Read about this initiative and many more in the Annual Progress Report 2016 of our local partner HIMCON. The report shows an impressive number of well thought through, and therefore successful, initiatives HIMCON has undertaken in the past year. All is done in close cooperation with the 36 women groups in the more than 20 village communities of the project areas in Tehri and Pauri Garhwal districts of Uttarakhand. HIMALAYA RESOURCES is one of the organisations supporting HIMCON and contributed in particular to the slow sand filters and the two rooftop water harvesting tanks at the schools in Kimsar. A short summary below. HIMALAYA RESOURCES highly recommends you to read the full report and watch the many colorful pictures illustrating the activities:

  • HIMCON has successfully mobilized the women groups of Ramjiwala, Chopriyali, Kumargaon, Koti, Jhaldiyal gaon, Tipli and Chilriyali villages to construct 13 chaals or small ponds for water harvesting to improve the moisture regime in the nearby fields;
  • 26 rooftop water harvesting tanks were constructed in the Kimsar region, including at the two schools in the area;
  • The village Patudi was included in a spring shed development program. Patudi faced acute water shortage when the main water spring got almost dried up and people were forced to walk for 3 to 4 kilometers on steep slopes to get water for their daily needs. Sustained intervention by the village community to protect the forest cover of its catchment from excessive felling helped the spring shed revive. HIMCON has consistently helped the village to strengthen their efforts and this year helped in reviving the more than two hundred years old water harvesting tank on the spring and constructed a water filter in order to get safe filtered water;
  • In addition to Patudi, slow sand filters for safe drinking water were  constructed in the villages Tipli, Chiriyali, Maroda, Khairna and Aamkatal. In total the filters cover 280 households and impact a population of around 1400 people;
  • 3 water harvesting tanks of 25,000 and 20,000 liter capacities have been repaired and revived in the villages Dharkot, Ramjiwala and Patudi;
  • 300 people from around 50 villages of the Henwal river catchment area received an in depth training on ground water issues of the region organized by the Central Ground Water Board-team from Dehradun (part of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation), together with HIMCON, HSS and UJJS;
  • HIMCON helped in organizing the HSS network meeting on Springs and Seeds in October 2015. More than 150 participants from Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal  Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, Nagaland and other parts of India participated and gave serious inputs for the conservation of spring and seeds in the Himalaya region (more about this meeting in the annual report of HIMALAYA RESOURCES that is soon to come);
  • A series of campaign meetings attended by around 168 participants on the issue of forest fires were steered by HIMCON along with UJJS and HSS in Khaddi , Malla Banas and Ramjeewalla villages. To involve children and youth groups in this campaign, discussion have been organized at 18 schools.

 

Read the report —>  HIMCON-Annual Report-2016

How the spring in village Patudi revived