WATER IS SACRED
Teachers – parents, schools, clubs – would you like your children to understand the importance of saving water?
We love to present our work to the kids – playing games, showing videos of our work in India – sharing the stories of the children there – helping our kids in Australia to see a bigger picture of the world – and to bring that bigger picture home to their own bathroom taps.
This is why we do what we do.. a great result in Tamil Nadu India –
Water for Life
Creating Water Harvesting Structures that Recharge Ground Water
Latest Media Update:
Times of India: Shazar Robinson, 70, spends six months a year in Hubballi to create awareness about bore well recharging among farmers. She’s an adviser-consultant with Hubballi-based Sankalpa Rural Development Society (SRDS), which is involved in bore well recharging through rain water harvesting for more than a decade.
Our Vision
To create an abundance of clean water for all, saving lives one drop at a time.
The Objectives
To educate our children and young people to understand the vital importance of the water of our world. We do this by playing games, telling stories and partnering with schools and children in other parts of the world.
To collaborate with rural development projects specifically with rural villagers and farmers to create bore well recharge systems to store rainwater underground and raise the water table.
Goals
To connect with villages and organisations to successfully implement RWH (rain water harvesting) methods and spread this work to as many villages and farmers as possible.
To document this work in order to raise awareness of successful ways of water harvesting.
To create an educational format which can be duplicated for use through-out India with local people to spread the message of water conservation – to tell the stories that invite change.
To raise international awareness of the importance and urgency of the water needs of people in rural India which will include inviting financial support to implement water harvesting programs on a joint basis with villages who are committed to creating collaborative communities.
Solution
Acting on the principles of creating change through focus on proven successful methods, we collaborate with local organisations working with villagers and farmers to create bore well recharge systems for the purpose of raising the water table.
Proven methods which increase the water table by recharging aquifers can provide an abundance of clean potable water for both household and agricultural use. These methods combine traditional water harvesting principles included in a whole system of community effort that will support them as well as providing information on the utilization of any new technology such as more efficient cooking stoves for the women to reduce the need to cut the forest for firewood.
Project Outline
Working with the Sankalpa Rural Development Society – in the role of consultant and advisors – we assist them with opening up new areas for rain water harvesting, education and awareness programs for villagers and farmers and fund raising for the ongoing work. Constant consultation with the villagers, farmers and those involved in the project ensures that their needs are addressed in a way that is culturally appropriate and solutions are practical and sustainable with the target groups being motivated to implement the programs and maintain them. The involvement of the farmers is seen as being essential to the success of any project to implement change – and therefore considerable time is spent in working with them to understand what really matters to them.
Finance Proposal
The budget for the ongoing work is INR 42,000 per implementation of one bore well. Farmers are constantly coming forward with need to implement the work on their bore wells. Where possible they meet 50% of the project cost in either materials or labour. In 2024 we have a target of recharging 1000 bore wells (x INR21,000) we have a requirement of USD 253,000. The financing required for this project is raised by direct appeal to corporates and other social entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding initiative can also be employed as we have previous experience raising funding in all this way. Other interested parties may be approached to assist with direct funding.
Shazar Robinson – CEO Water Harvest Foundation.
Shazar Robinson has been living and working in India for the past 12 years – the first 5 years with the Shikshangram Shelter for Children near Lonavala Maharashtra. Her role at this Shelter was one of ambassador and fundraiser creating an international awareness of the work being done there including through social media, as well as organizing and leading volunteer – tourism journeys to the Shelter. At this time she began questioning the reason for so many homeless children and through this investigation came to the often desperate state of the rural population of the area.
Rainwater harvesting and the provision of a sustainable source of water is essential to their survival and this need becomes more urgent every season. Her intention is to make a difference on a larger scale and sees that a means of education of the rural people is essential – particularly to allow them to understand that it is possible to improve their access to clean and plentiful water and that others in their area are already doing so.
Shazar has many connections in India both at the grassroots level and into the areas of education and governance as well as corporate leaders. Through her research and persistence, she believes that this project can have a powerful influence on transforming the mindset of the rural villagers to assist them to help themselves to a situation where they can turn around the degradation of the land and the forest areas in which they live.
She is now located in the Hubli (Karnataka) area working side by side with the Sankalpa Rural Development Society who are utilising innovative technology to recharge bore wells with rainwater harvesting.
Expressions of Interest
If this project interests you and you feel that you would be able to contribute either through water conservation and management – financially – or in any other area please contact Shazar on the details below.
Contact details:
Shazar Robinson: Australia: +61 (0) 402 008801, India: +91 7720023329
