Project Status



Project Type:  Dug Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Western Uganda WaSH Program

Impact: 245 Served

Project Phase:  Decommissioned

Project Features


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Community Profile

Welcome to the Community

This hand-dug well will be installed in Karungu, Akiba North, Kiryandongo, Uganda. At this stage of the project, GPS coordinates are a rough estimate.

Akiba is home to around 50 households who form a community of almost 250 people, all who rely on dirty surface water for their daily needs.

Most community members wake up at 5AM to milk their cows. These farmers are paid a small fee to distribute that fresh milk to those in their community who don’t have cows. Everybody is tending to their own plots of land by 7AM, farms which are primarily planted with maize and sunflowers. After a full morning of work, women return home to beat the heat of the afternoon sun. The men, however, take the cows and other animals out to graze. After dinner, men usually gather in the center of town to socialize and drink. The women return to their gardens in the evening cool.

Water Situation

The surface water source closest to the village is a small, unprotected spring. This spring is out in an open field, and is thus also open to many different kinds of contaminants. Logs are suspended over the spring so it can be crossed, and so that women and children can balance on them while they fill their containers. However, women and children are often seen stepping directly into the spring to fill their plastic jerrycans.

Animals are often brought to this spring for grazing, sharing the water with humans. When it rains, even more contaminants are washed into the water. Drinking this water results in waterborne diseases like typhoid, especially among young children.

There is plenty of water in this spring, but it is constantly dirtied by the sources described above. Helping this community dig a well will provide them with a protected source of safe drinking water.

Sanitation Situation

Many families have pit latrines, but there’s still a handful that do not. The latrines we were shown are in poor condition, most of them about to collapse. As we begin to construct the hand-dug well, we will continue to encourage and help each family have their own latrine. Without good facilities, locals are forced to seek the privacy of bushes.

The Uganda program requires that every household has and uses a basic pit latrine before the pump handle is installed. Clean water does not go far if it cannot be kept clean at the household level.

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training

Training’s main objectives are the use of latrines and observing proper hygiene practices, since these goals are inherently connected to the provision of clean water. Open defecation, water storage in unclean containers and the absence of hand-washing are all possible contaminants of a household water supply. Each participating village must achieve Open Defecation Free status (defined by one latrine per household), prior to the pump installation for a shallow hand-dug well.

This social program includes the assignment of one Community Development Officer (CDO) to each village. The CDO encourages each household to build an ideal homestead that includes: a latrine, hand-washing facility, a separate structure for animals, rubbish pit and drying rack for dishes.

We also implement the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach with each of our village partners. This aims to improve the sanitation and hygiene practices and behaviors of a village. During these sessions, village leaders naturally emerge and push the community to realize that current practices of individual households – particularly the practice of open defecation– are not only unhealthy, but affect the entire village. CLTS facilitates a process in which community members realize the negative consequences of their current water, sanitation and hygiene behaviors and are inspired to take action. Group interactions are frequent motivators for individual households to: build latrines, use the latrines and demand that other households do the same.

Plans: Hand-Dug Well

The community will participate in excavating and constructing the water source. In the meantime, the aim is that all households own an improved latrine. Many households do not use a latrine but use the bush. Due to open defecation, feces are spread all over the village. This leads to waterborne diseases and contamination of groundwater and surface water. Our aim is that the community is able to live a healthy life free of preventable diseases. We endeavor that at the end of our presence in the community, people will have both access to sustainable, clean water and access to sanitation. We have now organized families to form digging groups for latrine construction, and empowered them with tools to use.

Actual well construction will take four to six weeks if there are no challenges. The well will be lined with bricks and sealing clay, and finished with a Consallen pump.

When Mr. Albino Okema heard about this project, he confirmed the need. "The community is highly populated with limited water points, so getting a water point from you is really good news," he said.

Thank You for partnering with us to get clean water to the people living in Karungu!

Project Updates


July, 2024: Project Change in Karungu II Community!

Projects, like water itself, are fluid.

