Ancient stepwells brought back to life as India begins to run out of water

Amidst water scarcity and increased waterborne diseases, community members are using sand dams, an innovative water management system, to conserve rainwater for daily use. Sand dams offer extended water storage capabilities, lasting up to a year, ensuring community members have consistent access to clean water for farming, cooking and general hygiene. There are currently six sand dams in the community serving 600 households.

The Filter X360 uses gravity to purify water without requiring any power supply or chemicals by using ultrafiltration technology to remove bacteria and viruses from fresh water sourced from nearby rivers, lakes and ponds. The machine can purify 1,000 liters per hour and reduces the risk of illness and also prevents locals from having to purchase bottled water or simply go without clean drinking water.

Community members, in collaboration with the non-profit Save the Children and the United States Agency for International Development, installed a solar-powered borehole earlier this year, making clean water more accessible to the village. Community members regularly clean the water taps and perform system maintenance to ensure the water supply isn’t disrupted, as the solar-powered solution has become their primary source of clean water.

The nonprofit Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Projects is installing advanced, three-stage wastewater filtration systems at homes in Lowndes County, Alabama, where effective wastewater treatment options are urgently needed. The nonprofit installs and maintains the systems for $20 per month, using two major federal grants to cover the upfront costs.

In a village facing water scarcity, generous locals with funds to spare are installing boreholes in their homes with pumps outside for other residents in the village to access clean, safe water.

The Conditional Cash Transfer program provides a monthly stipend to low-income individuals. The program was implemented in six local government areas and benefits over 48,000 people. Thanks to the funds from the program, several local women were able to pool their stipends together to repair their area’s only borehole to ensure locals have access to clean water.

The I-WASH program aims to combat waterborne diseases and address challenges facing communities without access to clean water. The program has built toilets in schools, provided handwashing facilities, as well as a solar-powered borehole and educational services on sanitation practices and how to maintain the water points. Through the help of the I-WASH program, as of May 2022, 300 functional toilets had been built in households across more than 30 communities.

The “La Asociación de Usuarios del Acueducto Comunitario ‘Aguas Calientes’” is a comunity water plant built with government grant money to address the potable water scarcity in the area. Over the course of two decades of operation, the Association is the primary water supplier of the area’s 6,000 residents.

To combat health and sanitary issues arising from high rates of open defecation and a lack of government support, community members worked together to fund and build 14 easily accessible toilets that are cleaned daily and open for anyone to use.

The Water Access Rwanda project created a source of clean drinking water by establishing a network of pipelines and solar-powered pumps that help deliver purified drinking water to homes. Not only has the project provided a way for people to access clean water, but it has also provided jobs for over 60 people.