Purulia

Women play a central role in providing, managing, and safeguarding water. Yet, the waterscapes across the world are distinctly gendered in that productive use of water gets ascribed to men while reproductive use gets ascribed to women. That is, drinking water and sanitation are considered a woman’s domain, while irrigation is regarded as a man’s domain.

Pitidri is a nondescript village that dots the rainshadow area of Purulia district in West Bengal. Droughts are common here even when the area is endowed with above average rainfall of over 1300 mm a year. Until some time ago, Urmila Mahato, a 42-year-old farmer from Pitidri had been struggling to ensure her family’s food security.

This work that included domestic waste-water recycling, reduction in river water usage, and by close circuiting of process water.won the