Success Stories

#10. Upshots of an agro-ecosystem on water

Situated on the banks of river Raavi, traces a small village called Phalora in the canton of Pathankot. Accounting to just 56 houses with 310 people in the settlement, the village majorly runs on the agricultural sector owing to the Raavi river situated 8km.

Formerly, The water facility in the village was from the water scheme of village Panjod but the issues persisted with supply of water, due to its distance of 3 km. Villagers used hand pumps, but the water was not potable upto 20-25 feet due to waterlogged and excessive usage of fertilisers in the agriculture area around the village. The residents faced a lot of difficulties due to lack of potable drinking water in the village. The villagers used to cover a distance of 3km everyday to fetch water from Klesar and Phoolpyara on foot, bicycles and motorcycles. Due to deficiency in the rainy seasons, the disease started spreading in the village due to lack of clean water leading to stagnant standard of living and increased expenses on healthcare. Gram Panchayat contacted Water supply and Sanitation department and Social and Technical team visited the village.

The Department of water supply and sanitation played a pivotal role in engineering the scheme and water supply through community participation. The Social and Technical data of the village was prepared by Block Resource Coordinator and Junior Engineer. The Gram Panchayat and the whole village were apprised of the features of the water supply scheme, formation of Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committee, collection of beneficiary share as per number of households, land donation for water works site by Gram Panchayat, roles, and responsibilities of GPWSC members and importance of water conservation. Various Seminars were organized at different times in the village to address issues related water supply scheme. These seminars were addressed by Executive Engineer and Sub Divisional Engineer. The village was bifurcated from village Pajod, and a new single village scheme was proposed and implemented with a financial assistance of Rs. 33.45 lakh under Rural Development Fund.

The villagers and specifically Gram Panchayat members felt that a lot of problems have been sorted with the water supply scheme. GPWSC thanked the team of Water Supply and Sanitation department Pathankot- 2 for their great perseverance and good work. The scheme was handed over to GPWSC on 01.12.2019.

Special Features of the Scheme was shared by GPWSC members.

1. With Water supply in our village, the water is from 107 meters deep. Earlier we used to drink 20 feet deep water.
2. Earlier the water was tested by the department from time to time, but now the water is tested by the villagers themselves by the FTK.
3. It does not take long to fix the leakages of water supply as it is rectified by the GPWSC by itself.
4. There is no need to store water due to uninterrupted 10 hours Water supply.
5. No water wastage and taps are installed and used as per requirement by the villagers.
6. Water bill is paid on time by the villagers.
7. Record of water supply is maintained properly.
8. Use the chlorination.
9. The economic condition of the scheme is very praiseworthy, the operation and maintenance account has a saving of Rs.53000/-

Initiatives to strengthen the financial and environmental sustainability are to be introduced like solar system to reduce the electricity bill.

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