"By slightly modifying the size of the pyathon (concrete catchment area), kundis can be easily replicated in some parts of Orissa, where options for groundwater recharge are limited". Leela Nanda, MASS, Orissa

The first stop was village Ratanpura. Here, with the help of Bhoruka Charitable Trust, a local NGO, the community is maintaining kundis, as a realiable drinking water source. The groundwater in this village is saline and the municipal supply is irregular. On the way to Churu, next stop was Raju ki Dhani village, where they saw kui, another traditional structure to harness moisture from sands. Yatris were surprised to find that the water in the kui was sweet, whereas in a nearby well it was saline, as the former source was not groundwater.

In Ramsara village, they meet villagers, who have built six new kundis, last year, as the groundwater was flouride affected. In this village, kundis were also being used for irrigation purposes. Here, they met Ridkaran, a mason, who has been making kundis for the past 25 years.

In Laporiya, chaukas captivated the group. It is a unique method of rainwater harvesting, involving dyked rectangular trenches dug all over the pastureland in a series. The depth of these pits vary with the local topography. The rainwater goes zig zag all around pasture before flowing into a seasonal river. The villagers are regularly maintaining the catchment area and, a canal supplies water to the three tanks built in a series — ‘ann sagar’, ‘phool sagar’ and ‘dev sagar’. After four years of drought, although the surface water has dried up. There is enough water for both drinking and irrigation.

The dairy sector is flourishing. The average annual income per household from this sector alone varies between Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000. There are 103 wells in the village. And, people are using these for one hour to irrigate. Their lush green agricultural land highlights the impact of the innovative community-based water works done in Laporiya. A trend that was not observed by the yatris during their visit to the other neighbouring villages.