Peer Report | PhotoPhilanthropy/Blue Planet Network visit to Parkadwadi hamlet

I visited Parkadwadi hamlet in November 2010 as part of a tour of several villages in Maharashtra state that benefited from drinking water, sanitation and watershed development projects overseen by the Watershed Development Trust (WOTR). Background about this project is available here: http://peerwater.org/projects/43-1-of-8-Drinking-Water-Project-Parkhatwadi- My report will augment and update this posting.

Once the hamlet households agreed to implement the drinking water project, WOTR worked with a committee of 16 village women to coordinate the implementation. Each household was required to contribute money to cover 20 percent of the total construction cost. Villagers also supplied labor. Households also pay 30 RS monthly to cover maintenance costs. The committee hired a retired technical engineer to help design the project. They researched how best to purchase the pipe and ended up ordering directly from a factory to save money.

A three-kilometer long pipeline was constructed from the restored well to the hamlet and individual water lines and taps were installed to each home and to the school.

According to the hamlet leadership, the drinking water system has worked well with no problems since it was completed in 2008.

The burden of collecting water falls onto the women in India. The women of Parkadwadi spent three hours each day collecting water from wells up to two kilometers away. Now the women can work in the fields to help their households grow food and earn incomes.