Water supply systemsBegagamana Water Supply SystemCurrent businessBegagamana, a village of 365 houses and about 1200 people is about 60 km inland from Ambalantota. This is a poor region, the countryside is dry and sparsely populated. The farmers of Begagamana practice shifting cultivation, cutting a new field every few years out of the local scrub, planting it and cultivating it until the soil is depleted and then moving on to allow the soil to recover. Until a few years ago, drinking water was supplied by weekly deliveries from a government tanker - 3 gallons per house per week. The only other source of water was a reservoir 5 km away, which people would walk to so they could wash and collect water for domestic needs. The village leaders decided that this was not acceptable. They wrote to a minister in the national government, asking him to help. As a result, and with the assistance of an Asian Development Bank (ADB) project, the government built a pipe from the reservoir to an overhead tank in the village, with taps going to each household, so long as the village contributed 20% of the cost - Rs3,500 per household ($35) plus 25 man-days of work. The local contributions and the management of the water supply system was the responsibility of Mr Mohinda, who now leads the community organization that oversees the project. Although he would not consider himself as an entrepreneur, Mr Mohinda is in effect running a community owned water supply company. Most of the households were able to raise the money. The remainder took out loans from local money-lenders at high interest rates or got grants from a local charity. The money was put into a fund, which is now kept in a bank, and used to pay the electricity bill, maintain the line and buy chemicals for purification of the water. The village organization also collects charges for the water supply, based on meters that have been placed at each tap. Work started in December 2005. By May 2006 the main pipeline and pumps were installed and the overhead tank completed. So far 150 households have been given taps, leaving 206 households without. But the project has hit problems. The pumps installed at the lake are not pumping enough water to fill the tank, so the village has stopped connecting more families to the water supply. People who paid Rs3,500 in 2005 are still not connected. The community organization has arranged for the pipe to be cleaned - perhaps it has become full of mud. Or perhaps the pumps are simply not big enough. Once the pipe is cleared, the community organization hopes that it can quickly connect up the remaining 206 houses, but some in the village are losing confidence. Future businessNow that the community has become organized, Mr Mohinda wants to develop. He says that there is a great need for agricultural credit in the village - at the moment farmers who need credit have to go to private money lenders who charge 20% per month. He says that this is more important than developing the water supply or starting sanitation projects. Mr Mohinda wants to lend the water fund to people in the village. This scheme could work, but it carries risks. The community organization does not have experience in lending and is not following some of the normal rules of MFIs, such as regular group meetings and external audits. The risk is that the lending does not go well, the fund being depleted and there being no money when the pumps need replacing Kurawella water supply systemCurrent business
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