Katongha DEC Primary School

Project Status

Project Type: Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 322 Served

Project Phase: In Service - Oct 2024

Functionality Status: Functional

Project Features

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The 314 students and 8 staff members of Katongha Primary School have been dealing with a water crisis every day since their main water source broke down several years ago.

The primary water source, a protected dug well with a hand pump (shown above outside classrooms), stopped working in 2020 and has been non-functional ever since. Every day, students must walk to the community maternal child health post (MCHP) to collect water from a dug well, which is not as simple as it sounds. It is far away, and the well's first priority is to serve the health center patients and staff, then the surrounding community members, so students often get pushed to the back of the line. The sheer number of people accessing water from the well causes long delays and frequent breakdowns. The well also experiences seasonal dryness, leaving everyone to scramble for water from any other source they can find.

"I cannot get water to drink at the school because the pump is not working. My friends and I walk to the well at the MCHP to drink water. It is not [at] all times that we can get water to drink at that well because the nurses lock it or there would be people fetching water. The water does not serve everyone at the school. Sometimes, it gets finished before lunch. I bring water in a rubber bottle from my house in the morning. My friends never give me the peace to use my water. Sometimes, they steal the bottle from me and drink all the water from it. I will not get water to drink again until the end of the school day," said 12-year-old Aminata S., shown below, carrying water.

After waiting to collect the water, students must carry it back to school on their heads, which is exhausting and risky.

"They carry water and walk on the main road to the school. They are not safe on the road with a bucket of water on their heads. They are exposed to accidents by the frequent flow of motorbikes on the road," said field officer Phillip James Allieu.

"It is quite frustrating to stay long at this school every day without the effective use of water. I cannot fully concentrate on teaching because of the complaints from the pupils. I go along with them to fetch water from the well at the MCHP. It is not safe to carry water on the head and walk on the main road to the school," said 24-year-old teacher Warrah Kargbo (seen below).

She continued: "The little water we bring to the school for drinking cannot serve everyone. The pupils become stubborn to control when there is no drinking water at the school. They skip classes to go in search of water at the nearby houses of the school. They could drink water that is not good for drinking because there is no other water available at the school."

The physical effort expended diminishes the student's ability to focus. Still, worst of all, the water they work so hard to collect is contaminated, so they frequently complain of fevers, stomachaches, vomiting, and diarrhea. These things leave them missing even more learning time, putting them further behind.

"The academic performance of the pupils of this school will continually drop if there is no sustainable water source at this school," concluded Phillip.

Rehabilitating the school's broken-down well will let students and staff know they can quickly collect safe water to meet their needs. Then, hopefully, they can return to class with the time and energy needed for learning, and the situation at the school will drastically improve.

Note: Our proposed water point can only serve 300 people per day. We have identified another project at Katongha Maternal Child Health Post that should help ensure all of the people in this community have access to safe and reliable drinking water.

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

Project Updates

October, 2024: Katongha DEC Primary School Well Rehabilitation Complete!

We are excited to share that your donation provided a safe, reliable well at Katongha DEC Primary School. As a result, students and teachers no longer rely on unsafe water to meet their daily needs. We also conducted hygiene and sanitation training, which focused on healthy practices such as handwashing and using latrines.

"Now this water well is here, and this will help me to do my things easily. This water source will impact the student's lives. Now, they will stay in class listening to teachings, and they will improve in their academics," said teacher Warrah Kargbo, 23.

Teacher Warrah Kargbo.

"This well produces clean water. I will stay in class, and I will not go around [in] search of water to drink. I have enough time to listen to lessons and write notes. Sometimes I will miss out [on] lessons due to water problems in my school. Now, I will not miss out [on] lessons. This will help me to get good grades," shared 11-year-old Isatu.

Isatu drinking clean water.

After construction was complete, we held a dedication ceremony to officially give the school responsibility for the well. Several local dignitaries attended the ceremony, including representatives from the Port Loko District Council and the Ministry of Water Resources. Each official gave a short speech thanking everyone who contributed to the rehabilitation of the water project and encouraging everyone to take good care of it. Then, Ms. Kargo and Isatu made statements on their community's behalf. The ceremony concluded with celebration, singing, and dancing.

Clean Water Restored

The school 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 hand-dug well's original depth and socketed the pipes to install a casing.

Finally, we started to drill! We reached a final depth of 12 meters with water at seven meters. The team installed the cylinder as far below the water table as possible to give the school reliable access throughout the years.

With drilling complete, we installed screening and a filter pack to keep out debris when the water is pumped.

Next, we bailed the well and flushed it, clearing any debris generated by the drilling process. Lastly, we tested the water flow 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 spilled water to help avoid standing water at the well, which is unhygienic and a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

At last, we installed the pump and conducted a water quality test. The results showed that this was clean water fit for drinking!

"Today, this school has access to clean water, and this will give teachers, [and] pupils a chance to thrive in their education. The school teachers and pupils were at the well, playing with water together with the invitees. They demonstrated the drinking of water. They sang songs praising God and the donors and implementing partners for providing this water in their school compound," shared Field Officer Alie Kamara.

School Education

Before conducting any hygiene training, we collaborated with the school and community leaders to understand the school and surrounding community's challenges and lack of sanitation facilities. 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 before the training.

After this preparatory period, we scheduled a time for hygiene and sanitation training.

First, our hygiene team trained the teachers, who then participated in training the student body with us.

Teachers learn to build a tippy tap handwashing station.

We taught about proper handwashing, personal and menstrual hygiene, and healthy habits such as using latrines and maintaining a balanced diet. We discussed how disease transmission and water hygiene are crucial to community health. We emphasized the importance of maintaining and caring for the well pump and the cost recovery system.

"This training has helped me to get more understanding about the importance of hygiene. There are times we tend to take hygiene for granted, but it causes more harm when we fail to follow hygienic principles. Such as handwashing, cutting of fingernails, cleaning of [the] environment, etc.," said Ms. Kargo.

"They were very committed towards the training, and it was seen from punctuality and [the] number [in] attendance. They ensured the venue was set even before our arrival and were very much involved in the various lessons. No form of noise was tolerated by teachers since they wanted the pupils to equally learn from the training. I feel hopeful for this group because they have benefited from the full WASH we delivered to them. Mostly the hygiene training. As we normally say, “Knowledge is power.” Therefore, the knowledge they have received from the training will help them to make positive transformations in their lives," shared Alie.

Thank you for making all of this possible!

August, 2024: Katongha DEC Primary School Well Rehabilitation Underway!

The lack of adequate water at Katongha DEC Primary School costs the students and staff time, energy, and health every single day. Clean water scarcity contributes to community instability and diminishes individuals’ personal progress.

But thanks to your recent generosity, things will soon improve here. We are now working to install a reliable water point and improve hygiene standards. We look forward to sharing inspiring news in the near future!

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!