Water For Farming | Photo Story | Muskan Pudasainee

Many people in Charikot face a scarcity of drinking water as there is no direct water pipeline to their house.

They claim that the earthquake of 2072B.S. destroyed the pipeline and they are suffering its consequences. People there travel hours to fetch water for their household chores.

One of the residents at Charikot, Siddhibahadur Karki, is facing the problem too. This is his story on how he is managing the drinking water problem and how ‘Community Development Forum Nepal’ (CDF), Charikot is helping solve their current problem.

My name is Siddhibahadur Karki. I am 62 years old. I have a wife named Himkumari Karki, 4 daughters and 2 sons named Shanta Karki, Sita Karki, Swosthani Karki, Ujeli Karki, Baburam Karki, and Rajan Karki. Among them two of them are unmarried. However, none of them are with us right now as some of them live in Kathmandu with their family while some of them are in Charikot.

We have a huge scarcity of drinking water in our village. We have been facing this problem for many years now. Soon after the devastating earthquake of 2072 B.S., every possible water source got dislocated which was in access to us. Now that there is no access to drinking water, I and my wife have to travel for 1 hour every day (way and back) to get water.

 

Since the actual water source is around 2 hours far from our village, we are compelled to fetching water from our neighboring community’s pipeline. They bought their own pipeline, connected it to the source “Sanachaur Jitpur” and are drinking water directly from the source. Since we have to walk around two hours for the water which is the longest route, we chose the nearest possible supply. The source doesn’t belong to us, as a result, we sometimes get scolded/blamed for using the pipeline of another community as it disturbs their supply routine. Now, it’s been many years since I am using other’s sources of water to sustain our lives. I feel that water is safe for drinking. It’s true that sometimes we catch a cold as we have to carry water even in rainy seasons. Our life here is difficult.

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I carry as much water as I can when I go there. The pipeline water source is far and it’s not possible to go there frequently on an hourly basis. I usually carry Gagri(metal pot to carry water), water bottles, and small cans at one time. I have to walk in heavy rains, pass through dangerous slippery roads. I have slipped, fell, and injured myself many times throughout this process.

I am now growing old. I don’t have the same energy to walk those distances and carry water regularly. I wish I had a tap in my compound. It would have been far easier for me and my wife to work on our farm as well. As we don’t have adequate water for irrigation, it’s really hard to work on a farm. The struggle is real and sometimes unbearable.

I have to feed highly turbid water from the river to my cows because it’s not possible to feed the same water we drink as it’s not adequate.

We have very fertile land here in Katakuti. As agriculture is our only source of income I want to invest my time and money in agriculture till the day I die. If only I had a tap in my house it would be much convenient for us. We would have so much time to invest in agriculture. Now that I know CDF Nepal just conducted a survey of water supply schemes in our area I have very much excited and hopeful about getting a tap in my house.

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I am ready to give my full support to CDF for this project.

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