Home 
Projects Websites Poverty and Environment Program
Community-based Water Management in Papua New Guinea Bathing, using a newly installed faucet On many small islands of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, land disputes, illegal logging, erosion of small islands, and reduction of groundwater availability have left many villagers with no access to safe water. Gastrorelated illnesses are common. A local, community-based water management project was carried out by the nongovernment organization Live and Learn in 16 villages around Kimbe Bay and the Vitu Islands to test the potential for a small-scale, bottom-up approach to the problem. First, the attitudes of villagers toward water quality were assessed as the basis for a subsequent large-scale education and awareness campaign to safeguard and monitor the quality of drinking water sources. The project helped the community in each village to build and maintain a communal, rainwater harvesting tank. Villagers were trained in the technology—ferrocement construction, which is relatively easy and inexpensive—and system maintenance.
The results were a sustainable source of drinking water to 302 families in a poor area and education of more than 11,000 people on water and sanitation issues and on how to manage all aspects of their water resources. The villagers who built the water tanks are now competent to train villagers in other communities. One community that received training has since acquired a fiberglass tank mold and the trainees are now building additional ferro-cement tanks in their own community. The project offered invaluable insights into the time and conditions needed to stimulate communities to act on an important issue; their attitudes to water, which differ from village to village; and the need for strong partnership between communities and government.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RSS Feeds
Top of page