Since its completion in 2016, the water reservoir at Tigawasa Village has been giving positive impacts to the life of over 900 villagers and more than 200 students of Tigawasa school.

Prior to the construction of the reservoir, the villagers had to queue up for two to three hours, sometimes since as early as 3:00 AM to collect a few gallons of water from the natural spring. The water was used primarily for bathing, cooking, and washing their clothes and dishes. The extremely time-consuming process of gathering the water made it difficult for the villagers to manage their productive time efficiently. The children’s clothing, including their school uniforms, had to be sparingly laundered that had impacted their general hygiene.

Thanks to GCF project of building the reservoir. Things have dramatically changed in the last 5 years.  There is no more queueing for the water collection – even at the most crowded moment; everyone is guaranteed to have their gallons filled within 10 minutes. The village’s craftsmen & women could manage their time between farming and weaving bamboo baskets more efficiently – boosting the production rate of their traditional crafts by almost 20%.

The overall benefit given by the reservoir covers both hygiene, economic, and cultural aspects of this village for which the villagers remain grateful to this day. While they still maintain their spiritual belief of not allowing the water from this holy spring to be mechanically pumped toward the village center, there is a new opportunity that arises. The village has just discovered a new spring – one mile away from the existing one, in a more remote location. They are planning to construct a similar reservoir that would provide the water for about 100 families in this more secluded section of the village.