Shillong, Sept 17: Little drops of water make an ocean and Lakmen Mary Nongkhlaw, a mother of two children, has proven that the adage isn’t incorrect as she single-handedly made her village self-sufficient in water from being parched.

This lady is from the remote Kyrdemkhla village under East Khasi Hills District where villagers had to tread miles to the streams and rivers to collect water or stand in long queues to fetch water, just a few years ago.

According to Nongkhlaw, her village was a place where people faced lots of challenges to get clean and safe drinking water and also for household chores.

“Earlier, we had to tread about 1 km to fetch drinking water. We also had to stand in long queues just to get a bucket of water in our village. For washing clothes, we had to walk for about 1 – 2 kms to the nearest river and it was not only far but it was also risky,” she said.

However, Nongkhlaw seeing the problem faced by the people of her villagers on a daily basis thought of taking the challenge head on. As Secretary of the Village Employment Council since 2016, Nongkhlaw chalked out a road map.

She first encouraged the villagers to plant trees. “I organized programmes like tree plantations every year and we were able to plant 16000 saplings till date,” Nongkhlaw said.

Thereafter she took the effort further and encouraged the Kyrdemkhla villagers to construct water storage tanks and started to rejuvenate springs and also built check dams.

“Over a period, we were able to construct five water storage tanks, rejuvenate six springs to recharge the water and we also built four check dams in our village” Nongkhlaw said.

Due to these outstanding efforts, the village slowly began to be self-sufficient in water and villagers were able to dedicate more time to their family instead of fetching water from far off places.

“We now have water taps in specific locations in our village which has made it easier for us to collect water and the springs do not dry up even during the winter season. We are now able to spend more time with our family and take care of our children,” she said.

Due to her selfless dedication, she is now known as a “water warrior and a change maker” in her village.

Nongkhlaw, also a teacher, was recently given the honour to address the 8th India Water Week 2024, which started on Tuesday at the National Capital.

She is one of the two water warriors from across the country to address this important meeting on water conservation and related issues.

Meanwhile, her effort has not gone unnoticed in the state too with Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma recognising her important contribution. He announced that the state government would launch the “CM Water Champion Initiative” where individuals like Nongkhlaw would be honoured and also given a cash award of Rs. one lakh every year.

Also Read: State govt working on formula to address SSA teachers’ issues: Rakkam Sangma

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