The Initiative
In the snowballing debate over water scarcity, the next war may be fought over water control.
With rapidly depleting groundwater and the inability to harness and distribute the resource has led communities to value the importance of efficient water management.
Using decades of experience, traditional structures were built to hold and store rainwater in arid regions.
Some of these traditional methods like bawris, taankas, naulas, johads have fallen into neglect with rapid urbanization. If developed, they can still be as efficient as modern water management techniques.
This is where we step in.
At Project Bawri, we want your help to help us reconstruct and clean stepwells to help communities access clean water.
What are Bawris? India's Water Conservation Architectural Marvels
Baoli, bawri, bawari or baori, these stepwells once served as highly efficient underground water resources.
Beautifully created into arches with carved motifs and at some places, rooms on either side, a bawri traditionally provided villages with water for drinking, washing, bathing, and irrigation.
How can Bawris help with the Water Crisis?
Bringing India’s Ancient Water Management Systems To Life
What would happen if 13,500 villages in Rajasthan ran out of water? Imagine you only have a few glasses of water to survive the entire day!
This is the horror of water scarcity!
The Project Bawri initiative aims to lend a helping hand to those suffering from water scarcity in the villages of Rajasthan through the reconstruction of stepwells, conserve water, and educate people about their importance.
We want to turn people’s attention towards the disappearing step wells and how they still remain one of the best water conservation practices available to us.
Did you know?
- Constructed as crude trenches, they evolved into engineering marvels between 11th-15th Century
- Chand Baori near Jaipur was built during the 8th century
- In Jodhpur, 28 million liters of water/day is supplied by recently cleaned stepwells
- Evidence of stepwells date back to Indus Valley Civilisation between 2500-1700 BC
- In 2016, Stepwell Atlas, mapped 3,000+ existing stepwells in India.