Pakistan: CAFOD training helps village fix water supply

The worst floods in living memory hit the village of Basala in northern Pakistan in August 2010, destroying the system that supplied homes and schools with safe drinking water.

The floods caused such widespread damage that many people feared the water system would never work again. One villager remembers: “We saw the main pipe damaged by the landslide and water was flowing everywhere.”

After the earthquake: CAFOD training

It wasn’t the first time the pipe had been affected by a natural disaster: the earthquake of 2005, which killed nearly 75,000 people in Pakistan, had also cut off Basala’s water supply.

After the earthquake, we worked through our partner, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), to fix it – and also to train villagers how to carry out repairs in the future.

Thanks to that training, local people were able to identify the damage quickly when the flood struck. They dug out the broken pipe, and fixed the system within just five hours.

Well prepared

Fayyaz, the chair of the village’s Water Management Committee, says: “Today we are grateful that CRS equipped us with the operation and maintenance training and tool kit needed for a situation like this.”

Another Committee member said: “Thanks to this training, our community is inspired to take more ownership of the water supply.”

To prepare for future repairs, the Committee now collects a small fee from each household that has access to the water. This money is used to cover the costs of maintaining the system.

Lucy Morris, our Programme Officer for Pakistan, said: “When disaster strikes, it’s important to help people rebuild for the long term. No one wants another flood to come – but, if one does, Basala is well prepared.”

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