For Bimal Samanta, 45, reliable access to safe water is a new reality. For as long as he can remember he walked 3 kilometers every day to fetch water. And his sons grew up with summers spent hauling water, and rainy seasons marked by knee-deep mud and submerged wells.
“The struggle for water was our life,” he explains. “My wife and I grew up and got married under the same struggle.”
In 2015 Water For People teamed up with the local government to rehabilitate the broken tube well in his community with a lifted platform to prevent flooding. Today it is the primary water source for over 160 people.
“This water source is our lifeline,” Samanta says. “Now, we can confidently think about our economic development without the headache of safe and accessible purified drinking water, free of water-borne diseases.”
Samanta is so committed to making safe water a reality for everyone, he decided to join the water committee to help maintain the waterpoint and collect tariffs. Even though the committee is still quite new (it was founded in May 2015,) they are already collecting a monthly tariff of 2 rupees from each household. “Each and every member of our committee is committed to protecting the water point forever,” he says. “So that our grandsons and daughters don’t face the same problems we did.”
For Samanta, investing in safe water means investing in a brighter future. “I think the next generation is safe, and with the assurance of purified accessible drinking water, they can grow up and achieve a life worthy of living.”
