Project Proposals

Potable Water & Environmental Protection for Lurixi Tibetan Community Project Manager: Gadouzhuoma (Lillian) protect and reinforce the villages water resources. Build a wire netting fence to encircle the water source and plant small trees as a secondary barrier to avoid destruction from humans and animals. Reinforce irrigation ditches. Funds needed: $7,923   (61,350 rmb) The Shambala Connection funded this project

Project Goals:
The overarching goal of the project is to establish a well protected potable water resource for villagers and a religious center.
The immediate goal of the project is to create a protective barrier of trees and fencing around the water source, and reinforce the existing irrigation ditches on each side of the river with 250m of concrete.

Problems:
An unstable water source used by 309 people, in two villages, and 500 livestock. The stream that is traditionally used for drinking is seasonally unstable. During the winters of 2002, 2003, 2004 this sacred stream dried up and women and children had to fetch drinking water from sources at least 5km away. During the freezing winters this trip takes 2 hours each way. There are five major causes for this problem:

Deforestation makes the water supply unstable. It has been prohibited to cut down trees in this area since 1998, though before that people used to cut trees for sale in order to generate cash. However, after the prohibition people have continued to cut down trees in secret, in order to make money. There are no other natural resources villagers can depend on to generate income, so they resort to cutting trees. To improve their living conditions villagers have ignored the daily deterioration of the environment, even though they know they are on a path that leads to destruction. It will no longer be possible for the younger generations to continue a life their parents had. The surrounding 6 villages have also followed these changes.

The irrigation ditches that are dug in soil lose water quickly and are often stagnant. Since there are no stable ditches along the stream people use dirt and stones to build ditches. However, livestock often destroy these ditches and water flows everywhere. The decreased power of the stream has caused the water-powered prayer wheels to stop turning and the water supply is no longer stable, even in the summer time when there is plenty of rainfall. The stream regularly dries up in the winter.

The worn-out fence used to protect the water source is in a bad condition and unable to prevent pollution and destruction. There used to be a fence that protected the water source, built a long time ago by villagers. It was constructed with wood pillars and thin wire, but outside visitors and livestock oft en ran into the fence - not only damaging the original ecosystem but also seriously polluting the water source. Since the villagers have a very constrained income, people have no money to repair and improve the damaged fence.

Lack of awareness of the importance of the environment. Three years of the water source drying up in the winter has made people in the area afraid and has caused big problems for women and children who need to fetch water. However, the awareness doesn't last long since poor living conditions make them reluctant to face reality. They have no ability, at present, to guarantee access to a water resource free from pollution and destruction.

Lack of money makes the drinking water supply unsustainable. Most of villagers' annual income depends entirely on selling extra grain, some livestock and unskilled labor which at most earns them about 150 rmb per person per year. The main method of making a living relies on non-irrigated farmland, which depends heavily on the weather. Most families work hard in the field only to get enough food to eat; and some don't even grow enough to eat and end up spending money on food. The main crops are wheat, barley, potato, rape, and beans - using about 2 mu of field per person. There is no extra money for them to put towards changes in their current living condition, although they think it is important. People realize that one day they'll be in danger losing their drinking water, but they can do nothing without the income required to make a change.

For the period of time when the water is dried out during winter, women and children, especially female children, are heavily loaded with the task of fetching water from distant areas, 2 hours for a single trip. This greatly affects female children in their studies since they spend a lot of time fetching water in the freezing winter. Female students do poorly in school not because they lack the ability, but because they have no time to study.

Among the 309 people, in Changguo Village there are about 142 that drink from the same stream. When the stream dries out, they fetch water from Luqu River. People in upper areas along the Luqu River have a practice where they throw dead bodies and dead animals into the river and also wash their clothes there. This has caused many people in Changguo Village to become ill. Some people get swollen necks and some get stomachaches. Also, locals believe that this water is causing brain problems in some local children, affecting approximately 8 children so far.

The Sacred Stream is a habitat for small giant salamanders. In this area, people collect them when they are in the minnow stage and believe swallowing them will solve people and livestock's physical problems, such as broken bones and stomach illnesses. The pharmaceutical aspect of the stream benefits both people and livestock. It is believed strongly that this Sacred Stream can cure illnesses related to eyes, stomach and skin diseases. Both now and in the past, numerous people from surrounding areas and faraway places like Qinghai and Sichuan have come to wash their bodies and drink the water in order to solve their physical problems. If the water dries out, then the special species of salamander that live sin this river will be endangered.

Solutions
To protect and reinforce the villages water resources

•  Water origin: create a protective barrier around the water source. We plan to build a 450m long wire netting fence that will circle the water source and plant 1350 small trees as a secondary barrier to avoid destruction from both humans and animals. This will keep the water source in a healthy condition. (The water origin is a place covered with some trees and there are many small springs, they all flow together and flow down to make this local stream, and this is not the place where people fetch water, but this place is important if it is protected to avoid pollution for the main local stream, where people fetch water).

