Sometimes as many as 2,000 people come to the borewell to collect water.
Even though she lives close to the Cauvery River and the KRS dam in Karnataka, Iramma has to walk to a pump with a toddler in tow about four times a day to collect water.
"We come here (to the pump) about three or four times a day to collect water. Water doesn't come properly. You have to wait in between to fill the pots," Iramma told NDTV.
Awareness about the importance of water is something people learn very early in the village of Mahadevapura in Mandya district.
Despite living so close to the Cauvery, drinking water from the dam goes to the cities of Bengaluru, Mandya and Mysuru but not to them. At a time when the whole state is facing a water shortage - the situation is even worse.
Another villager, Made Gowda, added, "Even though the river is just here, drinking water is a problem. Men take water on cycles or scooters, but water is such a difficulty despite being close to the river."
In the face of adversity, people here have stood by each other. Nanje Gowda has a borewell on his private land but he allows access to other villagers of Mahadevapura so that they can collect drinking water.
"Sometimes 2,000 people come in a day. The water keeps stopping in every now and then," Nanje Gowda said.
His son, Ramalinga, added, "We could not just stand by and watch the difficulty of the people. The water is just not enough. Sometimes we make do with a little less water for ourselves."
Last year, tankers were brought in to provide drinking water. This year, so far, it is mainly borewells that are meeting the need.
But despite being close to the Cauvery river, they need to be dug to a depth of more than 300 feet now before they reach any water.