In May we completed a 71 tap-stand project that provides water to an entire community and one school-- totaling around 300 people. Moreover, this project complies with the government of Nepal’s new policy of “One House, One Tap” and was implemented through a six-month construction of “hardware” as listed below:

Drilled a 48-meter deep borehole to pump water into the reservoir tank through solar power.
Connected four solar panels of 315 watt power capacity each which provided power to the solar pump of one horse power.
Installed a reservoir tank of 16,000 litres was which stored water for 70 houses and one school.
Constructed 71 taps and yard connections in Riatole to comply with the Government of Nepal’s policy of “One house One tap”
Built eight Eco-San toilets for eight different households to comply with Nepal’s initiative of “Total Sanitation.” These toilets separate urine from feces so that the urine can be used as a fertilizer.
Installed an Electric pump of two horse power to provide the water available for 24 hours.

But beyond the hardware, the “software” components prove to be even more important in terms of long-term sustainability:

Formed the Water User Group Committee of Raitole. Consisting of six women and three men, this nine person team is led by a female president, Narmaya Rai. This team is responsible for not only successfully accomplishing this project, but also for leading through ownership of the system in W|W’s absence.
Established an Operation and Maintenance Fund (O&M) and employed a Village Maintenance Worker (VMW) Shankar Harijan through the O&M fund.
Established the water tariff collection system to make the O&M fund self-sustaining. The Riatole community has already been collecting for this fund for the past five months. Paying for their water use has challenged the people of Riatole to realize the value of water conservation and preservation. Now, these people are more mindful of their water usage, cultivating an attitudinal change which in term is promoting a permanent behavioral change.
Conducted two trainings to the WUGC to strengthen their capabilities to make this program much more sustainable:
Pre-construction Training- Trained them on preparation of the upcoming project construction, account management, social mobilization, market survey, materials procurement and storage, stock maintenance, and skilled and unskilled labor mobilization.
Post-Construction Training- Trained was provided them about the water tariff collection, O&M fund management, technical sustainability, financial sustainability, VMW employment.
One social Audit was conducted to maintain the transparency about the project estimated budget and the actual budget spent.
One Healthy Home Survey conducted and result is yet to be published that proved
32 houses = Green Stickers
34 houses have got = Yellow stickers
4 house have got = Red stickers
This survey will be taken again soon to show growth of homes in terms of healthy sanitation and hygiene practices

In the next few months, the Madi Municipality and Ward Office have agreed to support the expansion of Riatole to reach eastern and western clusters of Riatole-- bringing water to 90 more households. This will allow this project to reach 160 households, the most a W|W project has ever reached. And more, we're implementing livelihood trainings and technical support in commercial farming. We're empowering the WUSC to take the lead on this project and create these changes for themselves.

We say that this is our project-- but this is THEIR project. Truly, they are the ones hosting us. And by continuing to support Riatole, we are empowering them to take ownership to sustain this community for years to come.

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