Open Wells in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand – Biome Environmental Trust

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