The Rabaidanda drinking water project
   
  During the planning phase of building a new centre in Rabaidanda (January 2000), it quickly became apparent that, though a CWSN centre was needed, restoration of an existing water supply was a priority for the villagers. This system had been built by the Gurkha Welfare Trust in 1981 but was in a state of collapse, due to long-term later neglect compounded by a major landslide. In many places pipes were leaking, exposed and broken, reconnected (if at all) by bamboo tubing. There were no air valves to bleed the system and the tanks were overflowing. The main collection tank was covered by a piece of corrugated iron. Many of the taps were leaking or dry, and would not work without being drained. A meeting in November 1997 decided that detailed research on the water supply was needed. That same day a small preliminary survey was done, which formed the basis for a subsequent meeting and full-scale survey by a water engineer, Tom Armstrong and Bishnu Koirala. As a result of his recommendations, in addition to maintenance, CWS/N decided to make several changes to upgrade the water supply to Rabaidanda and the neighbouring villages. These changes included:
  • The building of 14 additional tap stands (public taps) and the restoration to service of the 19 existing taps
  • The installing of two new service reservoirs
  • Two additional larger reservoirs
  • Re-designing, extending and rebuilding of the distribution system
  • 7.5 km of pipeline was installed
The main source tank (filled from a mountain spring) is located a little more than 2km away from, and well above the lower village, just 10m under the old way from Nagedhar to Singdi, north-west of Rabaidanda. Before reconstruction, the access was difficult and unsafe. In November, only an estimated 20-30% of the flow from the source was used, the rest running to waste. The plastic pipe from the source to the tank was approximately 5m long, with a diameter of 60mm. The tank was small (325 litres). The output pipe was 40mm, with the result that the pipe constantly overflowed. Replacement of the existing source tank and output pipe with a larger one of the same (60mm) diameter as the input pipe solved the overflow problem. The extra water collected was distributed to the secondary tanks, and thence to the new and existing tap stands. Newly constructed tap stand (before connection).
The work for the rebuilt water scheme was completed by the end of May 1998, when the formal opening of the new scheme was followed by an all-night celebration. The resultant rebuilt water supply serves seven villages and in excess of 2,000 people. It supplies water not just for the villages, but also for irrigation of the whole of one side of the Rabai valley. The total cost was just under US $ 10,000, sponsored by the Action Asia Foundation in HK.A second smaller water project was implemented in the village of Saumarang in 2001 providing 32 houses, and approximately 160 community members with clean drinking water.
   

 


  Go Back Top Home