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Photo: C Spurway for Mercy Corps
With the money raised from the first ever ‘Operation Silver Bullet’ Mercy Corps proposes to fund a drinking water project, ‘TRISHNA’ ( which means to quench ones thirst) in two tea garden communities of Marybong and Gairee Gaon in Darjeeling India. This project will provide an abundant quantity of clean drinking water to 450 community members all year long.
TRISHNA 2010
Mercy Corps has been working on tea estates in Darjeeling since 2003 through the Community Health and Advancement Initiative (CHAI). Through CHAI, Mercy Corps is working to improve the lives and opportunities of thousands of tea workers, their families and nearby communities. Marybong Gaon and Gairee Gaon are two tea communities within the Marybong Tea Estate, with 85 households and an approximate population of 450 people. During the initial assessment of the communities needs two years ago, potable water was identified as one of the key problems, however because of limited resources; Mercy Corps was unable to address it.
Photo: mercycorps
Problems faced by the communities
Water Borne Diseases: Poor quality and acute water shortage has been identified as the main cause for the high incidences of water borne diseases in the region, in a recent Mercy Corps survey, 50.12% of members from the two communities suffered from water borne diseases.
Community Tensions: the water shortage during the dry season (between May and December) often causes tensions between the two communities as they currently have to share one collection point.
Additional problems identified include, a high level of unemployment, domestic violence and alcoholism.
Current Water System
The community of Marybong Gaon is located below the Tea Garden Factory and relies solely on a nearby stream for their water. The stream is at a lower elevation than the community and it takes 40 minutes to walk to the water source, which consists of an old concrete collection tank. Since the tank is fitted with a single tap, the queue of women and children begins to emerge around 3 am every morning.
Gairee Gaon is located about a 5 minute walk down the hill from the main high way connecting the area to the rest of Darjeeling. There are three streams which the villagers depend on for water, and during the dry season (December-May) there is an acute shortage of water. Those that can afford plastic pipes can transport water to their homes, and these households share the available water. However the water is highly contaminated and as a result there is an extremely high rate of water borne diseases in this community.
Photo: C Spurway
Next steps…
Mercy Corps has been working in these communities for two years and has a strong community presence and a solid relationship with the tea management team.
Our plan is to harvest the water source approximately 3.5 km from the communities. We will set up a water distribution system which will have 20 water points that will be gravity fed into the distribution system. This new system will be able to fulfill the daily water requirement of 126 litres per person.
Mercy Corps will also establish a water user’s association which will comprise of community members who will be responsible for establishing a comprehensive maintenance plan and implementing it once the project is complete.
Key Benefits:
- Reduction in water borne diseases, including diarrhoea and dysentery.
- Fewer work days lost due to improved health, thus increasing household incomes.
- Raising awareness of Darjeeling tea estates owners to the socio-economic benefits of portable water projects.
- Easy access to water will improve personal hygiene, cleanliness of kitchen utensils, laundry, food, latrines, and the general household will have an improved quality of life.
- Time saved from not having to walk and carry water from water points, primarily woman and children, will allow better time utilisation.
- Conflict at water points during the dry season will be eliminated.
- Linking the Mercy Corps’ latrine construction and health programmes will increase the health impacts for both communities.
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