The Story of the Aged Well of Parsara

Perhaps over one and a half decades have passed, even the villagers don’t remember correctly – this mammoth but defunct dug well in Parsara, one of the prominent villages of Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh is nothing short of a marvel. With a two-meter diameter and 15-meter depth, it has quenched the thirst of more than 300 households over decades. However, with time due to overdraft of water and introduction of mechanized underground lifting of water, this well slowly became dry and lost its relevance to the villagers and has been leading a cursed life. Nonetheless, the structure of the well is quite solid and intact indicating the older generation of the village must have invested quite a bit of their time and money on the dug well – there must have been a sense of dedication and passion because they knew the value of WATER.

Then a day came when FORCE got to know about it. It must be shared here that FORCE for the past 20 years has engaged itself in the domain of water conservation across the economic sectors with special focus on water scares regions. Hathras – is one such region where we are working on a Watershed Health Initiative in 20 villages supported by PepsiCo. Under this project we are working with farmers on climate smart water efficient agriculture. We are also working on the supply side by making several RWH structures and restoring defunct water assets which can act as groundwater recharge locations. A model Zero water flow out village is also being developed.

Coming back to the story of the Parsara well. As soon as FORCE came to know about this beautiful but dry well it immediately decided to restore it for the good of the people. However, some information must be shared with the readers before the story moves ahead.

Hathras is mostly dependent on groundwater for several of its activities, especially the Hathras block having 658 villages and a population of 15 lakh according to 2011 census. Though it is part of the Indo Gangetic plain, in the past 2 decades, the groundwater level is receding at the rate of 3-4 feet annually. The level that was at 7-10 feet about half a century back is now at 10-150 feet. In some locations it is even 180 feet. This indicates that the bore wells have to be dug deeper and every couple of years fresh investments need to be made for that. Simply put this can’t go on for ever.

The Parsara well is 60 years old or perhaps more, having a capacity to recharge more than 1200 KL groundwater if connected to the rooftops of the nearby households to catch the rains that falls on them. The average annual rainfall in the area is 656 mm. After having worked out the design and plans, we approached the village community for their views on it. We also asked them to give us the permission to connect the well to the roofs of the nearby households. During our interactions with the community in the area we realised that although the wells are dry, the community holds respect for them and uses the defunct dug wells for several religious rituals.

Fortunately, the villagers and the village Sarpanch understood our point of view and gave us the go head. Survey was carried out, technical calculations, planning and final design was made, and the work orders were given to a qualified contractor.

The well is now connected with the roof of 10 households and one anganwadi school nearby. The structure got readied in early August of 2024. Fortunately, the showers have been better than usual this year and the community is very happy.

The aged members of the village expect that in a couple of years this well will not only act as groundwater recharge point, but villagers may also be able to draw water from it.

The Aged well of Parsara is growing young again.

Credits:
We are thankful to PEPSICO for the project support and time to time guidance and encouragement. The credit also goes to the village Sarpanch Mr. Manoj Sisodia and villagers who allowed us to carry out the work.