Biome Trust: Open Wells in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand

Multi hued stone lined well

Open wells seem to be a aplenty in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) though not many people seem to know of the existence of these wells. The rivers Suvarnarekha and Kharkai border the town of Jamshedpur and water supply is from dams upstream which possibly leads to lack of knowledge of the presence of open wells

In many places water is available at 20ft below ground level. Many open wells have been abandoned or been closed lately though. Many of the still surviving wells - and those that still have water seem to be in temples and in places in the peripheries of the town . The wells in the temples are mostly perennial and water from the wells is used for all religious purposes and in certain cases even for drinking. Within town limits this water is also carted away for supply to some people who do not have access to piped water.

While water is available at 20-25ft in some places, in some others it is not available even at 250ft. There are possibly multiple aquifers in the area. Borewells are also prevelent - but the deepest seem to be only about 300ft. The borewell rigs come from Ranchi and the operators are from Tamil Nadu in certain (or possibly most) cases. Are they from Trichengodu too ? Do these borewell diggers from TN go to Jharkhand too ? The most often quoted reason for digging a borewell while an open well already exists was that the open well would dry up for 2 months of the year where as the borewell is perennial. Some of the owners do not recollect how or why they totally stopped using the open wells. The open wells even have fishes in them.

In places where the wells are lined with stone we get to see the geology and rocks found in the area. The rocks are in various hues of brown and grey unlike the rocks that we see in the wells in and around Bangalore. There are wells that are lined with cement rings too