Bubaali Village, Uganda

Project Snapshot

Country: Uganda

GPS Coordinates:
  Latitude 0.000000
  Longitude 0.000000

Impact:
  Total Served: 1240

Status:  Completed (What's This?)

Completion Date (or estimate): 06/30/2012

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Our partner in the field reports...

Bubaali is the first site in our new project area of Busakira sub-county in Mayuge District. The district has the lowest safe water coverage level in Busoga Region and we have received many application for help form this densely populated sub-county. One of the problems that we will phase in this region is the state of the roads, which are particularly poor and will not be helped by the rainy season.

Bubaali is a typical village in this region, the inhabitants are predominantly peasant farmers growing the staple crops of maize, sweet potatoes and rice. Depending on wealth some families may have livestock and some have larger land holdings than others, but for all live is a struggle to provide enough food to feed the large families. Bubaali is strung out along a road that leads to Nakabaali on the side of a shallow hill. Most of the land is cultivated and the few remaining trees that have not been used for firewood or wood fired bricks, are fruit trees, in particular mangos and jack fruit. The people of Bubaali currently use a number of traditional sources, that are hollowed ground in the swamp areas down in the valley that fill with water. These are completely unprotected, they shared by animals and receive all the surface run-off water during the rains, which is full of contaminants. There is presently no safe water source available to the inhabitants within walking distance.

Project Photos

Recent Project Updates

07/17/2012: Bubaali Well Completed

We are pleased to report that the well has been completed in the village of Bubaali, Uganda.  See the updates below as well as the new pictures of the completed project.  Follow this link to see an interview with one of the village people:  http://youtu.be/dIpJVOCNG94

27/6/2012 – A rapid assessment by the sociology team confirmed that the sanitation improvements made by the village were sufficiently extensive to warrant installation of the well, we will do that at the end of the week.

28/6/2012 – O&M meeting took place attended by 130 people. This training explains how the water committee can go about maintaining their water source so that it has an indefinite lifespan to serve generation of people in Bubaali. The training encourages the village to agree amongst themselves a user fee system where by each household contributes around 500 shillings ($0.5) per month to pay for periodic repairs and procurement of spares.

29/6/2012 – The installation was completed in the fading afternoon sun. Around 60 people attended and watched out mechanical supervisor Ibanda Hussein install the Consallen pump, we used 2 and half 3m pipes during the installation. The first pints of fresh water were pumped by the village chairman who also describes the feeling in the interview contained below. The women of the village  had prepared a delicious feast for the Busoga Trust team which included beef, a real honour.

06/27/2012: Bubaali Village Well In The Final Stretch

The hole is dug, the well prepared, just waiting for a few finishing touches!

12/6/2012 – Delivered an additional 5 bags of cement to site. This will suffice for the final parts of the bricklining and the surface gutter. Currently still at 24ft as the bricklining to the surface has not quite been completed.

13/6/2012 – Arrived on site with the sociology and technical team, excavation is going ahead well. There were 15 community members helping on site and the depth was 27ft.

18/6/2012 – The well is completed. The entire well shaft is bricklined and the surface completed, with levelled ground, planted grass and fences. The final depth was 27.5ft giving a 9.5ft water column and a recharge rate of 2.5ft per hour. All very well, we shall await conformation of the sanitation improvements before installing

25/6/2012 – Still waiting for sanitation improvements to pick up a bit before installing.

06/21/2012: A Well Nearing Completion in Bubaali, Uganda

Some updates from the field in Bubaali...

4/5/2012 – 1^st village meeting was called, having already identified the village from our applications folder and a meeting with the district water officer. The initial meeting was attended by over 100 people including the village chairman, the expectation and responsibilities of the community and the Busoga Trust were laid out. Then the water user’s committee was elected from those present, then the real work of providing safe water and better sanitation can begin.

9/5/2012 – Community led total sanitation took place 124 people present. This workshop lets the members of the community construct their own sanitation map of the village, before explaining how faeces that are not properly disposed of in latrines pose a health threat to the whole community. It is particularly effective in villages such as Bubaali where literacy is low, it is highly demonstrative and participatory, and what’s best is that it allows the community to come to their own conclusion of how to improve the situation. Invariably, they decide it’s a good idea to build more latrines. We wait until sufficient progress has been made to this end before beginning construction.

30/5/2012 – Technician delivered to site and with the help of the local water users committee a location was selected for the shallow well. This site must compromise proximity to the village, as well as probability of finding sufficient water to meet demand, and also a piece of land that is able to be converted into a water source rather than agriculture.

31/5/2012 – Had a brief follow up on progress, it is going rapidly despite the hard formation. The chief technician reported 15 members on site helping with construction, as well as women preparing food. Let us hope the rapid progress continues.

4/6/2012 – The water table has been struck at 18ft, so we have gone ahead and delivered the materials to site. On our part that is moving cement, iron bars and nails, and on the part of the village it requires them to buy bricks, sand and aggregates, which we then transport on their behalf. This was completed in Bubaali today, by the end of the day, the well was at a depth of 24ft. Many people helped with construction and loading and unloading, including the local school children.

7/6/2012 – Site has reached 24ft, but due to caving of the sides of the well, it will be bricklined up to the surface before we continue to deepen and reach our target of a 10ft water column.