Villagers of Xiaotong Village in Nashan Town of Jinggangshan City can now safely use tap water. [watercellar.cn]

Four female photographers from the China Women Photographers Association made a visit to areas in which the 'Water Cellar for Mothers' project and the 'School Safe Drinking Water' project have been implemented, in Jinggangshan City and Taihe County in east China's Jiangxi Province from June 7-9, 2014.

During the visit, the four photographers, who are all members of the council of the association, visited both villages with and without the projects, in order to make a comparison between the two, aimed at raising people's awareness on water-based issues in China's impoverished areas.

The visit, which was co-organized by the Jiangxi Province Women and Children's Foundation and Ji'an Women's Federation, aimed to enhance the promotion of the projects.

Water Cellar for Mothers

In order to help people in western China, especially women, to shake off poverty due to water shortages, the CWDF launched the 'Water Cellar for Mothers' project in 2001. The project intends to raise donations from across society to build concrete water cellars for people who suffer from serious water shortages in western China.

A water cellar measuring 36 cubic meters can collect a total of 50 to 80 cubic meter rainwater in a year. This amount of water can sufficiently provide for a family of three to five people for a whole year.

The 'Water Cellar for Mothers' project has expanded to southwestern provinces, benefiting more than a million people in 15 provinces, municipalities and regions, including Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Guangxi.

Up until the end of 2003, the "Water Cellar for Mothers" project had invested a special fund of 110 million yuan (U.S. $18 million). A total of 900,000 water cellars, and 1,070 small-scale water supply projects have been established.

Villagers of Jiangbian Village in Nashan Town of Jinggangshan City who can't use tap water have to wash clothes at the river. [watercellar.cn]

Safe drinking water is available to students of Luoxi Township Primary School in which the school safe drinking water project has been implemented in Taihe County. [watercellar.cn]

Students of Nangang Primary School in Taihe County, where the school safe drinking water project hasn't been implemented, can only get water from the only well in their school. [watercellar.cn]

(Source: watercellar.cn/ Translated and edited by Women of China)