Homes to benefit from Borehole Grant Scheme

Aidan Campbell, Policy Officer with RCN, said “When DRD officials asked our opinion on this scheme last year we suggested that they needed to talk directly with the householders affected.

“They took this on board and we convened meetings in partnership with DRD and local community activists in three areas that had a significant number of homes affected.

“The majority of householders at these meetings were in favour of the scheme as an alternative to having to bear the high cost of installing mains water in their home.”

Aidan continued, “In RCN’s view, this is an innovative scheme that will be cost effective and, if successful, will make a huge difference to households in remote rural communities. DRD has estimated that up to 350 homes may be eligible.

“The scheme will be administered by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and we would encourage people to make an application when the scheme opens in June and hopefully all applicants will be able to source water on their properties.

“ Of course until a scheme like this goes out into the field we won’t know if every eligible household that applies will be able to source water through a borewell but the Department has worked hard to consult on these proposals and the experts are confident that most homes should be able to source water this way. It’s hard to believe in this day and age that some households in our remote rural communities don’t have access to water, something that the vast majority of us take completely for granted, hopefully this scheme will put that right.”