Gandaki Province
Water supply project relieves Patle villagers of acute water shortage
The scarcity had affected every household in Patle village of Baglung for last two decades.Prakash Baral
Chandra Kala Rasaili, a resident of Badigad Rural Municipality-10, had to wake up every morning at 4am to fetch water from a well. The tenth grader would walk for an hour to the nearest well and back before she could rush off to school at Netadarlig in neighbouring Gulmi district.
Sabitra Raskoti, a housewife from the same village, also woke up to busy mornings. Her day would start like that of Chandra Kala’s. She would also go to the nearest well to fetch water which would take most of her morning. She would then get home to feed her children and send them to school.
Water shortage in Patle village for the past two decades had affected every household in the settlements. Children would miss out school because they would mostly be busy fetching water for their families. Even rearing livestock had become a difficult task for the villagers. Most of the livestock farmers had to build sheds near local streams away from their homes, as there was no water in the village. The villagers would often quarrel over drinking water.
However, the drinking water crisis is now a thing of the past for Patle villagers with the construction of a drinking water project last year. The village now has a regular supply of water with the help of the rural municipality, social organisations and labour donation of the local people.
“We led miserable lives because of water scarcity,” said Santa Bahadur Raskoti, chairman of Patle Jhakristhan Drinking Water Consumers’ Committee. “But now, with the construction of the drinking water project, we rest easy. Children from our village will no longer have to miss school because of water shortage.”
There are a total of 41 households in the settlement. Each family from the village worked for about a year to complete the drinking water project.
The then District Development Committee, drinking water and sanitation division office and several non-governmental organisations had conducted initial surveys for a drinking water project in the village but the project took off only last year.
The total cost of the drinking water project is around Rs 4.5 million.
“Out of 41 households in the village, 35 households have received drinking water through pipelines whereas six houses have been supplied water through lifting technology,” said Birendra Budha, the ward chairman.
According to the ward office, an 11,800-metre-long pipeline has been installed from Nigalpani to supply water to the settlement. A 4,000-litre reserve water tank and five distribution tanks of 2,000 and 1,000 litres have also been constructed for the project. Similarly, five solar panels and a motor have been installed to lift the water.
Patle is still disconnected from the road network. The villagers have to walk four hours to reach Burtibang, the nearest marketplace, to purchase daily essentials.