Water taps; a gift for the villagers

Before the construction of a drinking water system, 120 households in Kari Sabz village of Rebat Sange district, Herat, did not have enough drinking water in their houses. This had a negative impact on their lives, particularly children’s health and education.

“We had the problem of accessing water. We used to fetch water from narrow streams, while there were little and importable water,” says Ahmad, 52, a farmer in Kari Sabz. He explains, “due to access to clean drinking water, our children and even the elders became sick; such as diarrhea.”

The problem became more serious during the winter. “The water [in streams] frozen during the winter, and we faced with lack of water,” Ahmad shared. Thus, the villagers were supposed to fetch water from surrounding villages.

To address the severe need for water and improve access to drinking water for affected communities, as part of a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project funded by UNICEF, World Vision Afghanistan (WVA) constructed one gravity fed water supply network in Kari Sabz village. This system is running by gravity force and it is linked to the spring. 14 tap stands located throughout the village, providing easy access for up to 120 families.

This intervention helped community members to access drinking water near their houses.  It also reduced the time and distance to water sources. “The work was completed in just two months and now we have drinking water. At the same time, the company used local labourers for the construction process which created job opportunity for most of the villagers,” explains Ahmad with a happy face.

Haroon, 7, is one of the children in the community. He is happy with having the water tab near to his house,

I used to go far from our house to fetch water. I took the donkey with jerrycans and moved toward stream to fetch water. My peers helped me for this. But, now I can easily fetch water from the water tab near to our house. 

Access to water source helped women of the community as well. "Now, women can fetch water from the water tab near to their houses. It also helps us [men] since we are mostly busy in agriculture, and we do not have more time to help the family by fetching water," Ahmad explains. 

World Vision Afghanistan handed the water system over to the community. For its sustainability the community formed a committee where eight members including men and women are gathered together to consider the functionality of the system.

“We [the committee] have weekly meeting to discuss about safety of water tabs and the system. We also put three boxes in the village, and asked the people to put money into that, thus we can address any cost, if it is damaged [the tab],” says Bahram Shah, 45, village head. Bahram is a member of the committee as well.

World Vision Afghanistan also delivers water conservation education in communities, encouraging the people to turn the taps off when they are not using the water. The greywater from the stand water tabs is also channeled towards trees so that water is not wasted.