Water Supply
Continuation of human health and life is linked to availability and quality of water. The history of development of civilization indicates it grew along the rivers and other water resources.
The water problem is acutely felt in the hilly areas where much energy is spent in fetching water for daily consumption. Realizing this, KIRF participated with the local communities to survey the water sources and bringing water to the village, thus saving valuable time of the women and children who are responsible for fetching water from distant sources. The direct result of this improvement is in increased sanitation and additional time available for other gainful activities.
Pre-earthquake KIRF had developed and implemented 63 water supply screens in Azad-Kashmir. The earthquake of October 2005 destroyed many of KIRF’s water schemes and since then we have been working hard to establish more and more water schemes in the earthquake hit areas. Tens of thousands of people are benefiting from KIRF water supply schemes. Not only having clean drinking water near to them but he time saved from fetching water is utilized by women to acquire new skills to supplement the family income and the children are now able to attend to their education rather than spending all day long fetching water for their family consumption.
KIRF worked with the local communities to have easy access to water resources, its carriage and home storage. It simultaneously supported the mohalla level interventions by linking the people to the nearest water sources and worked towards enhancing their home storage capacity. KIRF found a gap in the people’s access to water in 23 mohallas (hamlets) of Bagh district thus benefitting more than 5,450 people. The local staff worked with the respective communities to design the project proposals and also assisted them in their implementation.
These schemes were completed with community participation where they contributed 20% to the total cost of the project. These schemes increased the communities’ access to water sources and also linked their mohallas and homes to the main scheme of the respective villages.
All KIRF water schemes are individually sponsored and paid for by our donors in UK and Europe. To give the sense of ownership of the water scheme, to the local community, KIRF involves the local community from the concept to the delivery of a water scheme by getting them to contribute at least 20% of the cost. In most cases, the locals are so poor that they cannot afford to contribute in monetary terms, so they offer their services as labour to work on the water scheme. Usually, water source is found high up in the mountains where KIRF gets the locals to build a water tank at the source of the water and lay the pipeline from the tank to the village where another tank is built. All village people can draw water from this tank, thus saving them precious time.
Water Storage
The earthquake had destroyed the overhead water storage capacity of the affected families who were facing difficult access to water. In view of this, KIRF distributed 1,000 water cans of 20 litres capacity each to 500 families who had lost their storage capacity. The distribution activity was undertaken in the villages of Malsi Bala and Attras of Union Councils Langar Pura and Chattarlass, respectively. The list also included villages Tandali UC Chattar Domale, Dhani Bakala of Union Council Hathian Bala and Tariq Abad of district Muzaffarabad. The total beneficiaries of the activity were around 3,000 people.
Had it not been for the provision of clean drinking water by KIRF, the women and young boys and girls would have to travel many a mile to fetch water from streams and springs.
Case study of Zewar Jan
I am Zewar Jan of village Dhand Khas. Our access to water source was affected as a result of landslides in the earthquake. The outcome was an increased burden on women and children who had to fetch water from distant points. Due to the landslides, access of simply walking to the distant points had been of great difficulty. So, our community approached KIRF through it’s Bagh Office and helped very much in building the project that connected our village to the water source.
Most of the people have pulled water pipes from the reservoir to their homes adding to their ease. Overall, it has improved our access to water tremendously and reduced the water fetching burden on women and children, which has removed the strain of long walks and exhaustion. Each and every family has benefited in more ways than one, giving us all a better hope, knowing that this water supply will continue to give an improved and more stable way of living.
As a result, the local community has been even more unified, having been together laying the water pipes and building the tank with one another, at the heart of the village. Due to this, the costs of building the tank had also been limited, so there even a sense of pride in our community knowing that everyone contributed towards this water project. Sharing our responsibility to help the village to better our way of accessing a stable and consistent water supply.
Without the help of KIRF and the donors, the burden of access to a water supply would have been much greater. We thank Allah for the great burden that has been lifted and pray that the KIRF continues to provide help to others in the state of Azad-Kashmir.
We are thankful to KIRF and the donors for solving our water problem and it has offered great relief to the families.
Reports on Completed Water Schemes
KIRF Report on Danish Water Projects 2008
KIRF Water Schemes Sari Awaira 2008
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