Make it so for communities in Australia and Asia

Water supply project brings water to a remote community

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Australia work with disadvantaged communities in Australia and Asia to improve their quality of life through sustainable and appropriate engineering projects.

The Tenganan Water Supply Project is an example of EWB working to make it so communities have appropriate access to the resources, technology and knowledge necessary to meet their own self-identified needs.

Tenganan is a community of 4000 people in the poor and dry region of eastern Bali, Indonesia. In each of the five sub-communities within Tenganan there are problems with the quantity and quality of clean water available to the community. During the dry season there is insufficient water for people to wash with every day often leading to skin disease. Most people spend several hours every day fetching water in these circumstances.

Identified by the Tenganan community, the Tenganan Water Supply project is improving the quantity and quality of water delivered to the people living in the community. This is a unique development project in which the Tenganan people have identified their own needs and developed their own conceptual solution to the problem.

Many EWB volunteers have assisted in the design and implementation of this project. Currently, a water distribution pipeline has been commissioned and EWB volunteers and community members are now working on increasing the amount of water entering the system.

Adequate water quantity and quality will have many positive outcomes for the community, including: health improvements (especially in infants and children); increased community sanitation practices; and increased time available for women and children who no longer have to trek for two hours, twice a day, to fetch water, which means the children can stay in school and women are able to participate in income-generating activities.