Project Status



Project Type:  Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Western Uganda WaSH Program

Impact: 450 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Jan 2019

Functionality Status:  Low/No Water or Mechanical Breakdown

Last Checkup: 03/11/2024

Project Features


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Most families in this part of Katugo Village collect water from an unprotected and contaminated spring. The water is an open source shared by the community and used as a drinking source for cattle. Community members report frequent cases of diarrhea as a result of drinking the contaminated water.

There is a borehole but it no longer works.

"No committee was put in place to manage borehole after construction by the government so when it broke we tried to repair but it required a lot of money which we didn’t have so it was partially repaired," a community member said.

That is why we are going to rehabilitate the well and support the community to ensure that it has the proper structures in place to manage it in the future.

The sanitation situation is only slightly better. Barely more than half of households have a latrine. Most are constructed of local materials, including mud. However, open defecation is still an issue here.

The main activity in this area is agriculture. Most families grow maize to both sell in the market to make money and to eat at home. The men often work in the nearby trading centers - taking on day-labor jobs or whatever is available for small businesses. The women like most other communities remain engaged in household chores and farming.

The community is dominated by Alur people and these have considerably large families and woman is mainly in charge of taking care of family mostly in terms of food and clothing. Fetching water is a task that often falls on the women.

Here’s what we’re going to do about it:

Training

Training’s main objectives are the use of latrines and observing proper hygiene practices since these goals are inherently connected to the provision of clean water. Open defecation, water storage in unclean containers and the absence of hand-washing are all possible contaminants of a household water supply. Each participating village must achieve Open Defecation Free status (defined by one latrine per household), prior to the pump installation for a shallow hand-dug well.

This social program includes the assignment of one Community Development Officer (CDO) to each village. The CDO encourages each household to build an ideal homestead that includes: a latrine, hand-washing facility, a separate structure for animals, rubbish pit and drying rack for dishes.

We also implement the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach with each of our village partners. This aims to improve the sanitation and hygiene practices and behaviors of a village. During these sessions, village leaders naturally emerge and push the community to realize that the current practices of individual households – particularly the practice of open defecation– are not only unhealthy but affect the entire village. CLTS facilitates a process in which community members realize the negative consequences of their current water, sanitation and hygiene behaviors and are inspired to take action. Group interactions are frequent motivators for individual households to build latrines, use the latrines and demand that other households do the same.

Rehabilitated Borehole

The community will participate in excavating and constructing the water source.

We are also constructing two hand-dug wells for the community to ensure everyone has access to safe water! Learn more here and here.

Note: We do not have the precise GPS coordinates for this project at this time, but will update as soon as possible.

Improved Sanitation

The aim is that all households own an improved latrine. Many households do not use a latrine but use the bush. Due to open defecation, feces are spread all over the village. This leads to waterborne diseases and contamination of groundwater and surface water. Our aim is that the community is able to live a healthy life free of preventable diseases. We endeavor that at the end of our presence in the community, people will have both access to sustainable, clean water and access to sanitation. We have now organized families to form digging groups for latrine construction, and empowered them with tools to use.

Project Updates


January, 2019: Katugo Community Project Complete

Clean water has been restored to a well in Katugo Community, Uganda! Community members have also attended training sessions during which they worked together to make a development action plan. They are working to build new facilities, tools, and habits that will improve living standards in Katugo.

Training

The training occurred in a common area at the homestead of one of the self-help group members. It was a beautiful day and lunch was offered during the training. The community was very keen on the formation of their self-help group as well as excited to ensure the water point will have enough funds to be maintained. There were many questions and strong, active participation during the training.

We led the community in identifying the root causes of common problems and how they affect the quality of life. They discussed who is most affected by these issues, and then developed an action plan to handle these issues.

By leading the community through these issues affecting health, hygiene, and sanitation, they came to the realization that they already have the tools needed to solve them. They realized they can construct latrines by themselves, and came up with an action plan to guide the entire community through this process.

At the end of the meeting, people realized they can fix sanitation issues by themselves and came up with an action plan to guide them achieve it with clear deadline dates and the person responsible to follow up.

Our team has scheduled follow-up visits and more training sessions to achieve 100% sanitation coverage with every household having a latrine, handwashing station, bathing shelter, and drying racks. This cannot be achieved without a continuous relationship.

Community members practicing financial management using leaves as currency

Community members are also trained on:

- maintenance and operation of water point

- fecal-oral route (describing the chain of events that can cause food and water to be contaminated by feces)

- hygiene practices

- sanitation ladder how it is connected to groundwater pollution

- the gender task analysis, and

- water and sanitation committee roles and responsibilities of each member, and their responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the water point, including financial management

"We thank you for rehabilitating our borehole and training us on saving. This is going to help us to keep our water point functional and I am sure we shall always money for repairs," said Emmanuel Okura at the session.

Rehabilitated Borehole

We worked with the community to determine the best possible sites for this rehabilitation - there are a few wells in the area that need serious intervention. After meetings and visits around the community, we determined this borehole to be the best option. Some of the community members were willing to host the drilling technicians, giving them a place to sleep and food to eat.

The team pulled the old pump, cleared out the well, reinstalled a new stainless steel pump and built a new well pad to protect the water.

"I appreciate you for giving us clean water," said Moreen Nyakato.

"We used to collect water from the open wells and the nearby swamp. We used to suffer from waterborne diseases like typhoid and diarrhea because of drinking dirty water. Now, we no longer have to worry."




January, 2019: Katugo Community Project Underway

Dirty water from open sources is making people in Katugo Community sick. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to restore clean water to a well and much more.

Get to know this community through the narrative 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!


Contributors

2 individual donor(s)