WASH Project in Chaiyabuk, Northeast Afghanistan
Our project manager reports:
In this village – about 1 ½ hours by car from our office in Faizabad – we are running a WASH (Water, Sanitation and strong Hygiene) project. The aim is to reduce hygiene-related diseases (e.g. vomiting diarrhea, etc.) by:
- Access to clean drinking water (a human right)
- Provision of sanitary facilities
- Education and training in hygiene practices.
The drinking water part of the program is almost finished. Together with the village community we searched for a safe and clean spring, there was one 4 km away in rough, mountainous, very dangerous terrain.
The villagers had their doubts about the feasibility of this project, as the water was to flow from the spring through 3.6 km of pipe to a reservoir (24,000 liters), be pumped from there by a solar-powered pump to another reservoir (30,000 liters) at a higher elevation, and from there be piped to various tapping points in the village.
After 3 months of construction, the first reservoir is filled with water and the solar-powered pump is installed. On 18 January, water was pumped into the village for the first time with the solar-powered pump. The water taps are working perfectly. Everyone is happy, after so many years, drinking water has finally come to their village!
