Hundreds of residents from 13/10 grant villages in Lakhimpur, Assam, now have year-round access to clean drinking water, even during floods.

The villagers suffer due to the annual flooding brought on by the early monsoon rains in the months of May–September, which destroys all the water sources. The village is divided into 3 hamlets, where one hamlet is completely deprived of clean water.

“The village does not have a proper water source in their area, and carrying water from the river or neighbor is very difficult,” shares Janu Praja, the task force member from 13/10 Grant Village. He adds that people carry water for household activities and cleaning purposes, which is very difficult and time-consuming.

Every year, the village is hit by floods brought by the Ranganadi river, which surrounds it from all sides. The last 10 years of hazard data show immense loss of life and property, distressing the community. The area receives early monsoons in the months of May-September, resulting in heavy rainfall, water overflows, and flash floods. The situation gets worse when the NEEPCO river dam releases water and creates floods, risking the community.

In 2022, Global Program India and the community jointly renovated the ring well in the village based on the risk management plan of the village. This was one of the disaster risk reduction activities to raise the boundaries and provide easy access to safe water during the monsoon.

The flood-resilient ring well infrastructure was renovated with the support of the Tezpur Social Service Society in conjunction with community contributions in terms of labor and earth filling. After the renovation, the community was overjoyed at the maximum amount of time saved through this intervention.

Now all the households carry water from this ring well and use it for their daily activities. Even the children at the Anganwadi centers used the water. The task force and Anganwadi workers have taken on the responsibility of maintaining the upkeep of this resilient infrastructure. One of the participants says that the raised ring well will help people access safe drinking water even during the flood as the ring well is raised above the previous highest flood water level in the village.
Global program plans aim to develop at least 32 civil protection infrastructure measures by the end of 2023 at municipal and district levels in accordance with the disaster risk management plans drawn up.