Residents of Zewang village in Dewathang Gewog of Samdrup Jongkhar can now look forward to reliable drinking water. The construction work to supply water from a new water source was completed recently. For years, the villagers struggled with an erratic supply of drinking water with sources often drying up during the dry season.
Villagers say the water supply from the Zewang Om Chhu which is the source of the water is insufficient for them causing a dire situation during the dry season.
However, villagers now enjoy a reliable and sufficient water supply as water is supplied from a new source at Mertsha.
With the support from the Samdrup Jongkhar District Administration and Dewathang Gewog Administration, villagers constructed a water collection chamber at the source, a reservoir, and laid water pipelines stretching three kilometres.
Besides having abundant water for daily consumption, villagers say they can now grow vegetables and other fruit trees for livelihood.
“Without water, we are unable to cultivate vegetables and fruit trees. Now, I think we will get sufficient water to grow vegetables,” said Karpola, a resident of Dewathang Gewog.
“Before, water was insufficient for drinking, now I think we can cultivate vegetables also. We used to store water in containers before but now we receive enough, directly in water taps,” said Tshering Choden, another resident.
“Usually, around this time, during the dry season, we used to face challenges in getting drinking water. We were also unable to do any vegetable cultivation works but this year we have enough water supply,” said Sonam Tshewang, also a resident.
“We hope that it will solve the water problem here, the government has provided us with materials, and villagers contributed laborers. We have a reliable water source,” said Lobzang Dendup, Domphu-Dungkarchhoeling Tshogpa.
The Dewathang Gewog Administration spent around Nu 800,000 to construct the water supply system at Zewang village.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Phub Gyem
