Few local tips to avoid heat wave exposure and Water problem!

Travel to the field and tips to avoid heat wave exposure:

My rural experience in India was concentrated in different villages of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra. Yavatmal is located at a distance of 700 kms from Mumbai.  This area is famous for 3 different reasons a). cotton cultivation, b). extreme dry heat region of India (Maximum temperature goes up to 120 ⁰F)  and c). severe water problem.

I spent six weeks in this region when temperature was ranging between 110⁰F and 120⁰F.  It was a challenge as well as good learning experience to deal extreme dry heat. Some of the tips to survive in high temperature zone are a). drink water at regular interval (prefer bottled/mineral water), b). avoid sun light during peak hrs. If it is essential to come out in extreme sunlight, use cotton towel on head to avoid heat wave exposure. c). keep essential medicines such as electrolytes, paracetamol (fever) and  medicine for headache, and d). use light during night to roam in village areas (I saved myself from deadly scorpion couple of times. Fig-2 shows my second encounter with deadly scorpion of the region).

Fig-1: My home for six weeks in the field

 

Fig-2: My second encounter with a deadly scorpion

Fig-3: My breakfast and tea in the field

During my field visit, I met wonderful people of NGO partner. They  were very helpful and provided good support while staying in the field. I wouldn't have been able to work in such extreme conditions without NGO and organization's support. 

Fig-4: My team during field visit (2nd from left is head of NGO) 

Water problem in the region:

My work was concentrated around Palaskund village of district Yavatmal. This village has ~100 families. Sources of income for this village are daily wage, farming or both. It has four water sources.  Ironically, not a single water source is available throughout the year. The nearest water source is at a distance of ~200 m and farthest water source is at a distance of ~3 Km.   Fig-5 shows most common water source. Fig 6 shows dried well. People are collecting water.  Fig 7 shows path to common water source during summer season.  

Fig-5: Common water source of palaskund village

This village has highest number of waterwheel user. A clear navigable path through stony cotton field in fig-7 is an impact of waterwheel.  

Fig-6a: Dried well of village palaskund

Palaskund was my first village in Yavatmal. I visited three times to this village. When I reached to this village for first time, It was noon. Temperature was ~114 ^oF. I walked straight to well which was current water source. I can roughly say that the distance will be around ~1.5km from village. I started feeling headache as I walked down to well in such extreme temperature. It gave me a thought that how are villagers managing water collection from this water source. Further, I was shocked when I reached at water source. There were hardly 10-20 li water left in the well. However, more then 5 families were trying to take some portion of water. It is clearly depicted in figure-6. Water in the well comes from another village which is around 5 km from Palaskund. As a result only limited water is provided to palaskund during summer. People wait since mid night to collect water once water is accumulated in the morning.  

Fig-6b: Villagers collecting water  

Further discussion with villagers revealed that there is another water source which is ~3 km from village. However, only few people collect water from distant water source as it takes more than 1.5 hrs for one trip. In such location, waterwheel works as a life saving product. It doesn’t only reduce drudgery but also saves time and increases opportunity to earn. This kind of water problem is present in almost all villages where I visited in six weeks period.

Next time, I’ll discuss about my experience in actual field demo and people’s enthusiasm for waterwheel. 

Fig-7a: Path near well

Fig-7b: a clear navigable path on the way to well.

Fig-7c: A clear navigable path to Well. 

 

Water problem in India and my internship!

India has 4% of water sources of the world, while it supports 15% of the world population. Additionally, available water source is not uniformly distributed across the nation. As a result, few areas of India have water surplus and few areas have limited access to water. This kind of situations is present across developing nations or underdeveloped nations.  

One of the major problems due to spatial variations in water availability is unavailability of water source at home or at the point of consumption in water deficient areas. In such areas, people, mainly women, carry water on their head. They spend on average ~1.5 hrs per day in water collection. Distant water sources not only result in the physical problem but also reduced opportunities to earn more. A person in water deficient areas earns lesser than a similar background person in water surplus area. 

Fig-1: Waterwheel: A kid pushes filled WW during a demo

I am glad that this summer I am spending my time with WELLO working on WATERWHEEL (WW). Figure - 1 shows WW. WW reduces both aforementioned problems of people at BoP: base of the pyramid.  The WW can carry 50 li water in one trip without any head load. Further, It reduces overall water collection time by 1/3rd as it can carry 3 times more water than a head load container. Fig-2 shows traditional water collection method by Indian woman. This work gives me an internal pleasure of contributing to the society in which I spent my entire childhood.

 Fig-2: An Indian woman carry water on her head.           

My project at WELLO is composed of following work streams a). pricing of WW, b).forecasting demand, c). formulating distribution strategy and d). preparing financials. So far, I have completed first two objectives and rest of the objectives are to be completed in next 3 weeks.

Pricing of WW is an interesting topic. I met 200 people across 20 villages to discover people’s willingness to pay for the WW. Pricing experiments also helped me to introduce WW to more than 5000+ people through product demo and word of mouth. 

Keep reading my blog to discover a). water problem in India and globally, b). my journey to villages while discovering WTP: willingness to pay for WW and c). impact of WW on the life of people at base of pyramid - both on physical as well as on economic conditions.