Villagers tap the rain

TLOGAWATU, Indonesia, 18 August 2008 – On the eastern slopes of Mount Merapi, a sacred, active volcano on the island of Java, change is about to come with the next rainfall.

Men from all across the village of Tlogawatu are pouring concrete into a blue cylindrical mould behind the house of a villager named Paimo. The mysterious shape is a rainwater cistern. As it fills up during the wet season, this ‘catchment’ will provide Paimo’s family with a year-round source of water.

With support from UNICEF, most of the other houses in the village will also soon receive catchments.

‘Water every second of the day’
Down the road, another villager, Tutik, is expecting to begin using her new water system soon. Until now, she and her family have relied on an open tank, in which the water was often dirty and unusable.

Tlogawatu’s dry season, which can last half the year, leaves villagers’ wells and most local water sources dry, forcing Tutik and most of her neighbours to pay for water to be trucked up from Yogyakarta, in the valley below. Her catchment needs only a few final adjustments before it will go into service.

“We have more water in storage now, and it’s more hygienic and healthier for consumption,” said Tutik. “We can have water for showers and for washing. Without UNICEF’s water programme, we used to shower only once in two days and wash dishes once in three days. But now, we can have water every second of the day.”

Sanitation in quake zone
Building these catchments is part of a UNICEF effort to improve the water and sanitation situation in a region still recovering from a major earthquake in May 2006.