Dr. Sarita Subramaniam (BDS), founder of the Earth Brigade Foundation (EBF), in Visakhapatnam on Monday. | Photo credit: IN PARADISE
It was in June 2016 when a pair of wildlife enthusiasts, both dental surgeons, from Mumbai visited the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. On a bright sunny day, they saw a half-grown tigress drinking water from a small pool of water and later sitting in it to cool off from the scorching heat.
For any other jungle safari goer, spotting a wild animal, specifically a tiger, even for a few minutes, is a photo-taking and video-taking moment. But a couple—Dr. Sarita Subramaniam (BDS) and Dr. PV Subramaniam (MDS, Periodontist) – one thing that came to their mind was the struggle of wild animals during summer to find water. “If the tigress faced such difficulties to get water, what would be the situation of other animals that also depend on the same water body. This made us think about doing something to quench the thirst of wild animals,” says Dr. Sarita.
Speaking to The Hindu during her visit to the city to receive an award from Lions International, Dr. Sarita said that they found that water scarcity in forests can be attributed to human-animal conflict. “Animals venture into human dwellings in search of water. Herbivores enter human dwellings and damage crops, and carnivores follow their prey to hunt. This leads to morbidity and mortality on both sides,” she said.
The next year, in 2017, the couple, who are avid wildlife enthusiasts and bird watchers, established the Earth Brigade Foundation (EBF) to contribute to nature conservation. “We decided to install solar water pumps in forest areas to ensure a constant source of drinking water for wild animals. The pumps were installed as per the design of the forest department. Our first step started at Bandipur Tiger Reserve in 2018 where we did three installations,” said Dr Sarita.
Dr. Sarita said that the forest department also arranges water inside the jungle using water tankers. “However, where there are ghat roads, these fully loaded water tankers cannot reach remote areas. Moreover, the entry of vehicles also leads to vehicular pollution,” he adds.
On an average, EBF spends about ₹3 to ₹4 lakh per installation depending on the depth of the borehole, how far the pipeline has to be laid and the number of water bodies that can be filled by the borehole. “We prefer to fill multiple bodies of water in one facility,” she said, adding that they run the foundation with the help of donations from philanthropists, wildlife enthusiasts and several companies.
EBF has so far installed 193 solar powered water pumps in the eight states of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh. These installations have been done in 28 different forests, 21 of which have the presence of tigers.
Published – 03 Nov 2025 19:36 IST
