2001 Progress Report
Our three-year drinking water and sanitation program initiated in 1998 has been completed in the spring of this year. During the 1998-2001 three-year period, we have assisted 48 villages with the construction of gravity-fed drinking water systems. This program has brought clean drinking water benefit to 596 households with a population of 4,674. We have also provided 302 tapstands, which averages to a generous ratio of about one tapstand for every two households. In order to bring the water into those villages, 128,890 meters of polyethylene pipes were needed.
The latrines constructed with our assistance are becoming a part of southern Mahabharat landscape. The sanitation activity is an integral part of our drinking water programs. Between April 1998 and April 2001, we have received 1,508 requests for assistance with sanitation from 97 villages, and have assisted 716 households in sixty two villages with the construction of latrines.
On April 1, 2001, we have initiated a new three-year drinking water and sanitation program as our ongoing objective to improve the quality of life among the southern Mahabharat population, and also to lessen the hardships imposed on village women as carriers of water. The sanitation activity also contributes toward a cleaner and healthier village environment.
In the summer of 1993, the southern Mahabharat suffered a major environmental damage caused by a natural disaster, when one hundred of inches of rain fell onto the region within twenty-four hours. Since many of the region's hills are not formed of solid rock, the oversaturation of rain water triggered major landslides. During 1994-95, we have provided emergency assistance, however, at the expense of other projects. In a region, where the entire population subsists on the produce of their own land, food self-sufficiency is a major concern among the local population. In the spring of 2000, we have again resumed the rehabilitation of landslide damage to agricultural land and foot trails. In a roadless region, the foot trails represent the only means transportation and communication. They too are prone to landslide damage in many parts of the region making communication along very steep hillsides difficult and even dangerous. Last year, three villagers perished in a landslide as they walked along a trail in rainy weather. The annual monsoon rains also vary in intensity every year and the severity of last year's monsoon rains affected all but two among Nepal's seventy five districts.
Michael R. Rojik, Executive Director
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