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Clean Drinking Water for Tribal Villages in Odisha, India
Help 500+ people today and
build a model for millions tomorrow
In the rural district of Nayagarh in Odisha, India, villagers get their drinking water from wells contaminated with iron, which often causes vomiting, along with fluoride and pathogens that can make people sick. Many then walk even farther to unsafe ponds and streams because the well water is simply undrinkable.
Working with our local partner Jeevan Rekha Parishad (The Lifeline Council) and Indian-developed Terafil technology, we’re installing two community water treatment plants that will provide safe, reliable drinking water for hundreds of households and creating a blueprint for villages across Odisha, where more than 15 million people still lack access to safe drinking water.
Your support is what turns this from one local project into a proven model that can protect millions of people over the coming decades.
*Even a small gift helps build the first village systems and refine low-cost designs that can be repeated across rural Odisha.
Does Your Water Make You Sick?
The Problem in Nayagarh, India
If you’re reading this, your water probably doesn’t make you throw up. In the Nayagarh District, the main drinking water comes from village wells. But in villages like Gurha and Falpaju, that groundwater carries a mix of iron, fluoride, and pathogens at levels far above national standards. The iron itself isn’t the most toxic part — the problem is that it makes the water practically undrinkable.
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Residents often vomit after drinking this red water (as you can see in the video to the right)
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Many avoid wells and walk farther to surface ponds/streams
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Hours lost walking for water and diarrheal illness = lost income and missed school — a critical, hidden poverty feedback loop
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They’re not asking to change their way of life – just basic, drinkable water
One Project, Two Levels of Impact
When you join this project, your support works on two levels at the same time:
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Immediate Action – Two Villages, > 500 People
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Build two community water plants in Nayagarh that will give 543 people safe, reliable drinking water in the villages of Gurha and Falpaju.
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Strategic Initiative – A Blueprint for Millions
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Help CWH and The Lifeline Council refine a customizable treatment design that can be repeated village by village across Odisha’s 40+ million people, where more than 15 million still lack safe drinking water.
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This project combines immediate village plants with a state-wide strategy for rural Odisha.
When you support this project, you’re not only helping two villages; you’re also advancing a scalable solution for some of the poorest and most underserved communities in India.
What Your Support Builds in Nayagarh
This isn’t a stack of small household filters that fail in a year or two. For roughly INR 9,43,000 (~$10,000 USD), JRP will build and install two full community water plants in Gurha and Falpaju then hand them over to trained local committees to run for decades.
A Successful,
Proven Model
Successful installs in Odisha Villages
138
Community-Scale Capacity
Gallons treated water per day
10,000 +
Long-Lasting
Infrastructure
> 10 years
Expected system lifetime
Astronomical
Return on Investment
$36
Local economy
ROI per $1 invested
Your contribution helps build the first two of these village systems — and proves a design that can be repeated across rural Odisha.
Want to see the full technical design?
Simple Technology to Change Millions of Lives
The systems we’re building in Gurha and Falpaju use the Indian-made, cost-effective and high-capacity Terafil filters. Terafil filters were developed for low-cost projects by the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology (CSIR-IMMT).
Terafil: Simple, Proven, Made for Rural India
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Locally Developed: Terafil is a porous terracotta filter made from red clay, sand, and sawdust, fired at high temperature to create millions of tiny pores that let water through but trap iron, dirt, and many microbes — without electricity or chemicals.
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Removes Key Contaminants: Studies show Terafil units can remove 99% of turbidity and 90–95% of microorganisms, with strong reductions in iron and coliforms. Paired with a simple micron filter, these filters provide decades of clean water.
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Widely Deployed: CSIR reports hundreds of thousands of Terafil household and community filters already in use across India, producing tens of millions of liters of safer water every day.
Practical Upgrades For Additional Contaminants
Venturi Aeration
for Excessive Iron
Venturi aeration is a simple and ancient, yet powerful method of injecting oxygen into water.
This electricity-free process helps to immediately precipitate iron, which is removed by the
ceramic filter, making the previously unsettling water refreshing.
Animal Bone Char
for Toxic Fluoride
Fluoride is naturally high in local soil and is very high in the groundwater. Excess fluoride causes a variety of chronic illnesses, but can be removed with one of the oldest
and most cost-effective
water treatment materials -
natural animal bone char.
Arsenic is occasionally present in high levels in some villages
and can be removed with
iron-based filter additives.
The durable ceramic filters are also compatible with chlorine which may be added for extra protection from small pathogens like Pavo and Enteroviruses
(< 30 nanometers!)
Additional add-ons
for Arsenic or Viruses
The Lifeline Council: The Local Heroes
Our Partner, The Lifeline Council (Jeevan Rekha Parishad or JRP)
Nonprofit based in Odisha, India
Working with rural and tribal communities
About:
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Indian grassroots nonprofit organization, founded in 1993
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Works directly with rural, tribal, slum, and island communities, involving them in planning and decision-making.
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Active across five districts and ~150 villages in Odisha, including Khordha, Puri, Bhadrak, Cuttack, and Nayagarh.
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Recognized with UN ECOSOC special consultative status, reflecting decades of impactful work.
Programs to Help Tribal Communities:
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WASH and Nutrition: providing sustainable water supply, developing farm irrigation systems, and addressing health and hygiene issues to empower 25 tribal villages.
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Combatting Malaria: Provide malaria prevention, diagnosis, education, and treatment to at least 8,000 vulnerable individuals and approximately 20,000 total beneficiaries. Train and mobilize 360 community health workers to lead malaria prevention and control efforts.
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Smart Farm Solution: Installing greenhouses, training farmers to reduce waste through food preservation principles and increase yields through crop diversification education.
Our Collaboration:
JRP is the hero in the field, and Clean Water Help is the water-quality technical partner. JRP leads community engagement in Gurha and Falpaju, helps form and train Village Water Committees, and coordinates construction, installation, and follow-up. Clean Water Help analyzes the water, helps design and optimize the treatment systems, and raises funds so JRP and the villages can build and run them.
As with our other projects, 100% of project donations go to implementation — not to salaries or overhead — so your support flows directly into trusted local hands and permanent village infrastructure.
Water Resources for a Tribal Community
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