This video tells the story of many villages in Andhrah Pradesh and the changes related to water. Improvements were made over the years and now villagers do not have to go to the streams anymore to fetch their water. However these improvements have also brought along the problem of overexploitation of water supplies. Millions of boreholes were drilled, but the groundwater level continued to fall due to huge increases in the amount of groundwater pumped for irrigation.
One solution to the water resources problem, especially falling groundwater levels, is to harvest and use more water locally, this involves constructing farm ponds and check dams to increase recharge of groundwater. Such efforts are now widespread as part of the government and NGO supported watershed programmes. These watershed programmes are usually not targeted at improving the domestic water situation. Therefore good coordination is essential in order to properly budget the water taking into account population size, human and livestock drinking water requirements and irrigation demands.
This film was made for the Water, Households and Rural Livelihoods (WHIRL) Project, coordinated by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), UK; Accion Fraterna A.P., India. The film is made by the Community Media Trust Pastapur, Andhrah Pradesh.