•  Reinforce the existing dirt irrigation ditches. Build two 250m wide irrigation ditches lined with concrete on the each side of the stream. This will protect the salamander habitat and at the same time increase the strength of the river by preventing water from escaping. This way, more water the water-powered prayer wheels will turn and the stream won't dry up in the cold season. More water will also protect rare animals like the giant salamanders and give them a space to survive. This will preserve local cultural traditions and help those villagers using the salamanders as medicine for livestock when they get sick.

Through the two activities above, villagers can expect to recover the environmental health of this area and have the stream flow year-round. Also, people will continue to benefit from the existence of the stream.

Benefits:

1. Provide potable and sustainable drinking water for 309 people and livestock, the water will be reliable and clean so that people won't get diseases from drinking.
2. Release women and children from their unnecessary burden of fetching water from faraway places if the river is dried up.
3. Provide children, especially female students, more time for their study since they are released from work. We can imagine that if they had to fetch water during the winter and walk for long distances it could be a heavy burden.
4. Pollution and destruction will no longer threaten the water source and make it unreliable or unstable.
5. People from everywhere can come to cure illnesses by washing in the sacred stream.
6. People will think protect ing the environment is for their own benefit. It will also raise the local people's awareness of protecting their own land, as well as nearby villages.
7. With this sacred stream sustainable, salamanders could inhabit and the respect and beliefs for the stream continues, so it will bring continuously pilgrimages constantly and solve local people and livestock's health-related problems.

Interview 1
Lhamotso (b.1954) is a 52 year-old woman from Lurixi Village, who married into this village when she was 17 years old. She said, “This village used to be the central place of this area and people would gather together to chant scriptures and discuss some big events taking place in the area, helping each village to provide suggestions. There was no problem with the drinking water and we had lived on this water for many generations, but since we started to cut trees to sell it has declined. Although we made some money to buy TVs and tractors, the stream we were drinking from became smaller and smaller. Some century-old trees fell down without any reason and died out. The Lhama said it is because we hurt the stream and put pollution into it. Three years ago, we had to go to faraway places with our children to fetch water during the freezing winter. You could never imagine how cold those winters were and the children were so miserable and some got chilblains on their hands. Tibetan women always have more disadvantages than the men in many ways.”

Interview 2
Kaka (b.1946) an old man from Changguo Village said that he used to drink from Luqu River when he was young. “Many people got sick and got big tumors on their necks. Later they tried to fetch water from a sacred stream from a nearby village, and the number of people with diseases decreased. However, it was not very reliable in the summer or winter. It was often the case that there was no water in the stream during winter; so we had to go to very faraway places or just continue to fetch water from Luqu River. If we had time we would go faraway, but when we are busy we would have to drink water from Luqu River. In the winter, fetching water is very difficult and the road is slippery. My wife and daughter always had to go and it took them more than 2 hour each trip. We men seldom go, if you have no female members in your family, then you may go. Otherwise, we would rather stay at home.”

Gender equality
It's a common knowledge around Tibetan communities that women and children are the people with no power and many disadvantages. This is the case here in these two target villages. Women have to do most of the farm work, family chores, and raise children as well as fetch water and collect fuel. According to the villagers, during the winters of 2002, 2003 and 2004, this sacred stream dried up and the women and children had to fetch drinking water from places at least 5km away. It took 2 hours for a single journey during the freezing winter. Whenever this stream dries up the women had to take on extra work. Families with good conditions would use livestock to carry water but the families without livestock would have to carry two buckets full of water on their shoulders. This project can release women from unexpected and unnecessary burdens. Of course women will be the main beneficiaries of this project and it will be very welcome. Women will participate in all level of project implementation, collecting local contributions, and providing unskilled labor alongside local men during construction. This project will give the project manager practical and real training on doing research in local area, observing living conditions and organizing local villagers such that project implementation is successful. It is such a large project that its implementation will hopefully cause local people to think about females in a different way, maybe reducing some of their old prejudices against females.

