Water from UN for Harmony

Usniye Seitosmanova, shown in the photograph, after returning from the place of deportation, built with her family a house in the hamlet of Kamenka and for nine years has been using water which was delivered there from somewhere else. It was very inconvenient: they brought water only twice a week, and it was not enough. Today, the inhabitants of the settlement are having a holiday: under a UN program, a waterworks was built for them, and now their needs are fully satisfied.

The UN has been implementing its Crimean Integration and Development Program since 1996. Its purpose, according to CIDP staff, is to assist the Ukrainian government in preserving peace and security in the Crimea by supporting the peaceful integration of formerly deported peoples. This above all means assistance in improving basic living conditions for the returnees, satisfying their needs regarding health protection, education, sanitation, public utilities, and economic activities. In Crimean Tatar resettlement areas the UN has helped to build schools, medical centers, and now the time has come for water supply. Water lines and pumping stations are being installed for eight settlements with a total of 16,000 people: Bile, Kamenka, Khoshkeldy, Akropolis, Ai-Kavan, et. al. In 1996 and 1997 the CIDP built a 1,100 meter long water line with a network of 1.6 kilometer long branches supplying water to the residents of this area. Then a 4,080 meter sluice was installed, and a pumping station with two pumps. The project is funded by the Swiss government, which provided $750,000, and the Republic Committee for Nationalities $80,000.

The station in a settlement near Simferopol was officially opened by Resident Coordinator of the UN Development Project Program in Ukraine Pedro Pablo Villanueva together with Coordinator of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Ukraine Georgio Fontana and Deputy Chairman of the local Integration Society Elvira Bekayeva.