Rehabilitation Project
The 147 community members of Ematetie rely on the community's crumbling spring as their primary water source to meet their daily needs. Accessing sufficient water from the spring for everyone is an ongoing struggle because of its poor condition.
"As we all know, water is life, and it's very difficult for one to survive without it. Community members, therefore, wake up early in the morning to go and fetch water before doing any other thing. They give water first priority," shared field officer Elvine Atsieno.
Protection of the spring was attempted in the past, but it is easy to see by observing its current condition that there are some significant issues. The cement floor has eroded, leaving a large hole where people typically stand to collect water, which is dangerous, especially for children who are often responsible for collecting water. Water is flowing through the collection pipe as expected, but it is also coming through the headwall, which indicates that the water is not filtered correctly, making it unsafe.
The water quality is not the only issue confronting people in Ematetie. Due to the spring's poor condition, water collection takes each person a significant amount of time, causing long lines and tensions to mount.
"I must wait until people are few at the water point so that I fetch water. This wastes much of my time because, as a woman, you have so much to work on. It forces you to wait until you have enough water in the kitchen before doing any other thing in the house," said 42-year-old farmer Mildred Nasimiyu, shown above collecting water.
Children also feel the frustration and pressure of collecting water. Being stuck waiting to collect water often means they miss valuable learning time at school.
"For me, it is very difficult to be at school on time because, first of all, I must make sure that my mother has enough water in the morning before I can leave for school. When I don't fetch water, I can't get my lunch prepared on time, hence interfering with my class work," said 13-year-old Gideon O., shown below collecting water.
Proper spring protection will allow the water to flow faster and enable people to collect and consume safer water. Regaining their valuable time and health will allow adults to complete their daily tasks and increase their incomes, and children will be able to attend school with the hopes of creating a brighter future.
The Proposed Solution, Determined Together...
At The Water Project, everyone has a part in conversations and solutions. We operate in transparency, believing it benefits everyone. We expect reliability from one another as well as our water solutions. Everyone involved makes this possible through hard work and dedication.
In a joint discovery process, community members determine their most advantageous water solution alongside our technical experts. Read more specifics about this solution on the What We're Building tab of this project page. Then, community members lend their support by collecting needed construction materials (sometimes for months ahead of time!), providing labor alongside our artisans, sheltering and feeding the builders, and supplying additional resources.
Water Access for Everyone
This water project is one piece in a large puzzle. In Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, we're working toward complete coverage of reliable, maintained water sources that guarantee public access now and in the future within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. One day, we hope to report that this has been achieved!
Training on Health, Hygiene & More
With the community's input, we've identified topics where training will increase positive health outcomes at personal, household, and community levels. We'll coordinate with them to find the best training date. Some examples of what we train communities on are:
- Improved hygiene, health, and sanitation habits
- Safe water handling, storage & treatment
- Disease prevention and proper handwashing
- Income-generation
- Community leadership, governance, & election of a water committee
- Operation and maintenance of the water point
Chlorine Dispensers
Installing chlorine dispensers is an important piece of our spring protection projects. Protecting a spring provides community members with an improved water source, but it doesn’t prevent contamination once the water is collected and stored. For example, if the water is clean and the container is dirty, the water will become contaminated.
We ensure that each chlorine dispenser is filled with diluted chlorine on a consistent schedule so that people can add pre-measured drops to each container of water they collect. That way, community members can feel even more confident in the quality of their water.
