A BRIEF REPORT OF A PROJECT BY RAMAKRISHNA MISSION, KHETRI FOR PROVIDING DRINKING WATER
Living creatures of the universe are made of five basic elements, viz., Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Sky, Obviously, water is one of the most important elements and no creature can survive without it. Despite having a great regard for water, we seem to have failed to address this sector seriously. Human being could not save and conserve water and it sources, probably because of its availability in abundance. But this irresponsible attitude resulted in deterioration of water bodies with respect to quantity and quality both. Now, situation has arrived when even a single drop of water matters.
Ramakrishna Mission, Khetri has taken a modest initiative through creating awareness in the locality about the following important aspects regarding water conservation:
1. To arrest ground water decline and augment ground water table
2. To beneficiate water quality in aquifers
3. To conserve surface water runoff during monsoon
4. To reduce soil erosion
5. To inculcate a culture of water conservation
Taking into consideration the above mentioned goal, Ramakrishna Mission, Khetri has taken steps to restore a very old check dam (Ajit Samand Bandh) at the outskirts of Khetri by excavating silt from it so as to make it sufficiently deep in order that it might hold adequate runoff water during the rainy season. The accumulated water of the reservoir will recharge the ground water tables which in its turn protect wells and tube wells of the locality from drying up.
The work was done by employing a JCB machine for dredging and seven tractor trolleys for transporting the silt from the dam site. It took eight days to remove about eight hundred trolleys of soil from the dam.