Thirty-something Gulab Kunju remembers the days when she would
drink milk to quench thirst because drinking water was scarce.
Her village Dhaurada had three hand pumps to meet the needs of
more than 120 families settled in four hamlets. Each day she
would make several trips to the nearest hand pump on the
outskirts of her hamlet. During summers the water would turn
reddish. “It tasted like lime. One could see iron particles
settling at the bottom of the vessel,” said Kunju. Another
resident Meenakshi Lakda had to throw away some of her vessels
because they were encrusted with thick layers of reddish
deposit. When the hand pumps would prove insufficient people
would drink water from the ponds. Diarrhoea and other
gastrointestinal diseases were common. “When our babies fell
sick doctors explained to us that their stomachs had been
damaged just like the utensils,” said Lakda, 30. Dhaurada is in
Rajgangpur block of Sundergarh district in Orissa. The sub-humid
dry land suffers acute soil erosion. Most people in th