About us - Water & Sanitation Provision - India

In July 2011, The Highfield Company partnered with the UK charity Just A Drop to provide basic water & sanitation to the villages of Mettukadu and Thalimangalam in Tamil Nadu, India. Thalimangalam Village has 6 households with about 30 people. Mettukadu Village has 25 households with 100 people.

The project consists of the following two aspects:

1. WATER SUPPLY: The project will develop a new deep well water source in each village with a simple centrally placed village hand pump in each village. It will also renovate an existing hand pump in Mettukadu.
2. SANITATION: The structure of the houses and village precludes the possibility of creating individual household latrines. The project will build a 2 place (male/female) latrine in Thalimangalam and a 4 place in Mettukadu.

The villages are in a very rural area and the majority of people work in agriculture as day workers. Day wages are in the region of Rs100 (US$2). The two villages are of scheduled tribe people. Although the caste system is officially abolished, it is still active. Scheduled tribe people are the lowest level, below the lowest caste and are therefore even more deprived of services and basic human rights that even the lowest caste. The position is further exacerbated by the “bonded labour” schemes and the virtual impossibility of these groups to determine their own future and improve their conditions and potential for their children. Bonded labour is also outlawed and although more organized caste groups manage to buy their way out of bonds through unions, this is not so easy for the scheduled tribe groups.

In the two villages identified one is predominantly a brick producing village whilst the other farms pigs. The brick makers hand make bricks on piece rate but do not own the bricks getting paid around Rs 0.4 for a brick that sells at around Rs5. A husband and wife team can make around Rs70,000 (US$1,500) per year for back breaking work in 40degree heat, 7 days per week. The pig farmers fare little better.

Because of the lack of any capital, the people survive in the most basic conditions, water is drawn from dirty open supplies or carried from adjacent villages several km away. Houses are basic mud and stick huts with thatched roofs, food primarily ground meal and fuel for cooking either sticks or dried animal dung. Sanitation is non existent with open defecation the only option with all the negative implications of disease, privacy and safety.

Just A Drop's local partner will not only install the water and sanitation services, but also provide hygiene education.

The Highfield Company have sponsored the entire project.

You can visit Just a Drop's website by clicking here.

Two recent pictures of the construction of the wells: