The protected dug well and hand pump currently used by the 115 community members in Petifu Junction cannot provide sufficient water for everyone. Seasonal drying leaves the well without water for over half the year, and people must resort to alternative water from the local swamp.
Most people in Petifu Junction depend on farming and palm oil processing to make their living, but without enough water, production lessens and incomes reduce, making everything more challenging.
Abu B., 15, in the photo above, said, “Every day, I must fetch water for my parents at home. It is not easy to fetch water because the distance to the swamp is far and hilly.”
Abu has to collect water in the morning before school but he also has to trek back to the swamp again later in the day after school because it’s impossible for him to collect sufficient water to meet his family’s needs in one trip.
It is especially difficult to find clean drinking water, so community members need to boil the collected swamp water, which is time-consuming and laborious. The risk of becoming sick with water-related illnesses is a real threat because not only is there not clean water to drink but there is also not enough water to clean latrines or practice regular hand washing.
Petty trader Jeneba Sabolleh, 45, above collecting water from the swamp said, “The activities at the swamp always make the water filthy and not good to drink. I know that the swamp water is not good for drinking, which is why I boil and filter it before drinking [it], especially when it is filthy.”
Lacking water in the community has many far-reaching effects. As noted by Jeneba, “[The] water crisis in this village is limiting the activities that I complete for a day.”
And for Abu’s family, it means going without food, drinking water, and clean clothes at times. When he can’t collect enough water, his mother cannot cook meals, and they go hungry. In addition to hauling heavy jugs of water, he also carries his uniforms to the swamp to launder them because there is not enough water at home. All of these things leave him exhausted.
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.
