Eva Marie Girls School
Borehole Well and Hand Pump
A specialized drilling team drills into the earth in search of an underground aquifer.
Girls and women walk long distances for water when sometimes, safe water is right under their feet! Underground rivers, called aquifers, often contain a constant supply of safe water – but you have to get to it. Enter, the drilled well. There are many forms of drilling, depending on what you are drilling through. No matter what machine or piece of equipment is used, all drilling is aiming for a borehole that reaches into an aquifer. If the aquifer has water - and after the well is developed, sanitary seal and concrete apron installed - we’re able to pull water to the surface utilizing a hand-pump. If all goes as planned, the community is left with a safe, closed water source providing around 5 gallons of water a minute through a hand-pump.
(Note: Dry wells are a reality – you really don’t know the quality and quantity of water until you finish drilling and start test pumping the well. Hand-Pumps associated with drilled and dug wells currently require substantial ongoing support from The Water Project.)
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 if because a project fell into disrepair.
It’s estimated 50% of projects in Sub-Saharan Africa are no longer functional. A majority of these projects are dug wells and boreholes with hand pumps. Though a hand pump is low-tech, cost-effective and a great solution for providing safe water - it’s also among the most susceptible to failure.
When working in a region, The Water Project seeks to provide adequate water coverage for communities across the region. Inevitably, we find dug well and boreholes projects installed, and then abandoned by other organizations and government contracts. We believe there is great value in building on what already exists - what is already present in a community - even if what’s exists is not working. After all, this broken well represents a significant investment from the past and repairing it shows a community our investment in them.
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? What is the static water level and well yield? Are there any known sources of contamination? 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 a concrete apron around the well, and install a hand pump.
Program 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.
Community Engagement
Community engagement is at every step of a water project.
There is often a lot of focus on what can be brought into, added to, etc. a community to supply safe water. It comes from a great place of wanting to help, and we get it.
But - how this is done matters. The fact is - there is no shortage of need. It’s everywhere. We believe the popular statistics actually underestimate how many people need safe water. Views of poverty can often skew our view of communities into seeing only recipients.
Our experience is much different. Some of the greatest entrepreneurs and leaders, strongest women, smartest kids, and hardest-working men we’ve ever met just happen to be in communities who need safe water. Every community has examples of this strength, determination, and contribution.
Most communities we work with did the work of self-organizing, determined their plan for water point stewardship and leadership and then approached us for partnership. Our engagement with communities involves formally/informally establishing roles for implementation and ongoing support, expectations for water point management and ongoing costs, etc. All of this happens before a water project is installed.
In the international development world, we use a term called ABCD: “Asset Based Community Development”. For us, this means the community gets a lead seat at the table. Before we seek to bring anything into the community, we understand the assets that already exist in the community.
Hygiene and Sanitation Training
Community education and self-discovery about hygiene and sanitation concepts lead to improved health.
Because things like wells, springs and dams are so tangible and so easily photographed – we often think those things are the whole point. Truth be told, there are plenty of contractors who can simply install water and sanitation hardware and nothing else.
Improved health is the point. That’s why hygiene and sanitation training is so critical. The Water Project utilizes many different methods for this training, depending on the community/institution, program and country. The point is education… leading to self-discovery within the community…leading to new health habits. Training topics always include things like disease transmission, personal hygiene and cleanliness, proper disposal of waste and proper water storage methods.
While we know this training provides thoughtful engagement, the community is the lead partner here. Our role is to make clear to them the power they have within themselves to bring about improved health.
Monitoring and Resolution
Water isn’t a pump. Water is a service. And, it must be reliable.
Picture your family – your home or apartment. Now think about water. The fact is, you and I don’t think about our pipes or our faucets on a daily basis. What we do think about is our water service. Our lives really depend on water being available when we open the faucet, and that it will also be available tomorrow, and the next day. So, let’s imagine the same for the community who will receive safe water from our water project.
We love celebrating new work. As we celebrate, let’s also declare this together: The known benefits of water are ONLY true if water can be counted on, over time. So, the finishing of a project will be amazing. Lives will be changed and communities will have clean, safe water. But, the ongoing service of water, making water reliable, is how we can know our true impact.
The Water Project continues to monitor our water projects, and work with our partners and external support to make sure water service continues for these communities.
This doesn’t mean we’re going to be perfect at this. But, what it does mean is that you and the community being served can know a year from now, two years from now – our past water projects and the communities they serve are just as important to us as anything else we might be doing in the future.
To learn more about how you can help with ongoing monitoring, evaluation and resolution, read about our awesome monthly members.
Impact:
500 Served
Project Status:
Installed
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Stories and Community Profile
Over 1,500 girls attend the Eva Marrie Girls School in Perambalur,
India. The shear size of the school magnified the lack of access to
water. Before this well and distribution systems were constructed,
the school children would have to leave the grounds to access public
taps or they would use a small amount of water which the school was
forced to pay for from a “water cart”. Improving access to water means
more time in class, less danger traveling outside of school grounds and
far better access to proper sanitation, a huge issue for a girls school.
This well project consists of a deep well, electric pump, overhead
storage tanks and a distribution system to multiple taps. The school is
situated in Perambalur which is 60 kilometers away from Trichirapalli
in the north. The students come from poor families in the surrounding
community.
Wells for Life, the implementing partner, reported that…
“Driving up and seeing all 1,500 girls lined up and
waiting for our arrival was special. It was late in the day but
nonetheless worth the wait. We took some video and explained who the
donor was and of their care and concern for people, especially
children. It was evident these girls were thankful. Seeing the size
and scope of the project was inspiring and a relief because after
witnessing the sheer number of girls, a small project wouldn’t have
sufficed, so a huge thank you to Northview Christian Church!”
Project Photos
Project Data
Project Type: Borehole Well and Hand Pump
Location: Perambalur, India
ProjectID: 52
Install Date: 11/05/2009
Sponsors
Country Details
India
- Population: 1.16 Billion
- Lacking clean water: 11%
- Below poverty line: 25%
- Climate: Varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north
- Languages: English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu
- Ethnic Groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3%
- Life Expectancy: 69 years
- Infant Mortality Rate: 55 deaths per 1000 live births
Partner Profile
Wells for Life® is seeking to address the problem in India one well
at a time, and to do so from a holistic perspective by first addressing
the physical needs of the individual and then their community. We are
seeking to accomplish this task through forming partnerships with other
organizations that share the same passion we do for meeting one of the
most basic needs: the need for water.
Wells for Life® continues to receive requests for water wells in
different rural villages and communities throughout India. It is our
vision to meet every viable request presented to us, and to do it in a
sustainable way with lasting impact. We seek to carry out our projects
with the wholehearted participation of the receiving community and to
work with the community. Taking ownership of the well project, they
will keep it a life giving source of water for years to come.
With each of our projects we utilize the expertise of Indian
professionals trained in engineering, hydrogeology, and construction as
well gain the help of the receiving community to carry out the project.
Furthermore, it is our goal to establish the location of each project
on property that will afford equal access to all those within the
village or community, regardless of one's faith or caste.
Finally, it is our hope that each project initiated will bring immediate relief and be a building block for future projects for all those we are in partnership with.