 
(see more photos at Photo Gallery and on the Friends of
Thailand site here) WATER/SANITATION PROJECT
Water problems in remote
hilltribe communities
Remote villages in the areas we serve along the border
between Thailand and Myanmar frequently have insufficient clean water to provide for the daily requirements of
cooking and basic personal hygiene.
The
nearest water source is often some kilometres away, and water has to
be fetched on foot. Where villages do have a water piped from a stream,
the supply is often soon insufficient for the increased population caused by new refugees
arriving from across the border.
Sometimes the only water available is contaminated with mud, and has to
be boiled before it is safe to drink - or expensive filtered water has
to be brought from town.
These factors result in high levels of skin disease, water-borne
diseases and well as dehydration.
Toilet/Sanitation problems
Basic toilet facilities are often lacking, and
villagers - particularly the most recent refugees - are forced
to use nearby woods and streams. This creates a very obvious E Coli health
hazard from the accumulated bacteria in human waste, particularly when combined with a shortage of
running water for personal cleanliness.
Our projects
Our project offers a number of solutions to these problems:
-
Piping for water transport: for
villages which have insufficient access to clean water from nearby streams, we
assist by providing additional pipes to transport sufficient water. Last
year, we provided 6.1km (3.8 miles) of piping to increase the supply to
villages
-
Water storage tanks: for villages
which cannot store enough water to meet morning and evening needs, we provide
water tanks to enable sufficient water to be stored. Last year, we
provided tanks for three new villages serving over 500
villagers.
-
Water filters: where water is not
drinkable, we supply materials and technical training to allow either
individual household or village-size slow sand filters. We provided 39
homes with materials and training to make simple filters to allow
them to use muddy groundwater for household
purposes.
-
Simple toilet rooms: for families
who do not have access to simple toilets, we provide the materials for
families to build a simple breeze block/bamboo room, linked to a lined
soakaway pit, as well as piping into the room for washing away the waste and
hand-washing. Last year, we provided sufficient materials for 160 families
to build their own toilets.
Future plans
We have identified further needs among the 40 villages we serve as follows:
We are actively seeking funding of 2m Thai Baht
(US$60,000) to allow us to assist these villages during 2009.
Donors
We gratefully acknowledge funding from Friend of
Thailand (a US group formed mainly of returned Peace Corps volunteers) and many
private donors to enable us to carry out work in this area. We would also like
to thank groups of volunteers (including International Student Volunteers, Inc)
who gave their time as well as donating materials to
assist villagers with the construction of some of these facilities. | 
