By Dale Dodge, World Neighbours Canada director
In late 2017, villagers from the Sunapati rural municipality requested that TSS help with the installation of a water system. The system is different from others we have been involved with in a number of ways:
- The system will actually go through 8 small villages and one or two stand pipes will be place in each village.
- The local government will help with the cost and will have branch lines and stand pipes into a number of their government office locations.
- The system will also service a school that has 465 students.
So even though the Hiledevi Water System, on paper, services 81 households and 346 people, during the school year it actually services over 800 people daily.
It is a large system, with 2 intake tanks, 2 reservoirs, 15 public and 11 private tap stands and a total of 8.6 km of hand dug ditching that is 2-3 ft deep. Virtually all of the labour was provided by the local communities at no cost. All local materials – rock, gravel, sand – was provided by the communities at no cost. Money from donors purchased the pipe, cement, fencing and fixtures.
This is yet another example of how WNC and TSS work together with small groups of people to facilitate change, improve health and empower communities. Thank you for your help in doing this.