Human Welfare Foundation recognizes the critical importance of the issue and focuses on the most-affected areas to tackle water poverty, by providing people with crucial amenities like Hand-pumps. We believe that everyone should be able to access clean water and that this access underpins all other aspects of development. These have gone a long way in improving the lives of many people across India.
Another crucial amenity that helps in providing water in the remote areas with water scarcity is the bore well with submersible pump. HWF has established submersible pumps in various places across India helping establishments like schools and communities to avail clean and healthy water.
Addressing the critical issue of the lack of piped water supply in villages and rural areas is a pressing challenge that affects the daily lives and well-being of countless people. In response to this challenge, HWF (Human Welfare Foundation) has undertaken a proactive approach, focusing on the establishment of open wells in these rural communities.
The impact of these open wells cannot be overstated. Specifically, in the Barmer region of Rajasthan, which is characterized by its arid and desert-like conditions, the construction of open wells has brought about a profound transformation in the lives of the desert settlers. The consequences of this initiative are vividly illustrated in a study conducted by us in the Barmer region.
Prior to the construction of these open wells, it was a daily ordeal for thousands of women in this region. These women, often the backbone of their households, were forced to spend an astonishing 4 to 6 hours every day just to fetch water from distant wells. This arduous and time-consuming task not only took a physical toll but also had a significant impact on the trajectory of their lives. Their childhood, youth, and adult years were consumed by the relentless struggle for access to water. This precious resource was so scarce that it had the power to shape the life experiences of an entire community, particularly its women.
HWF has implemented open well projects in 9 north Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Assam. These projects aim to alleviate the water scarcity issue and improve the quality of life for communities across these regions.
Under HWF’s Drinking Water Project, six Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Purification Plants have been set up to solve the drinking water crisis of the people in the most marginalized regions of the country. From the RO Plants, 4 villages, with an average of 500 households in each village, have been benefitted. The projects have made huge impact reducing the water crisis of the affected villages and localities in the states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
HWF constructs cost effective and user-friendly toilets at household level to help rural communities get full access to the ‘Right to Sanitation’ and develop open defecation free villages. It also helps in significantly reducing diseases linked with poor sanitation and hygiene practices.
HWF’s concept of an ‘Open Defecation Free (ODF) village’ is a village where all residents have access to and regularly use sanitary toilets for their personal hygiene needs, eliminating the practice of open defecation. Open defecation is the practice of relieving oneself outdoors in fields, bushes, or other open areas, which can lead to numerous health and environmental problems.
Achieving ODF status typically involves a combination of infrastructure development, behavior change communication, and community mobilization efforts. HWF constructs cost-effective and user-friendly toilets at the household and community levels to develop open defecation-free villages.
Sanitation and cleanliness is the key to a healthy community. HWF through its associate partners conducts grassroot level awareness programmes among the public on the importance of clean and safe sanitation and to bring behavioural change among them.