The Water Project’s WaSH program in Port Loko district, Sierra Leone consists of a concentrated network of new, rehabilitated, and maintained water wells. Explore these projects that remain at or near 100% functionality because of quality implementation, customized hygiene, sanitation, and maintenance training, and reliable monitoring, evaluation, and resolution relationships.
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!
Rehabilitation Project
Rehabilitation is not just fixing a pump - it’s total community re-engagement.
There’s only one thing we can think of that might be worse than not having safe water: having safe water, and then losing it because a project fell into disrepair.
Rehabilitation often proves to be a big challenge, as many wells have sit idle for years and there is typically little information about the specifics of the well. A borehole and dug well rehabilitation involves quite a bit of discovery. First, our teams work to discover as much as they can about the initial project. What materials were used? Was the borehole/hand-dug well properly constructed? Many of these questions can only be answered by diving in, and doing “the work” which makes up a rehabilitation.
Once our teams have found the problem, they find the solution. Then, they reconstruct the well and install a hand pump.
Engagement and training with communities takes into account rehabilitation was needed and alters the program to suit the needs of the community. After all - engaging with this community in the same way which led to the initial, failed project will not bring new results. Our teams work to understand the social and support reasons leading to initial failure, and make those areas a focus of our ongoing engagement with communities.
Local Leadership
Water projects don’t last long without the help of local leaders. They’re the ones who explain the situation on the ground to us (and our donors!) while also outlining our goals and intentions for the community members.
The Water Project identifies, supports, and partners with local organizations that share our vision of reliable, verifiable, and clean water. Together, we build lasting local solutions and undertake ongoing monitoring and resolution to ensure our solutions are still working years into the future.
Community Engagement
We engage the communities we work with at every step of a water project.
These interactions are rooted in relationship-building. We involve the community in implementation, set expectations for water point management, prepare community members for ongoing costs, and more. All of this happens before a water project is installed.
The people receiving a water project get a leading seat at the table. Every water project we implement requires negotiations with several interested parties. During this step and every other, we continuously try to embody our favorite ideals: reliability, relationship, and trust.
Hygiene and Sanitation Training
For many communities, water is just the beginning. Living without water deprioritizes things that deplete water rations, like bathing, cleaning, and even handwashing. Also, in some cases, community members who couldn’t afford to go to school never learned topics usually covered in health classes. A steady water supply on its own won’t solve these issues, which is why we train the people in every community, school, and health center we provide with a water project.
Although we tailor the subjects we cover in each training to each region and community, there are some staples we always touch on: water handling and storage; personal and environmental hygiene; disease transmission; how to form and maintain a water user committee; and the operation/maintenance of the community’s new water project.
With each training, our goal is to empower communities to take back their personal health so growth and development can begin.
Monitoring and Resolution
Sub-Saharan Africa is littered with broken and abandoned wells installed by well-meaning people.
We love celebrating when a project is complete and a community has access to clean, safe water. However, reliability is the true measure of our impact.
Water can only transform lives if it’s always there. Water-fetchers need to know that when they visit one of our water points, there will always be water. Sometimes, it only takes one sip of dirty water to make someone sick, even if they’d been drinking clean water for months beforehand.
This is why we measure our water projects’ downtime in hours, not days or weeks. Each hour is critical to someone’s life, and each hour someone has to wait for clean water is another opportunity to go back to the rivers, swamps, and scoop holes they resorted to before our water project was installed. Our past water projects are just as important as what we tackle in the future.
The Water Project monitors all of our water projects to make sure water service continues. To learn more about how you can help with ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and resolution, read about The Water Promise: a group of amazing, world-changing monthly donors who understand the power of keeping water flowing long after the installation is done.
Project Timeline FAQ
Project Status
We’re working hard to make sure your gifts result in a lasting water project for the community it serves. Our engagement with a community begins many months before construction and lasts years after construction. The timeline here is focused on the physical construction of the water project. There is also training and engagement work that has already started.
Water project construction in the developing world is hard work. A lot of things can and do cause delays - which are normal. We attempt to make our best judgment of when construction will be complete, but the circumstances surrounding actual "in the field" conditions are far from our control.
Weather, supply availability, government paperwork, and progress of community involvement are just a few of the variables that can delay (and sometimes speed up) a project's completion.
We will always tell you if anything changes. And, if you get a notice like this – it’s actually further proof your gifts are being carefully used towards a water project that lasts.
Click icons to learn about each feature.
Community Profile
The pump at Forikolo DEC Primary School has not provided water for the last five years, leaving the 330 students and six staff members with no option but to leave the school compound multiple times each day in search of water.
First, they try the community well, but they often find it overcrowded or dry due to the drought season from March through April. Their second option, which is not only farther away but much worse in terms of water quality, is the local swamp.
"[The swamp] is located far from the school, and the road leading to this source is a footpath," said 13-year-old student Isatu (in the photo below).
