THE CLEAN RUNNING WATER PROJECT

 

The UN recognises that “clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in and there is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this. However, due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, millions of people, including children die every year from diseases associated with contaminated and inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world”.

The village in which Ambuya Development Centre (ADC) is situated had limited access to clean running water which could only be accessed several kilometres from where ADC is located. As a result of this, the community was subjected to having to travel a grave distance to fetch clean water each day.

As a result of the limited availability of clean running water in the community, the risk of incurring diseases associated with contaminated and inadequate water supply and hygiene, such as cholera, in an area with limited medical services proved to be a serious plight of the local community and warranted the need for an easily accessible running water source.
ADC could not idly stand by and allow this lack of running water to remain the status quo of its community, accordingly, due to monetary constraints at the time, it urgently attended to the drilling of a well with hand pump at the Centre’s premises in an effort to bring urgent relief to the water crisis in the area. However, one well could not effectively sustain the daily water demands of the children and some communities in its surrounding areas. As such, ADC, decided to drill another borehole in an endeavored to raise the substantial capital required amount of clean water. The relevant piping and solar system were installed and       to bring running water to the centre and the neighbouring community. This system provides 20,000 liters of water per day and the water apart from supporting the activities of children, the center has also established a garden and children benefit from good green vegetables.

ADC anticipates that a minimum of 10 water systems with submersible pumps empowered by solar system and distributed by piped water system as per the SDGs, is required in order to bring clean running water that effectively caters to the community surrounding ADC Each water system costs about $35,000.

As beneficial as this current piped water system is, it is not in itself a long-term sustainable solution when assessed against the number of people dependent on the one borehole as a source of clean water. There is a need for funding to drill a further minimum of nine (9) boreholes to effectively cater to the community’s large population.