From three-day queues to tap water, Mirzapur village finally gets relief

Lahuriadah village in Mirzapur now gets water through household taps after years of scarcity. Residents say the change has ended long walks, queues and a hardship that shaped daily life.

In Short

• Families once got a turn at the village spring every three days
• In summers, tankers brought about 15 litres for each household
• Some residents walked nearly five kilometres downhill to fetch drinking water

For residents of Lahuriadah in Mirzapur, opening a tap and watching water flow is still a reminder of how much life in the village has changed.

Located on the Vindhya hills in Drummondganj area of Lalganj tehsil, the village of around 1,500 people once struggled for even basic drinking water. Residents depended on a natural spring near the village, where families had to wait for their turn. In some cases, a household's turn came only once every three days.

During the summer months, when the water shortage became more severe, the district administration supplied water through tankers. Residents were given around 15 litres of water for three days. Others travelled nearly five kilometres downhill to Bhainsod Balay and even to Hanumana in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh to fetch water.

The shortage became so severe that residents say it even affected marriages in the village, with young men finding it difficult to find families willing to marry their daughters in a place where water was scarce.

That has changed with the implementation of the Har Ghar Nal Yojana under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

Water first reached Lahuriadah through household taps on August 31, 2023. Since then, residents say water is supplied twice a day, bringing an end to the daily struggle of walking through the hills and waiting at springs.

“Earlier, there was a lot of trouble. We used to go to the spring and to Bhainsod Balay to fetch water. For the last three years, we have had taps and there is no problem. Life has become easier,” said Savitri, a resident.

For Sughar Devi, the change is even more striking. She recalled a time when women would spend hours waiting at the village's water source.

“Earlier, we had a lot of problems. We used to bring water from Jhinaa and stand in line day and night. Now that the tap has come, life has become easier,” she said.

Residents say their families had lived with the water shortage for generations.

Nadhauli, another villager, recalled how scarce water once was and how residents had to climb the hills to collect it.

“Earlier, there was very little water. We used to go up the mountain to fetch it. Now things have become easier,” he said.

Chhama Devi, who moved to the village after marriage, said the water shortage was one of the first difficulties she encountered.

“When I got married and came here, there was a water problem. We had to go far away to Jhinaa to get water for cooking. Today, there is a tap at home and water comes,” she said.

For a village that once made headlines over its water crisis, the sight of residents filling containers from taps outside their homes marks a significant change.

The Jal Jeevan Mission's household tap-water network has brought the supply closer to people's homes, residents say, reducing the need to travel through the hills and wait for their turn at a spring.

For Lahuriadah, the change is simple but fundamental: water is no longer something residents have to chase. They can now turn on a tap and get it at home.

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