The future of a pond is a shared responsibility.
Community conservation · Darbhanga, Bihar
H2O365 joined the Center for Rural Information and Action and local residents in an effort to address pollution and neglect at a community pond in Darbhanga.
Household waste and drainage had damaged the pond and changed its place in community life. Addressing the pollution required a practical response within the pond and sustained attention to what was entering it. The work brought residents, local organizers, and H2O365 into a conversation about how the site could be restored and cared for.
Working with the Center for Rural Information and Action, known as CRIA, the initiative combined fundraising with household visits and community meetings. These conversations addressed the consequences of directing waste into the pond and the part residents could play in changing those practices. Farmers and other community members contributed practical help to the restoration effort.
The people who lived beside the pond understood its uses, the pressures on it, and the changes that would be needed around it. Their involvement connected the immediate work of restoration to the longer responsibility of maintenance.
Conservation that can continue
Community members helped drain polluted water using electric pumps. Removing the water was an early step in the restoration process. The team also considered how incoming rainwater could be directed and collected around the site.
The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the initiative, after which the team resumed work. Photographs from the project record different stages of the effort and the people involved.
The Darbhanga initiative forms part of H2O365’s broader work connecting pond conservation with education. Across its projects in Bihar, the organization has worked with teachers on locally relevant water lessons and with students learning to take responsibility for conservation. Tejas Raxwal’s role in that wider work includes developing the curriculum with educators and training student Water Ambassadors.
The ambition is for knowledge to remain close to the water source itself: in the classrooms, households, and local relationships that can sustain its care through changing seasons.
Community discussion
Residents gathered to discuss the pond, household drainage, and the work required to restore it. H2O365 and the Center for Rural Information and Action supported community meetings and fundraising as part of the initiative.
Working along the pond
The restoration effort brought residents and workers together around the pond. Photographs from the initiative record the practical work of clearing the site and preparing for further conservation.
Draining the pond
Electric pumps were used to remove polluted water from the pond. Local residents contributed to this stage of the work, drawing on their knowledge of the site and the surrounding community.
Electric pumping equipment used to drain polluted water from the Darbhanga pond