Church aids tribal villagers to combat sand mining, restores water flow

Patna – Sithi, one of seven villages in Bihar state's West Champaran district, are irrigated by the Kathaha, a river that originates in Nepal. Even during dry spells, the flow from distant mountains would spill over the riverbanks, and villagers easily channeled the water to their fields. In this way the river ensured natural irrigation for the villages, even when rains failed.

Things began to change, however, after large–scale sand mining began in the riverbed in 1995.

About 150 tractors pulled away trolleys of sand from the village daily, and the river's overflow decreased, eventually stopping completely. But the villagers did not see the two as related. It was difficult to drill wells in the rocky region and the village had no electric pumps to draw water, so villagers had to get their water manually.

By 2000 the village's rice yield had dropped from 30 to 10 quintals a hectare, and villagers were still unable to identify the cause of the water shortfall. On it went, according to Prasad Mahato, a local villager, until 2003, when a Catholic group entered the scene.