Water and Sanitation Competition; Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu

“Our lives and our livelihoods depend on this water. If we don’t have it, we don’t have anything.” These were the words of Zaphe Kani, one of the most respected members of the community. He was a teacher, and his words were followed by a startling silence that seemed to reverberate around the room. The community that had gathered in the church hall that day could sense that the problem was now beyond their control and they were  also aware that anything they dared to try now may result in failure once again. The ominous silence was broken by the voice of MaNdlovu who led the hall in a hymn that marked the closing of that day’s sombre meeting.

Not more than a few miles away, Luvuyo sat watching the herd intently. Although it was still winter, his worries were calmed by the fact that summer was near and her rains might grace the pastures once again. Ten calves were to be born in summer and Luvuyo feared that the cows weren’t receiving enough nutrition. Even the grass that blanketed the Transkei mountains looked parched and yellow. This was a sign that winter was still in session and the absence of the rain proved this. They had already roamed 15Km away from the kraal and the grass in the fields was disappearing rapidly.

Everyone has a story to tell

Before starting the story of our community, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Chedorlaomer Villa I am 34 years old, and  live in The Maelstrom, small town of Pance, Cali, Colombia.  I work as plumber and I am responsible for carrying out maintenance at the drinking water plant (PTAP) and the wastewater treatment plant (PTARD). We are a privileged community in that today we have drinking water and a system of to process wastewater, perhaps the oldest such system in the municipality.

Back to the history, our district, “La Vorágine”,  was founded by Mr. Nicolas Felipe Mejía in the year of 1943 and is one of the 13 districts forming the small town of Pance, where the crystal and cold water of the river attract many foreign and Colombian tourists at weekends or in the holiday season.

Vereda La Vorágine

This district was originally called La Vega (the fertile lowland).  The district’s economy was based around two coal mines.  At one time only a dusty bridle path  linked La Vorágine with Cali. It was only in the 1950s that the highway was built.  Since the 1960s when tourism started to rise, La Voragina has been a tourist destination.

Construction of the aqueduct

With the increase in tourism, the need to seek other sources to supply the community with water increased and the water from the river was of very poor quality.  In 1980 the Municipal Public Department of Health (SSPM) started a project to improve this situation.

Celebrating community management of water in Cochabamba

We have just celebrated four years of community management of our water supply in this part of Cochabamba. It is a celebration not of perfection but of hard work; not a story with a happy ending, but a story where we meet the continual challenges.

Lack of water is a constant problem in the Southern zone of Cochabamba since the water network from the public company Semapa does not reach us.  We could perhaps have managed to attract a project to bring us water supply, but it would take a long time and we feared that we would be disregarded by the authorities. So we followed the path that some neighbours have taken to organise themselves and form a water committee to tackle the lack of drinking water.

Our Community Association for Drinking Water and Sanitation was formed on April 22 2007, as a public service community association with charitable status. Its primary purpose is to administrate, operate and maintain the drinking water system and keep it clean. This association has managed to supply water to the districts between the rivers, Trafalgar, Santa Fe and part of Bello Horizonte (Villa Payer-District 14), about 45 minutes bus ride from the city centre.

To solve the problems in my community we needed to clear the route dig, clean and put the whole thing together. This community effort was the only way to obtain good results.

The ‘War of the Future’ or something else …

I was preparing for a regular inspection visit to the community of Las Flores, municipality of Chinacla in the department of La Paz, Honduras.

The inspection took place in mid-May 2010 with Mr. Ely Nicholas from Marcala, La Paz, who since April 2010 is supervising construction of a new water system in this small village, 80 kilometres north of the capital Tegucigalpa.

 

Picture by Carlos Mejía

 

There were two main points of discussion: the location of the storage tank, and the possible construction of a new small dam in addition to the one which was budgeted for, so that it could provide the desired amount of water.

After several hours of travel we arrived at the community and contacted the president of the water board, Mr Jose Lopez, who guided us through the community to the prospective location for the storage tank. This is where we encountered our first problem.

We looked at the design and found that the outside designer had situated the tank in the middle of the street, where it would block traffic. Big mistake! We analysed a new location and marked it.  Although the first problem was solved, we did not know what was still waiting us.

We, the Women of Jayyous

Take a tractor ride through the Jayyous countryside behind the Wall, where more than 70% of the village’s land and all six of its groundwater wells have been confiscated. See the illegal Israeli dump with industrial waste from the settlements located just above Azzoun’s Well, from where the Jayyous residents now get their water. Learn about the sewage crisis affecting 90% of Palestinians in the West Bank. And meet the women of Jayyous, who together with LifeSource, are beginning to do something about all of this. Click to see a video story from the Arab water Channel:

Potable Water Supply Women Empowerment Project

Existing source of water for the dwellers of Lemlem Cheffe and Girmiabo Kebeles is surface water which is of poor quality. Due to this they suffer from water born, water related and water washed diseases. In Gimbichu Woreda as in most developing communities fetching water is a task left entirely to women which takes most of their time. The main target of the project are 200 women and 4,800 dwellers whose health are most affected due to lack of potable water.

Learning and Demonstration Project for Safe Disposal and Use of Excreta

The Indigenous Paéz Community Munchique – Los Tigres, Municipality of Santander Quilichao, Cauca Department, Colombia, South America Project title .

The Indigenous Government of Munchique-Los Tigres and the Municipal Government of Santander Quilichao, CONSAM, Alter-Eco Description of project Los Tigres – Munchique is an indigenous community with 4.000 inhabitants distributed in 17 villages in a mountainous rural area, two hours from the town of Santander.