Sometimes, there are unique circumstances that can neither be resolved nor reversed that turn a well-loved water point into one that has failed to meet the expectations of both the community it serves and our own commitment to help provide access to safe and reliable water.

Unfortunately, the dug-well is no longer meeting the water needs of the Karungu Community, despite repeated efforts, spent resources, and a lot of patience from the community and our team.

The Water Project, the community members, and local leaders have decided together that decommissioning the well was the best course of action. As a result, we will no longer make monitoring visits here. However, we are actively working with this community to identify a different solution.

We will continue to work toward our promise of providing clean, safe, and reliable water to those who need it most.




December, 2017: A Year Later: Karungu II Community

A year ago, generous donors helped install a well with Karungu II Community in Uganda. Because of these gifts and contributions from our monthly donors, partners can visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from our partners, Geoffrey Kusemererwa and Sovia O. with you.




Project Photos


Project Type

Hand-dug wells have been an important source of water throughout human history! Now, we have so many different types of water sources, but hand-dug wells still have their place. Hand dug wells are not as deep as borehole wells, and work best in areas where there is a ready supply of water just under the surface of the ground, such as next to a mature sand dam. Our artisans dig down through the layers of the ground and then line the hole with bricks, stone, or concrete, which prevent contamination and collapse. Then, back up at surface level, we install a well platform and a hand pump so people can draw up the water easily.


A Year Later: Karungu II Community

December, 2017

People are grateful because they are now drinking clean water. Community members no longer complain of water diseases like diarrhea which were common before…

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Karungu II Community.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Karungu II Community maintain access to safe, reliable water. Together, they keep The Water Promise.

We’re confident you'll love joining this world-changing group committed to sustainability!

A year ago, generous donors helped install a well with Karungu II Community in Uganda. Because of these gifts and contributions from our monthly donors, partners can visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from our partners, Geoffrey Kusemererwa and Sovia O. with you.


Karungu Village in Kiryandongo District became Open Defecation Free (ODF) with 100% latrine coverage on December 22, 2016.

The well has really served the community members, since they used to have to collect water from an open water source. Scovia, the CDO in charge says that since this water point was constructed, there are reduced cases of diseases caused by consuming dirty and contaminated water. These diseases like typhoid mostly affected young children (below the age of 10 years).

Community members washing off the well pad after they got it dirty.

This community is by the park (Queen Elizabeth National Game Park), so constructing this water point near homes has helped reduce the encounters between people and wild animals like elephants. There have been many cases of elephants attacking the local people, which would further scare them from making the long journey to the open water source.

Jacob Angut showing Scovia where they recently had their pump repaired.

Scovia met with Jacob Angut at the water point to talk about how it has impacted life in Karungu. "People are grateful because they are now drinking clean water. Community members no longer complain of water diseases like diarrhea which were common before... Each family in the catchment area contributes 1,000 shillings a month to use the well, which goes towards repairing the pump when it breaks down. We currently have about 90,000 shillings saved."

Rose Akullo

Rose Akullo came by to fetch water while Scovia was there. "These days we don't go to the open source where we were being bitten by mosquitoes, which would cause malaria. Malaria would prevent us from going to school. We have clean water both at home and at school," she shared.

Scovia said that he's happy with how well the community members are managing this well. There is a good fence to keep animals out, and they're collecting the water user fees with a good record keeping system. He is positive that they will be able to continue taking care of their well so that it will serve them for many years.


The Water Project and our partners are committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by monthly donors, allows us to visit communities up to 4 times a year. Read more about our program and how you can help.


Navigating through intense dry spells, performing preventative maintenance, conducting quality repairs when needed and continuing to assist community leaders to manage water points are all normal parts of keeping projects sustainable. The Water Promise community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Karungu II Community maintain access to safe, reliable water.

We’d love for you to join this world-changing group committed to sustainability.

The most impactful way to continue your support of Karungu II Community – and hundreds of other places just like this – is by joining our community of monthly givers.

Your monthly giving will help provide clean water, every month... keeping The Water Promise.


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