Dolma made the walk to the spring twice a day for thirty years. It is forty-five minutes each way, steep on the way back, with twenty litres on her shoulders.

The walk

In the dry months the spring slows and the queue grows. Some mornings she left before light to be first. Girls in Tashing learned the path before they learned to read, and many missed the first lesson of every school day.

The line

The pipe took eleven weeks to lay. Every household dug its share of the trench, 2.1 kilometres in all, and the water committee kept a ledger of who had dug what.

• A 10,000 litre tank above the village
• Six tap stands, none more than three minutes from a door
• A caretaker paid from a small monthly fee
• Water tests twice a year, results pinned to the committee's door

What she does with the time

Three hours a day came back. Dolma planted a second field of potatoes and sells the surplus at the valley market. Her granddaughter has not missed a first lesson since the taps opened.

One year on

All six taps are running. The committee has collected enough to replace two valves without asking anyone for help, which is the point.