People come together to save 100-year-old Dumas well

Surat: Around 20,000 villagers living near Dumas beach are worried over the falling water level in the historic and only sweet water well that has dipped further to just one-and-half-foot from 10 feet earlier. People of Dumas, Sultanabad and Bhimpor will on Sunday discuss how to save their well at Dumas Langar crossroads, worshipped as a deity by them and also popular among tourists from South Gujarat.
Villagers worship the well because it has been providing high quality sweet water for over 100 years despite being located just 1 kilometre from the sea. No one can come to the well wearing shoes or slippers to fetch water from it. If anyone is found throwing garbage or even flowers in the well built in 1899 in the memory of Moti Bai and Bhowanidas Narandas Motivala, they are punished by the villagers who earlier had never used water pumps to ensure that the sweet water level in the well does not go down.
“This well is our lifeline and hence we worship it. But fetching of water through tube well from its vicinity for supply outside Dumas on a commercial basis has affected the quality of sweet water and accelerated fall in the water level of this well,” said Ramesh Lashkari, who plays an active role in its maintenance.
“We receive supply of drinking water from Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) but it is not regular and the water quality is poor. Around 20,000 villagers are dependent on this well for drinking water,” Lashkari said.
“We are starting a movement to save the well and sweet water level in our area. People of nearby villages will be holding a meeting on Sunday in this connection. Sale of water illegally drawn from the ground must stop. If the groundwater here turns saline, we may loose this well permanently,” said Mahesh Lala, who has made many representations on the issue of the well on behalf of the villagers to government offices.