

“I have cried hoarse for two months for a good pumpset for my borewell. No one’s bothered. It takes two women half an hour to fill one pot,” says Bhoye, assistant sub-inspector of police. His daughter-in-law Kalpana (28) says she feels faint just fetching water for the seven-member family every morning from the Deherje river when their borewell refuses to yield any. “When we splurge, it’s to buy bottled water. Our village women’s day cycle is dictated by water, or lack of it,” rues Vanita (40). Water tankers are more of a rarity than mineral water bottles here.

Water shortage was felt early this year. The request for more and frequent water tankers was sent to the government, says Kailash Jadhav, additional collector (Thane). “Perhaps one of us will have to die to get some water source,” says Motibai (48), alluding to the death of Parvati Jadhav in Dolara village, Mokhada taluka, in April. Jadhav had collapsed and died after trekking five hours for water that morning. After her death, a borewell was dug and the long-pending demand for a small dam on a rivulet nearby sanctioned. Work on this will begin in September.

Short of Aqua

* Major projects to supply water to Mumbai are in Thane

* Two large rivers – Ulhas and Vaitarna – originate in Thane

* 80% of the district’s villages face water crisis

* Average availability of water in these villages is about 3-4 litres per person per day

* Women spend productive time, up to six hours a day, only fetching water

* Small-scale projects to tap local sources or augment supply have been neglected

* Contractors make a killing through fake bottled water