Bitiyari is a small, agricultural village in Gujarat, India that relies on the monsoon rains for water.
Women currently travel 2–3 hours to well 3 kms away in order to collect enough water for daily household use.

This project will provide Bitiyari with a community water tank and give the village the necessary water infrastructure for families to obtain clean water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and washing. The tank will allow the Bitiyari community to capture and store water from the monsoon rains, in addition to water from the unreliable visits of the government water tankard vehicle.

Bitiyari is a remote village of animal husbandry and agricultural workers bordering the Kutch desert in Gujarat, India. The majority of families earn approximately $2 a day from harvesting mung bean, bajri flour, peanuts, and other agricultural labor on the nearby farms.

The nearest town is 10 kilometers away, and there are no plumbing, irrigation or other water infrastructure in Bitiyari. Villagers must rely on excess water saved from the monsoon rains or the unreliable, weekly visits of government water tankard vehicles to obtain drinking water, and farming is dependent on the length of the monsoon season.

Recent droughts have created a water shortage problem for Bitiyari, and women are spending three hours a day to walk two kilometers to a neighboring well in order to collect water for their families. Village women must make this trip 2–3 times each day, carrying heavy pots of water on their heads, to obtain enough water for daily family use.

Community member details not available yet.

Direct Impact of Your Project

Provides 105 households with reliable access to clean, drinking water in their homes; allows the Bitiyari community to store and distribute 40,000 liters of water for drinking, cooking, washing and cleaning.

Reliable access to clean water will greatly increase the health and sanitation of the village. Availability of clean drinking water will reduce cases of skin ailments, dysentery, diarrhea, cholera, typhoid and other water-borne diseases. Families will also be able to use excess water to clean and wash regularly, improving the hygiene of the Bitiyari community.

In addition, the construction of the community water tank will provide 8 village workers with construction and masonry jobs.

Extended Impact on Your Partner Community

The ability to procure water in the village center will eliminate the need for women to walk 2–3 hours a day to obtain water from a nearby well and other water sources. Time saved can be used to for productive activities such as agricultural work and embroidery, allowing women to earn an extra income for their families.