Every year, starting from the beginning of winter and lasting for about six months, water shortages had been a county-wide problem in Wangmo, in the karst region of Guizhou. “During dry seasons in the past,” said Chen Huade, a villager in Nonglin,

a programme site of PCD, “a lot of villagers lined up to fetch water in the daytime. In the evening, we had to walk holding a torch for more than one kilometer to other villages to fetch water.” Since villagers had difficulty raising funds and lacked experience in building and managing a public water supply system, they had been living without a sufficient water supply for many years. In 2003, with the support of PCD, the village leader of Xiapai convened a meeting with village representatives in the area to discuss the design and construction of a new water system, the coordination of the work, and the management. They discussed many details, including site selection, the volume of the water tank, design, the route of water from the source to the site, and labour input. A team was established to take charge of the construction, and a team leader organized villagers to contribute labour. Members knowing how to lay stones and grout were selected to be project technicians. Upon completion, the team members met again to set up a management system and elected villagers to manage the water system. The team leader also disclosed the details of how building materials were to be used. Thus, an 84 cubic-meter drinking water system for people and for livestock was built by Chongpai villagers and their water problem was solved.

Ran Chongming, an elderly villager of Chongpai, said happily, “In the past, it was far too hard for elders like me to fetch drinking water during the dry season. We needed to spend about three hours at the old water tank, fetching water little by little with a dipper in order to collect only two buckets of water. The women had to work even harder; they needed water for the pigs and cows, too. They spent time during the day to get water from outside the village, and at night, also walked for more water. It is much better now. All of the households in Chongpai have running water, and we no longer need to spare labour every day just for fetching water. Before, we needed to buy two batteries for the torch every month, and we can save that money now.”

The experience of Chongpai in designing, implementing and managing the water system was replicated by other villages. In 2005, needs assessments were conducted in the communities of Zushan, Pingxiang and Naba. Villagers in these three communities all decided that water tanks were to be built. The design, construction, and management of water tanks were facilitated by the project implementation teams of the villages. Tasks were divided among team members. There was a team leader, technical supervisor, fund-using supervisor, and a finance person. The team leader was responsible for the overall project coordination.

The water tanks of Chongpai and other three villages have been operating smoothly. The management system is also working fine, and villagers are actively participating in managing the water systems. All these structures ensure that villagers can resolve their water shortage problems in the short term, and problems concerning water resource management in the long run. In the process of monitoring and evaluation, we have observed that getting villagers to organize themselves to manage water resources in their own communities is definitely a successful and effective approach to sustainable water resource management.

(written by: Xiang Hua, Integrated Rural Development Centre of Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences)