Public Utilities 75 Those MEs who did not have access to government water pipelines at home, got water from different sources. Cherry (Pigeon food seller, Yangon) got water from the nearby pond which was cleaned by AMM (local NGO) four years back. Earlier, she bought water from the city as the pond was not clean. Htut (Carpenter, Mandalay) got water from the cart to which he paid MMK 100 ($0.1) per box. Thet (Wood sculptor, Mandalay) got water from the Pagoda tank once in a week. The Pagoda trustee opened the tap once a week and the ME stored water in a container for the entire week. Hlaing (Paper umbrella maker, Naypyidaw) got water from the common Pagoda well and paid for it along with monthly rentals. Tun (Hawker, Naypyidaw) got water from the owner’s tubewell every alternate day and expressed it was not enough to meet his daily needs. Its cost was included in the monthly rentals. Kyi (Slipper keeper, Mandalay) and her sister used the public bathrooms near their house and paid MMK 100 ($0.1) per person every time. Public well in Mandalay Personal well at Myo’s (Toy seller) house in Nay Pyi Taw One of the villages in Mawlamyine as told by Khine (Leader of 10 households) had a self initiated tubewell water system which was looked after by a 17 member committee. In 2003 they collected money from everyone and laid water pipelines. “In 2003, they started this project to get water from Shwe Nat Taung. Someone from this village is a friend of Commander of the Militery Region, and contributed half of the expenses. So we were required to fund the rest, but didn’t have enough money and were not in a good position at that time. We wanted to do something for our village to get water, so we made a comission and asked for MMK 150,000 ($150) from each family. We started with 35 households at that time and now perhaps 470 houses have got that water supply.” In the beginning, the committee used the water meters to calculate the usage and charge for it but the villagers did not like this idea as they could not afford to pay so much for water so they decided to share the cost. Now they have taken out all the meters and everyone is required to pay MMK 2000 ($2) per month. He collects that money every month and pays to the head of water committee. The money collected adds up to MMK 720,000 ($720) and is used to repair old and broken pipes, and to buy petrol for the generator to run motor. Initially, the cost of getting a water connection was MMK 150,000 ($150) but they reduced the cost to MMK 100,000 ($100) in 2010.