Ground-water-in-Tharparkar-and-Its-Importance

District Tharparkar consists of sand dunes where water is an extremely scarce source.  The people of the village face the worst due to the absence of water for drinking, for use as well as for irrigation

By Shewa Ram Suthar

‘March 22nd is globally celebrated as World Water Day. The theme for the year 2022 is “Ground Water”. Under this theme students from Tharparkar exhibited models, drawings and paintings related to the collection of locally used water, purification of drinking water and proper use of ground water In the event. 

Association for Water, Applied Education & Renewable Energy (AWARE) with the support of Terre Dess Hommes marked the day by creating awareness among the masses about the importance of ground water, its quality and its use.  The event was attended by people from seven villages where students along with women gave speeches, presented tablues and contributed for mass awareness.

At the start of event, Ali Haider Sheikh (Assistant Commissioner), PHED and Social

Assistant Commissioner Chachro Mr. Ali Hyder Shaikh is cutting ribbon for the inauguration of Solar Powered scheme, Installed by AWARE with the support of TDH Germany

welfare Department inaugurated the solar powered water project installed by AWARE and TDH Germany in village Bahar Bheel on World Water Day.

AWARE with the support of TDH is addressing the issue of water by facilitating the communities to provide safe drinking water at their doorstep in District Tharparkar. An event was jointly organized by AWARE and TDH at village Wahar Bheel, Tehsil Chachro, District Tharparkar, to mark the occasion. District administration, CSO and Community representatives including women and children, AWARE staff members and the local social activists took active part in the event.

The event started with the opening remarks by the AWARE team member; Mr. Attaulah Bajeer. He briefly narrated the initiatives undertaken by the AWARE organization. He also stressed upon the optimal use of available ground water in context of Thar.  He said: “Though we have limited water for use, but we can make use of the available water wisely. Since the ground water is high in TDH and is harmful for human and animal use, the rain water can be stored. The stock of stored rain water can be used for the human and animal consumption”.

Ali Haider Sheikh further told the media that the water project implemented by AWARE is the best example of its innovation in providing water to suffering souls of Thar area, He also appreciated the unique model of water pipelines. He further added that, In the context of Tharparkar Women and children are usually busy in fetching water, AWARE taken a very innovative step to overcome this issue of water fetching. He also sensitized community for water safety as ground water are the main single sources for Thari people.

Mr. Dayal Das, a community member put forward the woes of the people living in District Tharparkar. He said: “At one hand water is not available in our area. Where available, the under -ground water is very harmful. It is bad for our health. It causes us diseases and skin rashes. The use of the under-ground water also causes eye diseases. We want to let everyone know of our condition.” 

Ms. Shakeela, community activist spoke about the sufferings of the women. She said: “Women fetch water from dug well located at long distances. It takes half of the day in coming and going to fetch water. The well water is so deep that we face much hardship in taking it out from so much depth. Women walk long distances with big pots filled with water. They are very heavy to carry. Pregnant women and women with small children face the worst. Even after going through such hardship, there is always in-sufficient water for cooking, washing, and for our livestock. We can hardly think of having a bath since water is so scarce.”

Mr. Yameen, a local teacher also gave his views. He said: “Water is linked to almost everything. Health, hygiene, livelihoods, in fact our bare existence relies on water. Without water, we cannot grow food and rear cattle. It is so much important for the survival of people in Tharparkar. Bad health and hygiene practices are all because of lack of water and lack of clean water. If clean water is made available to us, our lives could be so much better.”

The event ended with the comments by Maha Dev Makwano from AWARE: We all have to save “Ground Water “ AWARE is mobilizing all sources to address this critical need of the communities. The communities also must play their role. We must use water with care, to make it sufficiently available for us and others”. In Last, . Rewards were also given to all participating students at the end of the ceremony. 

The participants holding the play cards, then made a rally and took a round of the entire village to spread the message of the day. Indeed “Ground Water” is all we need to do in letter and spirit.