People of Chhubarthang village in Sarpang will no longer have to worry about drinking water shortage in their village. The village has received two additional water storage tanks built by the Tarayana Foundation in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund Bhutan. With growing population, people have been facing water shortages, especially during the winter.
The 70 households of Chhubarthang village of Tashithang Chiwog in Umling Gewog already have a 3000-litre water tank built by the Gewog administration, but with the rise in the number of households over the years, water shortages have started to occur.
The community’s demand for water exceeded the capacity of the old water storage tank.
With the new tanks, which have capacities up to 20,000 and 30,000 litres, people said besides addressing their drinking water issues, the new facility would provide enough water to grow winter vegetables.
“Vegetables cannot be grown here because of heavy rain in summer. That is why enough water supply used to be very important for us during winter to cultivate vegetables. Forget watering for our gardens, we even had drinking water problem. Now we hope that our water woes would be solved for good,” said Ugyen Lhamo, a resident.
“With the rise in population, the demand for water has grown for cultivation. However, with the help of the Tarayana Foundation under the guidance of Her Majesty the Queen Mother, the new tanks have come as a blessing for us,” said Leki Wangmo, another resident.
Sarpang Dzongda, Lobzang Dorji reminded the people on the need to take ownership of the new infrastructure.
“One of the pressing issues is lack of ownership of public infrastructure by the beneficiaries, which makes the government investment go to waste. Without proper care, the condition of the tanks will deteriorate after one to two years, which would mean your own hard work in constructing the tanks will count for nothing.”
The project is supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, BMUV’s International Climate Initiative at a cost of around Nu 1 M. The people of the community contributed labour during construction.
Karma Wangdi, Sarpang
Edited by Kipchu
