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
Gbonkorakom's water crisis dramatically reduces the productivity of its 116 community members.
The community depends on palm oil production and farming for income, but collecting sufficient water has been an everyday struggle. The hand-dug well that was built in 2019 by another entity is unreliable. It is seasonal, meaning it is dry several months of the year and suffers from regular pump breakdowns, and needs to be rehabilitated.
When well water is not available, community members must make the long trip to a small watering hole at the local swamp (shown below) for water. But it presents several issues. It is very difficult to collect, but most significantly, it is contaminated, making community members ill with frequent cases of stomachache, diarrhea, and typhoid.
"Since the main water source [broke] down, it has been difficult for me to fetch water," said 38-year-old petty farmer Isatu Sankoh, shown below collecting water at the swamp.
"Honestly, this water is not safe for my use, but since I have no choice, I must use it," Isatu said. "There are times water at the stream changes in color and [there] remains a pungent odor."
For Isatu to successfully run her business as a food vendor, she must have water, and the faster she can find it and start cooking, the better. But she often misses out on customers because it simply takes too long for her to collect water and return from the swamp to start cooking before her customers have already purchased food from other vendors. "The water situation really affects my trading. This reduces my sales greatly," said Isatu.
But adults are not the only ones suffering without easy access to water.
Students like 13-year-old Isatu B. struggle, too. "This problem of water in my village is [a] huge burden on me because I always [have the responsibility to] collect water," said Isatu. "Since the well in my village has problems and [is] not working for the past months, I must go [to] the swamp to fetch water."
Isatu makes at least two trips a day to the water source. First thing in the morning, she goes to collect water and bathes near the swamp before hauling water back home and heading to school. Then once her school day is done, she journeys to the swamp again to collect the additional water she needs to launder her school uniforms.
All of this time and energy spent on collecting water leaves Gbonkorakom's people exhausted and unable to concentrate on other important things like working and learning.
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
March, 2023: Gbonkorokam Community Well Rehabilitation Complete!
We are excited to share that a safe, reliable water point at Gbonkorokam Community in Sierra Leone is now providing clean water to community members! We also conducted hygiene and sanitation training, which focused on healthy practices such as handwashing and using latrines.
"Today, I feel so happy that our main source of water has been rehabilitated," said 38-year-old trader Isatu Sankoh, whom we interviewed during our first visit to the community.
"This is a blessing to me and the entire community at large," Isatu continued. "This is because we have been struggling to fetch water due to the frequent pump breakdowns and the seasonality of the water point. Now that we have this water point, I will no longer go to the stream to fetch water. This will prevent me from walking far distances since the water point is just a stone's throw from my house. This will serve as an advantage for me to fetch enough water that will be used to do our work at home. I thank God for this water point. Enough water will be always available at home."
"Now that we have a new water point, I would count it as a huge blessing for me because of the impact it has created," said 15-year-old Isatu B., whom we also spoke to during our first visit. "This new water point would help me to fetch water with ease. I will no longer walk far distances as I used to walk before. Water will now be available at home because the well is very close to our house. I am also happy because the water at the well is clean, and this will prevent me from suffering from water-related illnesses I used to experience."
Isatu also hopes water access will help with her education. "I will now be punctual in school," she said. "My teachers will not punish me for being late. Also, I will now be able to fetch enough water at home that will serve us for days. This will prevent me from fetching water every day. I will now have ample time to study and go for extra lessons. Therefore, I will be able to study hard and obtain good scores on my exam."
Both Isatus splash water.
We held a dedication ceremony to officially hand over the well to the community members. Several local dignitaries attended the ceremony, including representatives from the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ward Council. 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, both Isatus made statements on their community's behalf. The ceremony concluded with celebration, singing, and dancing.
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.
Finally, we lined up the drill rods and started to drill! We reached a final depth of 18 meters with water at 11 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.
Bailing.
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!
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.
We also invited a nurse from the local clinic to help explain some topics and spread awareness about Sierra Leone's free vaccinations for children under five. She was instrumental in reinforcing each lesson.
After this preparatory period, we scheduled a time when members from each household using the water point could attend a three-day hygiene and sanitation training. We then dispatched our teams to the agreed-upon location to hold the meeting.
Training topics covered included handwashing and tippy taps, good and bad hygiene habits, disease transmission and prevention, COVID-19, worms and parasites, dental hygiene, proper care of the well's pump, keeping the water clean, the cost recovery system, dish racks and clotheslines, the importance of toilets, keeping latrines clean, balanced diets, the diarrhea doll, and HIV and AIDS.
