Crisis at the bottom: Women descend into dry well for daily water needs in Nashik's Borichivari

In the heart of Maharashtra’s Nashik district, a quiet crisis is unfolding, a crisis that has pushed women to the very edge, both literally and metaphorically. In Borichivari village of Taluka Peth, the daily search for water has become an act of survival that demands courage, endurance, and a quiet resilience that the world seldom notices.

A chilling image captures the gravity of the situation: a woman, clinging to a fraying rope, slowly descends into a dry, crumbling well, her feet cautiously seeking support on the uneven stones embedded along its inner wall. Around her, a circle of anxious villagers, mostly women, but also a few men, look on in hushed silence, hearts pounding, eyes locked on her every step. 

The water she collects from the depths is murky, unclean, and insufficient. But it is all they have.

In Borichivari, like in many rural parts of India, the women begin and end their day with the pursuit of water, walking miles, standing for hours under a scorching sun, and, as in this case, risking life and limb to retrieve every drop of a rapidly vanishing resource.

The water crisis in Nashik district is not new, nor is it sudden. Last year, water storage levels across 24 major and medium dams in the district plummeted to just 18% of their total capacity of 65.81 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic feet). The situation has since worsened, exacerbated by erratic monsoons, poor watershed management, and unregulated groundwater extraction.

The wells in Borichivari, once lifelines for the village, are now drying up or already dry. Crops are failing, and with them, livelihoods are being lost. The farmers, many of whom depend on consistent water supply for seasonal agriculture, find themselves trapped in a cycle of debt and despair.

But beyond the statistics and policies, it is the human cost of this crisis that stings the most. The image of a woman descending into a well is not just a moment of bravery, it is a tragic reminder of how little has changed despite decades of promises for rural water reform.

The physical risks of such acts are immense. A single slip could mean death. And yet, every day, women continue to perform this perilous task, not out of choice, but out of desperation. This repeated act of courage is invisible in national headlines but speaks volumes about the socio-environmental neglect these communities have endured.

With summer tightening its grip, temperatures rising, and water bodies shrinking, the situation is expected to worsen. The high rate of evaporation during this season makes water conservation an even more daunting challenge. Villagers are forced to ration every drop, bathing is rare, washing clothes becomes a weekly event, and cooking is done with the bare minimum.

What Borichivari is experiencing is not an isolated tragedy, it’s a snapshot of a looming water catastrophe across India’s rural landscape. Sustainable water management, rainwater harvesting, and proper implementation of rural water supply schemes are not just policy suggestions, they are urgent necessities.

Until that happens, women in villages like Borichivari will continue to risk their lives to collect water others waste without thought.