An elderly woman, Rupabai Pandu Dehade, from Pahine village in Trimbakeshwar taluka, uses a hand pump to fill water in a steel handi. Women say that drawing water from hand pumps can be exhausting. “It takes more physical labour. Pics/Satej Shinde
Twenty-seven-year-old Chandrakala Korde, sarpanch of Brahmanwade, says despite being the head of the village, she, too, goes to fetch water from the neighbouring hand pump, as men in the household refrain from the task. Last year, she collapsed while walking home with the handis, and was bedridden for nearly eight days.
Bharti Aher treks nearly 5 km every day from Dhumodi to fill water at a nearby handpump. The average requirement in her home is 30 litres daily.
Women travel at least 2 km daily to fetch water from nearby hand pumps, according to a recent survey by writer-researcher Mayuri Dhumal, who spoke to 100 women in the region, between November 2022 and June 2023
VB Mokal (left), an arogya sevak at Amboli Health Centre, said that during a recent health drive at some of the villages in Trimbakeshwar, they witnessed high incidence of body weakness among women.
Some of the villages have water tanks that bring water from the wells to community taps, but these taps run dry in the summer months
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