Water Well /Hands Pump (Building Resilience of Poor Communities to Water Scarcity in District Bajaur KPK Pakistan

Project Description

In Pakistan, more than 30 per cent of diseases and 40 per cent of deaths are linked to unclean water. The divide is also stark between rural and urban populations; up to 70 per cent of rural Pakistan has no access to clean water.

Bajaur has an extreme climate, with temperatures plunging below 0°C in December–January and reaching as high as 36°C in June–August. Summer lasts 6 months, from May to October, with temperatures from 23°C to 36°C. Winter and spring feature frequent rain, and average annual rainfall is about 738 mm. Dipping groundwater levels and the lack of long-term water planning have compounded struggles for people in tribal districts, specifically, in Bajaur district where people use unprotected sources of drinking water e.g. springs and streams. There is no concept of water treatment or chlorination even on the Government level. Therefore, people are forced to drink contaminated water. Gastroenteritis diseases are the common problem of this area. The main reason of the bacterial contamination seems open defecation in habitation areas and unprotected water storage tank and leaky pipelines of water supply schemes where exist.

Women staged a protest demonstration in Barang tehsil of Bajaur tribal district on Saturday against acute shortage of drinking water in the area.

Scores of women and their children marched from remote Kamal Dara village of Brang tehsil and gathered on the main Khar- Barang road, blocking it to traffic.

ANNEX 2 Completion Report

The participants of the protest, which is said to be the first such demo in the region held by women, chanted slogans against the lawmaker from the area and the administration for their silence over shortage of water in the area. (https://www.dawn.com/news/1491241)

Activities & Outputs

Establishment of Institutional Mechanism: Experienced staff was recruited and their capacity has been built on concept of the project, Hydro geologist services are taken from the panel, methodology and implementation of the project. A deliberate coordination is established with government officials and community stakeholders.
Rapid Situation Analysis (RSA): A baseline was developed based on Rapid Situation Analysis (RSA) to determine the gaps and needs of the most vulnerable communities/villages and feasibility (suitable and away from any contamination) for bore holes with hand pumps installation.
Consultative meeting with stakeholders: A consultative and reflective meetings were conducted with key stakeholders to encourage discussion regarding their role in the project. The community were sensitized to own the whole initiative right from its inception.

A total of 60 locations were identified among five Tehsil of the district during baseline survey of the vulnerable communities by field staff, in which the following below 54 locations were selected for water wells in consultation with local stakeholders and authorities after feasibility by Hydrogeologist Engineer. A construction firm was hired for the excavation of bore wells and installation of hand pumps. At each target location a fully functional hand pumps has been installed with 2.5-3 inches diameter bore-hole and 80-90 feet depth. The cemented washing pad of the hand pump is 5’ x 5’ with 10’-12’ raised from Natural surface level (NSL). UPVC pipe of diameter 1.5 inch is used for water suctions. A hand pump machine of five (5) feet length made of brass and IIL pipe is used.

End use of funds

On 29th October 2020, Kurram Welfare Home received the first instalment of 80% of the total fund. A total of 31774.8 US$ has been transferred by the MAUSA in Kurram Welfare Home account. The dollar exchange rate was 158.5 which make it 5036305 PKR, while the dollar exchange rate in proposal was 164.The cash difference occurred due to dollar exchange rate is 174762 PKR. Kurram Welfare Home spent a total of 39436 US$ budget out of 39756 US$.