‘Scarcity of drinking water – in what may be called as tragedy of the common’

‘Scarcity of drinking water – in what may be called as tragedy of the common’

Yoeseltse Gewog and Dumsidara village under Phuntshopelri Gewog in Samtse Dzongkhag do not have sufficient clean and safe drinking water. Scarcities of drinking water in these areas are a long-standing problem and several attempts were made in the past to connect the villages with clean and safe water supply systems/schemes without much success. Water has become one of the scarce resources in Bhutan and more so in southern parts of Bhutan. The water scarcity is associated with various factors starting from fast depletion of upstream watersheds and aeration of water sources caused by increasing population and by farm road constructions, mining, landslides, flash floods and climate change. Poor management, operation, and maintenance of water supply systems/schemes are other attributing factors.

To address this issue, RSPN through SDF funding with technical support from Engineering Cell of Samtse Dzongkhag and Public Health Engineering Division of the Ministry of Health is constructing two water supply systems/schemes. The use of gravitational technology would help reach water to the people of Yoeseltse Gewog and submersible pump technology to the people of Dumsidara village in Phuntshopelri Gewog.

To oversee and expedite the progress and quality construction of the water infrastructures, efficient use of project fund, quality and timely completion of construction; a week-long monitoring was initiated from March 6-11, 2017 by Project Officer and ICT Officer to document the water infrastructures. With the completion of the two water supply systems/schemes by June, 2017 more than 539 households will have access to 24 hours safe and clean drinking water.

 Support RSPN to eliminate this issue of the rural communities of Bhutan together. ‘True development lies not in building concrete structures in the cities but in bringing a change in the lives of the rural community where 70% of the Bhutanese lives’.

Reported by: Tsheten Dorji, WASH Project Officer