The people of water-scarce Layshingri village of Dechhenling Gewog in Pema Gatshel still walk long distances to fetch water even to this day. Sometimes, they are compelled to drink rain water.
Most of them walk at least half an hour to reach the water source and another half an hour to get back home, carrying jerry cans on their back.
“This is how things were during our grandparents’ time and nothing has changed. The struggle continues to our time,” Sonam Tashi, a villager said. “The problem is half our time goes into fetching water and all the other works get affected.”
Namgay Wangmo, another villager, said she is tired of fetching water every single day. “It’s not an easy job,” she said. “Carrying water on your back every single day without fail is tiresome.”
On the worse days, particularly during monsoon, the villagers resort to drinking rain water. “The water becomes scarcer during monsoon and we have no choice but to rely on rain water,” Ngwang Tenzin said.
On the bright side though, the village is likely to receive water supply soon. The gewog administration is working on it.
According to gewog authorities, the Tarayana Foundation was supposed to build a water pump last year. But a team from GNHC that visited the village recently found the pump would be too small to supply adequate water to the entire village.
“The gewog administration was asked to submit a new proposal and to get the budget from the dzongkhag,” Dechhenling Gup Sonam Rinchen said.
“This work is not included in the gewog plan, but each gewog receives Nu 2 m from the Small Development Project (SDP) and we are going to use the SDP fund.”
The gewog hopes to be able to provide the village with water supply in the financial year 2018-2018.
The people of 18 households in Layshingri are looking forward to the day when they will no longer have to fetch water on their backs.
