Bundulai Community

Project Status

Project Type: Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 138 Served

Project Phase: In Service - Apr 2025

Functionality Status: Functional

Project Features

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The 138 people of the Bundalai Community struggle to access sufficient water to meet their daily needs.

The community's primary water source is an open well that the community members dug in 2018. Although they did their best, the well does not provide enough water for the community population, especially when it dries up during the months of March and April each year.

The alternate water source is the local swamp, but it is far away, and the water collected there leaves everyone vulnerable to suffering from water-related illnesses that steal their health and financial resources.

"I am living in this community, and I have many constraints with water. The water well I have in my community is not good and pure for drinking. The water well runs out of water during the dry season. The distance I cover to fetch water from the swamp is far, and I spend more time to reach the water point. Most of the time, I have to go to school late because of the water problem. I have to fill up all the jerricans [at] home before going to school. After making many trips for a day, I will be [too] tired to partake [in] other activities," said 12-year-old Sheku K., shown above collecting water from the swamp.

"I am facing serious water problems in my village. In the morning hours, I have to collect my rubber bucket or drinking bucket [and] rush to the well to fetch drinking water. People quarrel at the water point because everyone needs water at home. I must be patient before I can fetch water. It is hard for me to fetch drinking water at this well, especially when the well gets dry," said 35-year-old farmer Adama Kanu (shown below).

The waste of time waiting for water due to overcrowding costs people in various ways. They are delayed in daily chores like cooking, cleaning, and bathing, making everyone late for activities like work or attending school.

"I struggle to get water to prepare food. I am usually late to prepare food for my family, and this situation causes me to eat late, as well as my family. Also, I am a farmer. I am late to go to work in the bush. I plant different crops which I am using for a living. Sometimes, it would cost me a great loss because I would not work hard and complete the targeted portion," said Adama.

"When the well gets dry, I must go to the stream to fetch drinking water, but this source is not safe to drink. I use it to drink because it is the only water that is available at that time," concluded Adama.

Rehabilitating Bundalai's well that community members dug and converting it to a borehole well will enable everyone to quickly and efficiently collect all the water they need to meet their daily needs without risking their health and well-being. This will give people the time to attend to things like work and school, improving their futures.

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

April, 2025: Bundulai Community Well Rehabilitation Complete!

We are excited to share that your donation provided a safe, reliable well at Bundulai Community. As a result, community members 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, my children no longer face constraints on accessing water. The well produces enough water and is very close to my house. They will walk a short distance to access water. [The] walking distance to access the swamp water pained them, and drinking from the swamp water is not safe. It may lead us to [be] sick. Today, my children and I have access to safe drinking water, and when we drink this water, it will contribute [to help] us to grow well and get sound health," shared Adama Kanu.

Ms. Adama Kanu splashes water.

"Before, it was difficult for me to access water, and I walked long distances to access the swamp water. This caused me to go to school late. Now I have access to this well, and I will be doing well at school and have enough time to study," said 13-year-old Sheku.

Sheku at the well.

After construction was complete, we held a dedication ceremony to officially give responsibility for the well to the community members. Several local dignitaries attended the ceremony, including representatives from the Ministry of Water Resources and the Port Loko District Council. 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, Adama and Sheku made statements on their community's behalf. The ceremony concluded with celebration, singing, and dancing.

Clean Water Restored

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

Drilling begins!

Finally, we started to drill! We reached a final depth of 11 meters with water at 4 meters. The team installed the cylinder as far below the water table as possible so that the community has reliable access throughout the year.

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

Bailing the well.

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.

Constructing the pad.

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!

Community Education

Before conducting any hygiene training, we collaborated with the local water user committee to understand the 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.

We 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. Nurse Hassanatu Dumbuya was instrumental in reinforcing each lesson.

Nurse Dumbuya leads a session.

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 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.

Adama Kanu, previously quoted, said of the training, "The most interesting topic we covered in the hygiene training was malaria. This was one of the illnesses I get reports from when I visit the clinic, or [when] I take my child to the clinic. In the end, I will, or my child will be diagnosed with malaria. Nurses will give me a mosquito bed net for us to hang on the bed and sleep under. But other people use it for fishing, or will prefer to cut it as a rope for bagging charcoal. This shows that we're using it the wrong way. I encourage everyone to use the mosquito net for this specific purpose. This will prevent us from mosquito bites, so we will not get malaria."

Adama Kanu participates in the dental hygiene lesson.

"I am happy about this hygiene training. This was my first [time] to receive hygiene training. This will change my way of doing things. I have learned new things, and this will change my bad hygiene practices. I will put all that I have learned into practice, and even my neighbors will do [so] as well," Adama continued.

Thank you for making all of this possible!

March, 2025: Exciting Progress in Bundulai Community!

We’re thrilled to share that, thanks to your generous support, significant change is coming for Sheku and the entire Bundulai Community. Construction has begun on the well rehabilitation project, bringing them one step closer to having clean, reliable water.

But that's not all—during construction, we’re also providing vital health training. These sessions equip the community with essential hygiene practices, ensuring that the benefits of clean water extend to lasting health improvements.

We’re so grateful for your role in making this possible. Stay tuned for more updates—soon, we’ll be celebrating the arrival of safe water in the Bundulai Community!

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!