The Rotary Club of Springdale has completed a project providing water to 13,000 people in India made possible with a grant from the Rotary Foundation.  The grant was a project of Club Member and Past District Governor John Brodbeck, recently deceased.  The ever-outgoing John met Rotarian Pankaj Patel at Rotary's International Convention and learned of the drought conditions in rural India some 75 miles from Mumbai.  Scarce water required women to take long treks to fetch it for their families, and farmers were virtually unable to grow crops. 

A plan to add ten water retention ponds in several tribal areas was developed by the Pune Far East Club and Rotary District 3131.  Funds from the Springdale Rotary Club of $1,900 were provided, and an additional $5,000 of District 6110 designated funds were committed with Foundation Chair Ed Hardesty's assistance. With these matching funds and the Rotary Foundation, the entire Global Grant totaled $96,415. Other partners included the Pune Central Rotary Club, Pune University and District 3131.

Here is an excellent short video that the Rotarians put together - it is quite well done and worth your time to watch. Click here: Water project

The project stores water in the ponds during the monsoon season which is then used for drinking water and farming throughout the year. The deeper storage facilities also increased water percolation and raised the water table of numerous wells in the vicinity. About 500 acres of agricultural land in the area benefitted from this project, which enabled villagers to have water for drinking purposes for their cattle & agriculture (irrigation) year-round, thus raising the local economy (multiple crops per year) & reduced migration to the urban areas. 

With the approval by the Rotary Foundation of the grant, construction began swiftly and was completed in the Spring of 2021.

The ponds will be maintanied by a Rotary Community Corps in the villages.  A Rotary Community Corps (RCC) is a group of non-Rotarians who share our commitment to changing the world thru service projects. This provides the project with the sustainability required for all Rotary Foundation Global Grant projects.

Rotarians support the Rotary Foundation, and their contributions help people all around the World!  Here is a specific example of our fellow Rotarians making life better for more than 13,000 people!