By Laurel Groh | Sr. Communications Manager
As a result of this project, community members in Keelakarthigaipatti now get their water from three tubewells capped by handpumps. The members of the Village Water and Sanitation Committee know how to appropriately maintain the water system to reduce breakage. However should a pump need repairs, the committee has the capacity to make those repairs. Additionally, to further prevent diarrheal diseases throughout the community, each household constructed its own lowcost latrine. Families were able to chose the type of latrine they preferred and obtained loan funds from a local Women's Self-Help Group. The school also has its own sanitary block for children and for faculty.
Project Activities The Sustainable Health through Water and Sanitation Program in Keelakarthigaipatti was completed during the Spring of 2004. The project has demonstrated great success.
Since the start of the project, there has been a remarkable change in the village. As a result of the project, all houses have a toilet, and people no longer defecate in public. In fact, the village instituted a policy that would fine anyone caught defecating in the open in the village. Feces are no longer seen throughout the village, thereby reducing the incidence of water and food contamination. The people in the village now collect their water from working handpumps, and the run-off from the pump runs into a community garden, rather than stagnating as a home for mosquitoes. The garden is tended to by the children in the village, and the crops produced are sold to maintain the pumps and the garden. Many families have also started kitchen gardens which they water with their wastewater.
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