Working and Living India
Project by
Prof. Purba Joshi
Prof. G.G.Ray
Water Fetching Aid for Rural Women
Access to potable water in villages is still a problem in India. It has to be fetched from long distances. This task is usually done by the women in the family. They go to fetch water from the well or a pump in the area. This constitutes approximately 50 liters of water per day for a family of 5 members. The most common method of fetching water is by carrying matkas/handas on the head. This form of head load causes a lot of strain on the neck and often is the cause of injuries and muscular spasms.
This project aims at providing an aid to help in this load carrying task. Various methods of load carrying have been studied, complete motion and task analysis has been done to come up with a solution that reduces effort and is physiologically safe.
After coming up with various concepts and testing some of them, a product that distributes load around the trunk of the body has been decided as the final concept. This product consists of a harness which is made of canvas cloth and is integrated with steel frames to hold the containers. This semi-rigid harness allows the product to be worn easily. It is comfortable and provides more freedom of movement in the rough, hilly terrain of villages. It also makes the loading and unloading of containers simpler at the well and at home. This product allows 18-20 liters of water to be carried more safely by the women.
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Sneha Trivedi Roy
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Samkit Shah