What does RTU do? - 6. Water Programme

Think of overseas aid and it probably won't be too long before you think of the provision of clean water through well-drilling programmes. The rains can be unreliable in the area of India covered by RTU, and in times of drought there can be very serious water shortages. Even when the rains don't fail, many people have to go long distances for water. Because it is often children who are given this task, school attendance is inevitably affected. It's no wonder, then, that RTU has an on-going commitment to improving access to clean water. Up to 70 wells are sunk annually, with a current total of over 2000 wells serving 400,000 people.

Two aspects of this work interest me. Firstly, Brother James is a skilled water dowser! Now, I am a highly sceptical person regarding such matters, but it's hard to argue with a 92% success rate in finding water where expected. No doubt this contributes to the remarkably low cost of installing a well of as little as £350. Aware that he won't be able to continue with this indefinitely, Brother James has trained a number of local people to dowse, so the programme won't become dependent on the skills of outsiders.

With a similar focus on empowerment and reducing dependence, the second area of interest for me is that a simple hand pump is usually installed on each well, with villagers given training to maintain it. This seems a perfect example to me of what RTU is so good at - long-distance thinking, rather than the creation of problems for the future through short-term crisis management.