Project Status



Project Type:  Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Program: Wells for Schools - Uganda

Impact: 300 Served

Project Phase: 
Community Managed
Implementing Partner Monitoring Data Unavailable
Initial Installation: Jun 2013

Project Features


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Community Profile

Upon completion of the project, our partner in the field reports:

When the Living Water Uganda team arrived, 300 families were dependent on a stream and other water catchment systems to help sustain their water needs. As is common in this very dry area, the common water sources are extremely dirty open dams shared with cattle. Because of this, families were suffering from typhoid, malaria, diarrhea and severe dehydration among other preventable water related illnesses. During the team’s stay, community members assembled a water committee consisting of 5 men and 5 women who assisted the team with the water project whenever possible and provided any materials they had available. This water committee is also responsible for collecting a well maintenance fee of 100 Ugandan Shillings per 20 liter jerry can. Most residents farm to earn a living and sell what excess produce they have at nearby markets. Others raise livestock, mostly cattle. There is a primary school located in the community with 230 students; 110 boys and 120 girls, all who now have access to a safe water source. Before leaving the community, the team provided the water committee with a Living Water Uganda contact number in case their well were to fall into disrepair, become subject to vandalism or theft.

The Living Water Uganda team had an opportunity to meet with sixty-two year old community member and WUC Chairman and farmer, Herbert Mushogooza, who stated, "I want to thank God for our brothers from LWI Uganda. It is God who brought them here and allowed them to do what they are doing in Africa and other areas, I personally like their system of not lying to us that they are giving us free water and indeed there is no safe water for free! Water is life and if you want life you have to maintain it, and it’s the same thing if you want your car to live long you’ve got to maintain it. So fellow citizen I want you to emphasize that we by all means to maintain this borehole if we want it to serve us for long, it’s not going to be for free I assure you that, but we shall have to pay in order to be ready for maintenance just in case we get a break down. We (the water user committee) have set up our constitution governing this well, I ask you to abide with them and respect the committee, for instance the time for collecting water should be from 6am to 6pm beyond that the bore hole will be closed, use your time perfectly each 20 liter will be 100 shillings (4c) which I believe any one among us can be able to afford, once again I want to thank you for your good cooperation God bless you."

During the hygiene education, the Living Water Uganda team addresses: Hand washing, how to properly transport and store water, disease transmission and prevention, how to maintain proper care of the pump, as well as signs and symptoms of dehydration and how to make Oral Rehydration Solution. All of these lessons are taught in a participatory method to help community members discover ways to improve their hygiene and sanitation choices, and implement community driven solutions.

Highlighting the difficulty of the work of providing clean water, our partner offered this telling description of this community and project:

In this area it is extremely difficult to find ground water. This borehole was low yielding however there are absolutely no options of clean water (only open dams shared with animals) hence the decision to install regardless.

Difficult or not, this school and the surrounding community now have clean water.  Thank you for your help!

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Project Photos


Project Type

Abundant water is often right under our feet! Beneath the Earth’s surface, rivers called aquifers flow through layers of sediment and rock, providing a constant supply of safe water. For borehole wells, we drill deep into the earth, allowing us to access this water which is naturally filtered and protected from sources of contamination at the surface level. First, we decide where to drill by surveying the area and determining where aquifers are likely to sit. To reach the underground water, our drill rigs plunge through meters (sometimes even hundreds of meters!) of soil, silt, rock, and more. Once the drill finds water, we build a well platform and attach a hand pump. If all goes as planned, the community is left with a safe, closed water source providing around five gallons of water per minute! Learn more here!


Contributors

Mayfield Salisbury Church
Southbank International School
The Roney Family Foundation
Manleys
Student Nature Society/Susan Graves
Assets School
Fort Saskatchewan High School - Social Studies 20-1 Honours Class
15 individual donor(s)