| The Adivasi Village Water
Program
The program consists in drilling boreholes for small
villages, especially those which have
never received any protected water source from the
government or other institutions,
where people drink highly polluted water. In 1994,
following a cholera epidemic in the
northern Thana District that caused the death of 1500
children, the program was moved
from Pune District to the affected area, located between
100 and 170 km north of Bombay.
(see location map)
About 170 villages have been helped in the past nine
years. Funds for this program derive
from my earnings as a free-lance International Consulting
Hydrogeologist and from
family savings. "Tino" (as the villagers,
social workers and government officers,
affectionately call me) is now a familiar name in many
villages of Pune and Thana districts.
Since 1995, my spouse Katharina joined me in this
crusade. She gives me much support
and strength; she helps a lot by socialising with village
women and children. We live for 5-
6 months, generally from November to the end of April, in
a modest guest house in
Ganeshpuri, a little town centrally located in the
project area. Villagers freely come to visit
us and express their need for safe water.
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