Viet Nam: Clean water reaches village homes!
“We are as thankful as if our ancestors rose from the dead,” “We are overjoyed!”… This was without exception the feedback received when villagers from four villages, Tam Hiep, Lam Lang 1, Lam Lang 2 and Lam Lang 3 in Cam Thuy commune, Quang Tri province, were asked how they feel now that clean water has reached their home.
The water supply system for the four villages was built in 2007, but was severely damaged after eight years in use. Since 2014, it had only supplied water for Tam Hiep. The other three villages had to use contaminated water for washing and bathing. For drinking and cooking, the villagers bought bottled water. Almost every house had a dug well, a water pump and a DIY filter tank. These brought clear water, but uncertainty about whether it was clean. Earlier this year, Mrs Le Thi Diep shared: "When washed in this water, the bottom half of our clothes turn yellow. Our clothes get old and bad very fast. Across the three villages, each family has to buy at least one 20-litre bottle of water every day only for drinking and cooking."
According to the annual report of Cam Thuy commune’s health station, the number of people diagnosed with digestive and gynaecological diseases in Lam Lang 1, Lam Lang 2 and Lam Lang 3 has increased since 2015. Before the arrival of clean water, the chairman of Cam Thuy Commune People’s Committee, Mr Le Nhat Tien, shared: "There is no study showing that it is due to using contaminated water, but the locals are very unsettled. No one dares use this water for cooking and drinking. I am more concerned that after floods, red-eye, diarrhoea and gynaecological diseases increase a lot in these areas. We tried to solve this problem in order to respond to the urgent need of clean water. However, due to limited funding, the People's Committee was only able to do one part of the water system each year. Three years have passed, we are now in mid 2018, but people in these three villages still do not have access to clean water.”
The "Widening participation of people with disabilities in community-based disaster risk management in Vietnam” project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany and Malteser International, in four communes of Quang Tri and Quang Ngai provinces from May 2016 to September 2018. The project implemented by the Quang Tri Disabled People Organization, Disaster Management Policy and Technology Center and Malteser International has helped people in each commune and village to develop a community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) plan. Providing access to clean water was one of the solutions in the CBDRM plan of Cam Hieu Commune. It was chosen by the villagers for priority to implement. The Quang Tri Project Implementing Board, together with Malteser International, decided to support this proposal in the project frame. Contributing 144,357,000 to the total project cost of VND 2 billion, Malteser International helped accelerate the process of bringing clean water to the three villages. The villagers started having access to clean water on the last days of September 2018. It was so exciting!
Seeing a woman on the village road, I approached and talked to her. She smiled when telling me that clean water had reached her home. I asked how to make the water system sustainable so her community would always be able to use clean water. Her answer surprised me. "The water pipes were buried deep. We are growing flowers above them. We will also go to meetings to share our ideas with each other on how to protect the water system in the long term."
The chairman of Cam Thuy Commune People’s Committee, Mr Le Nhat Tien, explained, "The villagers are putting together a regulation on how to assign supervisors and use the proceeds to maintain the water systems regularly. Furthermore, a water meter has been installed in every house to control water usage and ensure fair distribution of water among families. The clean water supply system of Lam Lang 1, Lam Lang 2 and Lam Lang 3 village was built not only by the government and Malteser International, but also by the community. I am sure that the community will actively participate in maintaining the water system for long term usage. I do hope the water-borne diseases after floods will be reduced in the coming years.”