Governmental support:
The project manager met with the township leader, Libum, and he agreed that the project would be wonderful for the community and offered his support

The steps of the project
Step 1. Got ideas from local people and gathered information on their conditions and needs through community meetings. Chose 6 people, including two local women, to form a local project committee responsible for sustainability.
Step 2. Collected information from experts and experienced workers about the workers salaries, project design and potential risks .
Step 3. Went to the local market to visit several businesses and ask about the prices of different items and materials.
Step 4. Took pictures of site and the places where the project is planned to take place, interviewed some of people who will benefit from the project.
Step 5. Wrote budget and project proposal.
The above 5 steps are completed already.
If the project is funded
Step 6. Implementation of the project.
1) Choose a reliable company from which to purchase construction materials and sign a contract which guarantees quality.
2) Buy materials with the local project committee and villagers and deliver them to the project site. Prepare villagers for upcoming work and responsibilities.
3) Make a detailed and organized working schedule for the whole project to make sure it is finished on time.
4) Begin Construction:
There are three main activities in this project:
a) Put wire nettings around the newly bought steel pillars to encircle the water source. This needs 450m of wire and 150 steel pillars.
b) Inside the newly built fence, plant small trees to form a second barrier to avoid destruction from both human and animals.
c) Reinforce the irrigation ditches at each side of the stream with concrete. As the original ditch is made out of soil but it was easily destroyed so we want to build a strong ditch along the sacred stream for about 250m.
Step 7. Take pictures and make a plaque acknowledging the donor's contribution.
Step 8. Interview some of the beneficiaries and gather some information to measure the effectiveness of the project on people's lives. How it changed people's living conditions and their attitudes and understandings.
Step 9. Write a detailed project final report including thank you letters, photos, interviews, project activities and report of the benefits of the project.
Step 10. Submit the final report with photos and receipts.

Timeframe
This project will be completed within two months as the most.

Detailed Budget:
Donor Contribution

Local Contribution

Sustainability
The earlier ideas of this project came from local people about two years ago, when village elders mentioned that they really need such a project to be supported. From February of 2006, I started gathering information and photographs that might help inform the donors. In May of 2006, I visited local markets to find out reliable prices for the materials that must be purchased. I asked different skilled workers about the money that would have to be paid, asked the villagers what has to be done to complete this project, what are the local contributions and local involvement that could be promised. I asked what are the potential risks and the predictable project influences and effects and how important this project will be to the people who will benefit from it. Combining all the suggestions and information, this proposal was developed based upon actual local people's needs and requests. I speak on behalf of my local villagers.

This is project is sustainable, since it is related to water and the local beneficiary villagers have formed a committee that will manage the project and be responsible for the further maintenance.

The donors are expected to reserve the right to visit and inspect projects at any time. The village project committee, as well as the local villagers and I will be responsible for maintaining the project after it has been implemented. If there are any unexpected costs or expenses for repairs, the villagers and villager leader agreed to pay for it.

Additional Information:
This project must be implemented in summer when it is easy to do construction and the weather is good but also before the busy harvesting period. It is impossible to do this project in the winter since the weather is cold. The project must be completed at one time, not in several installments, so we need a block of two months time when the weather is good and the villagers are available to donate their labor.

Additional information for the manager, Gadouzhuoma (Lillian) 2003—applied 25 solar cookers from Canada Fund 2003 Solar Energy Project managed by Fred.
2004—applied 120 solar cookers from Canada Fund 2004-2005 Solar Energy Project
Worked as a co-manger on Canada Fund 2004-2005 Solar Energy Project with two other students, the project is valued at 420,000RMB
2005--- applied 156 solar cookers from the Canada Fund 2005-2006 Solar Energy Project.
Worked as the manager of Canada Fund 2005-2006 Solar Energy Project. The project is valued at 420,000RMB.
2002-2006--- I have completed six second-hand clothes projects to six different rural Tibetan communities in Gannan Prefecture of Gansu Province.

Photos :

This is an ineffectual fence that was built long ago by villagers, but it now does not prevent the incursion of animals and people from entering. This contributes to the pollution of the water source. Moreover, since 1998 it has been impossible for people to find enough wood to construct it again, because the policy to protect the forests prevents people from getting wood from the forest.

This temple is located beside the Sacred Stream, and it is about 600 hundred years old. This temple was rebuilt during 1996 before the forest prohibition, and the villagers provided most of wood needed for this construction and now it is impossible for them to do the same thing. This village is well known for both the temple and sacred stream.


The dried up source of the sacred stream during a summer when the rainfall is plentiful but it still remained dry. There are several water sources for this sacred stream and, although people built fences around them, this still has not stopped livestock and people entering to pollute the river



The original ditch is mainly constructed with stones and soil, that it cannot gather all water together to turn the water-powered prayer wheels.

Diagrams
General Picture of Lurixi Village and Two Parts of the Project:
1. Rebuild the fence and plant small trees around the river's source to avoid pollution and destruction by livestock and people.
2. Build ditches along the sacred stream to make the water supply sustainable.

Ditch Construction:


Lurixi Village Map and Location :



Map of Zhuoni County, Gannan Tibetan Prefecture, Gansu Province.
This map shows the general location of where this project will take place. The yellow is Gansu province, and on the west side of the portion shown here is Luqu.