The topic that prompted the most questions was worms and parasites, which are a common problem in tropical regions like Sierra Leone. Participants were very interested to learn how worms and parasites can enter the human body (via the food we eat, walking outdoors with bare feet, and drinking dirty water).
The training facilitator shows participants lifesize models of common parasites in Sierra Leone.
One woman by the name of Aminata shared a personal story on this topic. When she was working on her farm one day, someone came to tell her that her daughter was very ill. She rushed home to find her daughter with a swollen stomach and sores on her feet. Aminata prepared to take her daughter to the hospital, but Aminata's mother-in-law refused, saying the girl ought to be taken to a local herbalist instead. Eventually, Aminata was able to override her mother-in-law's authority and take her daughter to the hospital, where labs showed she was infected with worms. After treatment, the girl recovered, which she wouldn't have if Aminata had listened to her mother-in-law over her own gut. Through this story, everyone at the training was able to understand how serious worm infections are and how sicknesses and injuries should be brought to a hospital rather than herbalists or witch doctors.
Another key lesson was handwashing. One woman named Adama shared that many members of her family passed away during an Ebola outbreak some years back because they had ignored handwashing protocols, which helped to drive the lesson home for everyone present. Community members have been working to install simple handwashing stations near every latrine throughout the village.
Isatu at the training.
"I want to thank God for the wonderful three days of training," said Isatu Sankoh (quoted earlier). "It is an opportunity for me to learn new things that are important to my health. The training was very interesting to me because I learned a lot about hygiene. Certain things that I took for granted will now be handled with seriousness. My children normally played on the ground without washing their hands properly before eating. Although we have water in the house and soap to wash their hands, yet still they practice the same thing. I was able to learn today about worms lessons and the negative effect of such actions. I will not allow such things to happen again. I will also use this training to teach others that we should wash our hands after the toilet before eating and take good care of ourselves and our surroundings if we want to be healthy. It is an opportunity for our community to have this kind of training."
Conclusion
This project required a substantial collaboration between our staff, our in-country teams, and the community members themselves. 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 our target areas, we’re working toward complete coverage of 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!
January, 2023: Gbonkorokam Community Well Rehabilitation Underway!
A severe clean water shortage in Gbonkorokam Community drains people’s time, energy, and health. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install a clean water point and much more.
Get to know this community 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 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!
Salamatu Gains the Time to Attend School!
May, 2024
A year ago, your generous donation helped the Gbonkorokam in Sierra Leone access clean water – creating a life-changing moment for Salamatu. Thank you!
Keeping The Water Promise
There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Gbonkorokam Community.
This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Gbonkorokam 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!
Last year, your gift unlocked the potential for a brighter future for Salamatu. Since then, she and the Gbonkorokam Community of 116 residents have had clean, reliable water. Your contribution has made a significant impact. Thank you for making a difference!
Before the Well Rehabilitation
Like many children in Sierra Leone, sixteen-year-old Salamatu is responsible for collecting water to meet her and her family’s daily water needs. Before the rehabilitation of the community well last year, that task stole her time and negatively affected her time management.
"I used to walk to the various swamps around the community just to fetch water before going to school. It was really difficult to fetch water in this community before the completion of this project," shared Salamatu.
The difficult journey to collect water sapped Salamatu's physical and emotional energy, creating roadblocks. For Salamatu, in particular, it lessened her opportunity to pursue an education.
The previous water source.
Since the Well Rehabilitation
Your generous gift last year was much more than a simple donation; it was a powerful statement about your commitment to this community and Salamatu’s future. By supporting the water solution, you made clean water an everyday reality for her, fostering hope for a brighter future.
Reliable and clean water lays the groundwork for improved health, education, and economic possibilities, allowing people like Salamatu to thrive. We frequently hear from those we interview that "water is life!"
"The completed water well project makes it easy for me to fetch water. I do not need to go to the swamp to fetch water, because the new well is close to my house. It has impacted my life by providing safe and pure drinking water for me," Salamatu said.
The Future is Looking Bright!
A year ago, you made a difference for Salamatu and the rest of her community. This is just the first chapter of their story as access to clean water continues to improve their lives!
At The Water Project, we value sustainability and want to ensure that people continue to thrive. We commit to monitoring this project to ensure the water is always flowing and safe to consume. We inspect the system hardware, track water availability, conduct sanitary inspections, and collect water quality samples to identify risks. We work with our team on the ground to resolve them.
You gave Salamatu a crucial tool for achieving her dreams: access to clean water. Together, we can excitedly expect that with this precious resource, her enthusiasm and courage will help her fulfill her dreams.
"I will be able to go to school on time, and it will also help me to accomplish my household chores that have to do with water," said Salamatu.
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 Gbonkorokam 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 Gbonkorokam 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.
