The residents of Tashichhoeling Gewog in Samtse continue to face water shortage to this day. Of the five chiwogs in the Gewog, three are experiencing severe drinking water shortages. One of the severely affected villages in Tashichhoeling Gewog is beboteng locally called Belbotey. Almost every water tap in the village has run dry today. The water crisis in the village has led to some residents buying water.
They buy water from a tractor water tanker with a capacity of 6,000 litres which costs about Nu 5,000. Life has become difficult in the village.
“Especially during the times of lockdown, it was very challenging. There was no water supply and many tenants complained of water shortage. We could not go out and look for water,” said Namgay Dorji.
“I have about eight tenants living in my building. I am finding it very difficult to supply them with water. Forget about water for washing clothes and toilets, at times it becomes so difficult that we even fail to provide them with drinking water,” said Tashi Dorji.
“I do not have many tenants living in my apartment but I do have a lot of cattle that need to be fed water and washed frequently. Every day, I have to look for vehicles to fetch water from the nearby river areas,” said Tshering Gem.
Champa Ghalley who runs a parlour shop says without a good supply of water, it is challenging to provide good service.
“A few customers complain of poor service as we have to bring water in buckets from outside.”
The Tashichhoeling Drungkhag administration attributes the drying of the water source and the growing population in the drungkhag as the main reasons for the water shortage. Today, about 25,000 people are living in the drungkhag.
However, the drungkhag said that they are currently in the process of constructing a water tank at a new water source.
“To help solve the water issue hereby, we have started the works to construct a 150,000-litre capacity water tank. The drungkhag office along with the engineers has even given the works to a local contractor here. We plan to shift all the water pipelines to the source where there is enough water,” said the Tashichhoeling Gup Kuenzang Peljore.
Before this, the drungkhag spent nearly Nu 40 M for the construction of a new water line from Biruchhu. However, the project failed to provide safe drinking water to the gewog.
As such, the Tashichhoeling residents have been drinking water from the old water supply line of Sipsuchhu. Residents claim that this water is also unsafe for drinking but that they have no choice.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
