Stephanie Ng's Visit- May 2012
When we arrived at Nolkapur Well, there was a group of warriors present. Though they were not sure how many people use this well, they noted that there are always a line of people waiting to use the well. They informed us that the water from this well is used for drinking, cooking, washing and to feed their livestock. They said that more than 1,000 cows and more than 5,000 goats drink from this well every day; during drought season, more than 1,000 camels also take water from this well.
Before, the community would have to walk very far distances to gather water and once they found a place that had water, they would have to dig shallow holes and scoop the water into their jerrycans; this would take 6 hours each day. According to the warriors, it takes only 10 minutes for most people to come to the well and the farthest person that benefits from this well walks a maximum of one hour.
With the time saved, the warriors can now properly look after their livestock. They are grateful for the fact that they don’t have to walk so far anymore and that the water is not only near but clean.
When we were walking across the riverbed to get to the well, Lucas and I spotted some women digging shallow holes in front of us. We stopped and asked them why they were not taking water from this well but they did not give us a clear answer. I asked the young man who was not a warrior (you could tell by his clothing) why this was the case and he informed me that these women are using the water for tea. The water from this well is slightly salty which is still good for human consumption but bad for making tea the traditional way which is to boil the tea and water together and add the milk to the boiling water. According to him, when you add the milk to the boiling water which has some salt in it, it separates and ruins the tea.
This well has had no problems since it was drilled and was pumping perfectly when we visited the well.