"Sometimes when returning, I [fall] and damage the rubber (bucket) and also get injured. I am afraid to go to the swamp alone. I usually see snakes in the bush when [I] go [to] fetch water at the swamp. This causes me to be afraid and run away," said Isatu.
"As a female teacher, it is my responsibility to make sure that water is at the school for drinking," said 55-year-old teacher Salamatu Turay (in the photo below).
"I also make sure that the sanitation facilities are properly cleaned. It is very difficult to do all these tasks without enough water to use. I have the burden to accompany the students to either the well in the community or the swamp to fetch water in the morning.
"There are a lot of constraints in fetching water, and I am mostly left with limited time to do my job," Salamatu continued. "This disturbs me a lot, especially in trying to complete the academic syllabus before the end of the year. The children are hard to control in the school compound when they need water to drink, and there is no water. All of this limit my teaching time."
Even if the community's main well did not go dry for several months each year, its water is not monitored or treated, and the students would still need to leave school grounds to access it, which is part of the problem.
"[The] water situations affect me greatly because I must miss most of the [class] sessions," Isatu said. "Even the water I fetch is not enough for the class, so during lunchtime, I have to rush home to find water to drink, and I will spend [a lot of] time [at] home [and] this causes me not to return to school earlier. Another aspect of [the] water situation in my school is to practice personal hygiene is a big problem. I would be very happy if this pump is renewed."
When the well on the school grounds is fixed, students' days won't need to be interrupted over and over. They will have more time in class and won't have to trek a long distance to the swamp multiple times a day, which will hopefully give them more zeal for learning.
Note: Our proposed water point can only serve 300 people per day. We are working with the community to identify other water solutions that will ensure all 336 people in the school community have access to safe and reliable drinking water.
Here’s what we’re going to do about it:
Well Rehabilitation
The well marked for this overhaul is dry for a few months every year and needs major work to supply adequate, clean water to the community year round. The pump will be removed, and a hand auger will be lowered inside and powered by a drill team. This hand auger will allow the team to drill several meters deeper to hit a sufficient water column that will ensure the well supplies water throughout all seasons.
As the team drills, casing will be installed, transforming the bottom of this hand-dug well into a borehole. PVC piping will connect this lower system directly to the pump, a construction that we know will also improve the quality of water.
Once this plan is implemented, everyone within the community will have access to safe drinking water in both quality and quantity, even through the dry months.
Hygiene and Sanitation Training
There will be hygiene and sanitation training sessions offered for three days in a row.
After our visit, the hygiene and sanitation trainer decided it would be best to teach community members how to build a tippy tap (a hand-washing station built with a jerrycan, string, and sticks). They will use these tippy taps for handwashing demonstrations, and will also teach about other tools like dish racks and the importance of properly penning in animals.
These trainings will also strengthen the water user committee that manages and maintains this well. They enforce proper behavior and report to us whenever they need our help solving a serious problem, like a pump breakdown.
Project Updates
June, 2023: Forikolo DEC Primary School Well Rehabilitation Complete!
We are excited to share that a safe, reliable water point at Forikolo DEC Primary School in Sierra Leone is now providing clean water to students and neighboring community members! We also conducted hygiene and sanitation training, which focused on healthy practices such as handwashing and using latrines.
"I had to go a long distance to fetch water during my lunch break. The water I manage[d] to drink was not pure because it had been fetched from the swamp. I had to go all the way home to make myself comfortable," said 13-year-old Isata K.
Isata continued, "Today, I am the happiest person in this school because I have been suffering for water for so long because of the water crisis. Now that the water is at my doorstep, all these sufferings are going to be over. I will not [have to] go home to drink and make use of the latrine. I want to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to those who have greatly contributed to the success of this water project."
Isata drinking water from the well.
"The completion of the water system in my school has brought so much happiness to my life. This water point will help me have access to drinking water any time I am thirsty. Also, this water point will help to clean the school latrine regularly because, before this time, the latrine had been a mess," said Isata.
"When I saw the team in my school during their first visit, and they interviewed me concerning the nonfunctional water well in my school, I knew that the problem with water in my school was going to be over one day," said Salamatu Turay, a 55-year-old teacher.
Salamatu continued, "As the only female teacher in the school, the male staff relies greatly on me in terms of hygiene practices. Before this time, access to drinking water was also a problem at the school. Even using the toilet was a big problem at the school. Pupils and staff would have to go to a nearby house to fetch water to drink [or] use the toilet. Now that the water point is complete, all the suffering my colleagues, I, and the pupils have endured is finally over. You've been doing a great job in these communities, schools, and health facilities by providing safe and reliable water for them."
We held a dedication ceremony to officially hand over the well to the community members. Several local dignitaries attended the ceremony, including representatives from Port Loko District Council, the Ministry of Water Resources, and a local pastor. Each official gave a short speech thanking everyone who contributed to the rehabilitation of the water project and reminding everyone to take good care of it. Then, Isata and Salamatu made statements on their community's behalf. The ceremony concluded with celebration, singing, and dancing.
