THE report on the Dudi Water Catchment Project in the South Fly region of Western Province was released in May this year.
The Household Impact Evaluation Study Report (May 2019) was collated by the OTDF Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) desk. Coordinator, Cameron Kati said the objective of this study was to determine the extent to which the water catchment project has increased the availability of clean and safe drinking water while reducing the occurrence of water-borne diseases in the region.
It took two years to construct a total of 38 water catchment buildings with 152 tanks (9,000 litre) installed in 15 villages of Dudi Trust region in 2014. The project facilities serve the 14,992 community residents (National Statistics Office (NSO), 2012).
The analyzed data were used to determine the improvement of water supply, health and hygiene practices and reduction of water-borne and sanitation diseases in the rural and remote areas.
A total of seven recommendations were identified as key findings based on the feedback from the communities; Key Findings.
- Increase the awareness programs on proper water use and practices to improve health and hygiene.
- Every household should own larger containers to store abundant rainwater in attempts to solve the water shortage issue during long dry weather periods.
- Apart from the establishment of water catchment projects, there should be a concerted effort by OTDF staff and health practitioners to visit the water project facilities annually to monitor the water quality and advice the people on the importance of its sustainability.
4.Future water supply projects should include community capacity and capability plans on how to manage, finance and maintain the sustainability of water catchment facilities through ownership and the strengthened community participation.
- There is a need for an inspection of all water catchment facilities in the 15 villagers of Dudi Trust region to determine the extent of deterioration of infrastructure and cost of maintenance.
- Further investigations should be conducted on other options of supplying clean water throughout the dry period.
- A post-evaluation of the South Fly Water Catchment project, covering Dudi Trust, Manawete, Trust and Kiwaba Trust is required to gain a more complete overview of the impact and associated issues, concerns and outcomes of this intervention.
The South Fly Water Catchment project was approved at a cost of K16.7 million for Manawete, Kiwaba and Dudi trusts for 50 villages, representing 32% of the 158 CMCA villages.