Water Project in Nepal 2024-25

Village of Dudhekuna.

Located in Tanahun District, Nepal

Approximately 300 people live here in 60 houses.

Objective - Provide this population with clean drinking water, close to their houses.

They have a current water system, despite coming from a spring it is not potable and can be used for washing and irrigation only.

There is a second spring close to a school

Villagers must walk to this upper spring to collect all their drinking water.

Project originally was to build a new 20,000L water tank and as it is on a hillside a retaining wall to support it, piping from the spring, plus 2 taps.

During a visit to the village in November 2023 it became clear that this project would be dramatically enhanced by a pumped system.

Access to the spring was difficult to say the least and this is where they currently collect their water. The tank, planned by the village, would eliminate this part of the problem but it would still be below the school, down a hillside and still difficult access. It had hoped to be positioned higher but with repeated checks using GPS showed this proved not possible.

Also all the houses higher in the village would not benefit.

The ideal solution would be to have a second tank much higher above the village, with water pumped up from the lower tank. Water would then be piped down from the higher tank to benefit all the houses

This would not only benefit these upper houses but everyone would have easy access to water rather than from a tank in a poor position below.

Sustainability

Ownership will be the village residents. They will be responsible for maintenance. Concrete tanks and plastic piping have very little maintenance requirements. The tank should last 50 years and replacement parts, eg plastic piping and plumbing materials, are readily available locally. Also there is the expertise locally to manage electric pumps.

Cost

The cost will be approximately £6000