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On February 10, 2006, a regional round table “Innovative methods to solve water supply and sanitation problems” was held in Donetsk to present the results of the water supply project in Odessa oblast and the watercourse decontamination project in Kyiv oblast implemented with the financial support of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The round table put together the project implementers, Institute for Rural Development experts, and representatives from Donetsk, Kyiv and Odesa oblast advisory services that provide assistance to rural communities in solving numerous problems related both to rural livelihoods and environmental issues. The round table was attended by local authorities, rural community facilities’ managers interested in similar solutions, representatives from NGOs taking up ecological problems, and journalists.
The round table aimed at dissemination of successful experience gained by rural communities in Kyiv and Odesa oblasts where some had untertaken river decontamination and others had cleared and equipped a well for establishing a water supply system. Polluted environment, missing or insufficient water supply is a common problem for many regions in Ukraine. The Donetsk oblast is no exception with its 130 settlements without water. Not without reason, opening the session, Tetyana Brivko, Head of Donetsk Agrarian Advisory Service, said “We gathered here today in order to make acquainted with successful experience of implementation of water supply and small river purification projects. We know very well how painful these problems are in the rural areas and how much depends on availability of good drinking water.”
In the course of a lively discussion the participants came to the agreement that a lot of problems can be solved through joint efforts.”People should raise painful questions and press for their settlement, try to knock at officials’doors”, confirmed Serhiy Chernyshov, Deputy Head of Oblast Department for Melioration and Water Resources. It is possible to achieve the goal when a community has a good leader capable of steering all those interested in their community development. Such leaders should be found, trained and supported. This is the purpose of such projects.
All the participants agreed that the project model of rural community utilities is sustainable and can be replicated subject to favourable conditions, and these depend on every rural dweller.
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