Today on the date of 7^th February, 2013, we, the students of Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, conducted ?Cleaning of the Water Troughs Program? in veterinary block, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal on the behalf of Youth Eco Network (YEN) www.youtheconetwork.wordpress.com. The main objective of the program was to clean the water troughs of the livestock sheds of the college in order to break the life cycle of the pests and parasites like snails. The overall objective was sanitation and healthy environment.

RATIONALE OF THE PROGRAM

Pests like snails remain in the stagnated water and algae of troughs of livestock. These pests grow infect animals and lay eggs to continue another cycle of infection. When these pests infect animals that drink water from the troughs, the infection is carried along. This may in turn infect the human beings who consume animal products like milk, meat etc. On the other hand when these water troughs are let to remain filthy, they create air pollution. And interestingly, when the water is drained to be changed, it infects the soil leading to infection in plants as well.

This whole set of primary and secondary infections can be caused through filthy water in the troughs of the livestock. Filthy troughs most of the time in livestock farms of community based farming including farm of our college are left unnoticed. However, to create a clean and healthy environment, every component has to be taken care of. Cleaning of water troughs is an example to care of all the components of the environment in order to create a better one.

SUMMARY OF THE PROGRAM

The cleanliness program was started early in the morning with about 35 participants. The condition of the troughs was quite bad. Algae growth had dominated the view of troughs and parasites dominated the area. We took along brushes, scrubbers, sticks and buckets to clean the place. However, lack of equipments in proper quantity delayed the process. In near future, we have proposed the provision of cleaning equipments in sufficient amount.

The overall program was a success. After completing cleaning of troughs, we discussed on the necessity of conduction of monthly programs like this. Probably we will be running sanitation programs in regular basis. "Cleanliness programs like this not only keeps environment clean for some time but creates chain reaction by encouraging other people as well", said the coordinator of the program, Mr. Nirajan Niroula.