Village- Sandhibahali, GP- Nuapada, Block- Sinapali, Dist- Nuapada
Sandhibahali, a village of tribal communities with 200 population in 42 households, is situated in Nuapada gram panchayat of Sinapali block in Nuapada District, close to the border of Chhattisgarh. The village engaged mainly in agricultural activities and daily labor. People in this village face a lot of water scarcity during the summer despite having 22 personal ring wells, 03 ponds, 03 tube wells, etc. The water from the pond also gets dry during the summer, for which the village people were unable to use water for domestic, drinking, and irrigation purposes.
In 2021, the water supply system was installed in the village but not in all the houses. This water supply system worked only for 06 months period. The field facilitator of Chale Chalo, Barun Sunani has formed the Didi group and village water management committee to develop their understanding of water, water cycle, watershed approach, water and soil conservation, ecology, environment, forest protection, management of the water, and sustainable developments. During the meetings in this village, women and the community people shared the issues and status of the water bodies with the facilitator, Mr. Sunani, and the junior project associate, Mrs. Chandrakanti Jagat. While discussing, they addressed the issues of water scarcity in the village and planned to demand the renovation work of the water supply system as soon as possible.
The Didi leaders and the field facilitator visited the water supply department, met with Block Development Officer, Gram Panchayat Executive Officer, and Sarpanch, attended and presented their appeal at Palli Sabha, Gram Sabha for the repairing of the water supply system, through submission of their action plan at Panchayat.
However, the EO responded that as the village is on the upward hillside, the groundwater couldn’t be stored, which caused a water shortage issue. Again, in January 2023, the Didi members, community, and Chale Chalo team had a meeting on the solution to their water needs, deciding to make an overtank in the village.
As a selected watershed village, Mr. Barun regularly does the coding and tracking of the water level through measurement of the well in Sandhibahali, which helped the team to plan for the construction of the over tank at the appropriate place, with guidance and support from the PAN Network team. Out of 03 tube wells, one tube well was selected, which is situated near a well having 20fts of water in it throughout the year, as suggested by the PAN Network team as an appropriate place for construction.
Then after the proper planning process, the community and Didi leaders demanded the construction work at Panchayat and finally got approved for a solar tank above the tube well with the sanctioned amount of Rs. 3,56,794/-. The construction work got completed on 25.02.2023 with a clean and regular water flow.
On 20.06.2024, the evaluator and Chale Chalo team visited the Sandhibahali village and saw the status of the water availability and the condition of the overhead tank. They also discussed with some Didi members and community people regarding the process of planning and implementing of VDP for water security. It was found that through the micro water security planning process, the villagers, especially the women water scarcity issues, explored the possible solutions for sustained supply of safe drinking water. Based on their local condition and available resources, the Didi group and community had taken the judicious decision to convergence with PRIs and RWSS and resolve their longstanding water issues.