Students celebrating.
Clean Water Restored
The drill team arrived the day before beginning work. They set up camp and unpacked all their tools and supplies to prepare for drilling the next day. The community provided space for the team to store their belongings and meals for the duration of their stay. The following day, the work began.
First, we raised the tripod, the structure we use to hold and maneuver each drilling tool. Next, we measured the well's original depth. We then socketed the pipes and installed a casing.
Drilling.
Finally, we lined up the drill rods and started to drill! We reached a final depth of 19 meters with water at 13 meters. The hand-drill method allowed the team to install the cylinder far below the aquifer so that the community has excellent water access throughout the year.
With drilling complete, we installed screening and a filter pack to keep out debris when the water is pumped. We then cemented an iron rod to the well lining and fixed it with an iron collar at the top.
Yield test.
Next, we bailed the well by hand for three days and flushed it, clearing any debris generated by the drilling process. Finally, we tested the yield to ensure the well would provide clean water with minimal effort at the pump.
As the project neared completion, we built a new cement platform, walls, and drainage system around the well to seal it off from surface-level contaminants. The drainage system helps to redirect runoff and spilled water to help avoid standing water at the well, which can be uncomfortable and unhygienic and a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.
At last, we installed the pump and conducted a water quality test. The test results showed that this was clean water fit for drinking!
Installing the pump.
New Knowledge
Before conducting any hygiene training, we called and visited the local water user committee to understand the community’s challenges and lack of sanitation facilities. We shared the findings from our discussions with the committee members to help them make the necessary adjustments before the training began. For example, we identified households without handwashing stations or ones that may need to repair their latrines. With this information, community members worked together to improve hygiene and sanitation at home.
After this preparatory period, we scheduled a time when members from each household using the water point could attend a five-day hygiene and sanitation training. We then dispatched our teams to the school to hold the training.
First, our hygiene team trained the teachers, who then shared the new lessons with the student body with our help.
Training topics covered included handwashing and tippy taps, good and bad hygiene habits, teen pregnancy, worms and parasites, proper dental hygiene, menstrual hygiene, proper care of the well's pump, keeping the water clean, the cost recovery system, the importance of using dish racks and clotheslines, the importance of toilets, keeping latrines clean, balanced diets, the diarrhea doll, and disease transmission and prevention, COVID-19, Ebola, Hepatitis, HIV and AIDS.
A teacher demonstrates the correct way to wash hands using a tippy tap.
A favorite topic covered during the training was malaria or dengue fever; the participants were very engaged during this lesson. Participants were curious to know what causes malaria.
One participant said, "This topic reminds me of the situation that occurred with my son a few months ago. In the morning, my child was very active and healthy. But in the evening hours, he started to manifest the signs and symptoms of malaria: fatigue, fever, shivering, and sweating. The temperature of his body became the worst, and I became worried. I was asking myself, "What really is the cause of this situation?" During that period, it was late, and I didn’t even have money to use for transportation to take my son to the hospital. The nurse advised my wife to take off his clothes, use hot water to heat him, and give him medicine. After some time, my son got better. What my wife did was follow the advice given to her by the nurse at the hospital. I am now taking this opportunity to advise everyone to go to the nearby clinic and abide by their advice by having medication at home in case of an emergency."
Isata added, "First, I want to thank God for such training. As a student, it is an opportunity for me to learn new things that are important to my health issues. The training was very important to me because I have learned a lot about hygiene. Certain things that I took for granted, I now handle with seriousness. I normally play on the ground with bare feet, not knowing that it is dangerous. We can get diseases easily by playing on the ground without washing our hands properly before eating. Although teachers have been teaching us about cleanliness, I still practiced the same thing. I was able to learn today about disease transmission and the negative effects of defecation in the backyard of the house and eating food without washing my hands. I will not allow such things to happen [anymore]."
Conclusion
This project required a substantial collaboration between our staff, our in-country teams, and the community members. When an issue arises concerning the well, community members are equipped with the necessary skills to rectify the problem and ensure the water point works appropriately. However, if the issue is beyond their capabilities, they can contact their local field officers to assist them.
Also, we will continue to offer them unmatchable support as a part of our monitoring and maintenance program. We walk with each community, problem-solving together when they face challenges with functionality, seasonality, or water quality. Together, all these components help us strive for enduring access to reliable, clean, and safe water for this community.
With your contribution, one more piece has been added to a large puzzle of water projects. In Kenya, Uganda, and Sierra Leone, we’re working toward complete coverage. That means reliable, maintained water sources within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. With this in mind, search through our upcoming projects to see which community you can help next!
Thank you for making all of this possible!
May, 2023: Forikolo DEC Primary School Well Rehabilitation Underway!
A severe clean water shortage at Forikolo DEC Primary School drains students’ time, energy, and health. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install a clean water point and much more.
Get to know this school through the introduction and pictures we’ve posted, and read about this water, sanitation, and hygiene project. We look forward to reaching out with more good news!
Project Videos
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!
