It is estimated that there are over 250 million people living in rural Africa who lack access to safe and reliable drinking water (“potable water”).  With pumped water generally confined to major cities, rural residents often resort to fetching their drinking water from open wells, streams and other water sources that can be easily contaminated, resulting in widespread illness and disease. 

While the delivery of potable water is available to rural communities – a mechanically drilled well equipped with a hand pump is capable of providing safe drinking water to rural areas – it’s not affordable.  With a mechanically bored well and hand pump running anywhere between $6,000-10,000 USD or more, the cost of this service is far beyond the means of people living in the poorer rural areas.

In an effort to create a private sector solution to Africa’s potable water problem, EWW kicked off its first full-fledged potable water project in the rural Casamance region of Senegal earlier this year.  Funded by USAID, the project is training local enterprises to manually drill wells and manufacture pumps for potable water.  And since the entire process utilizes locally available manpower and materials, the cost of potable water service is significantly reduced.  EWW anticipates that the EWW-trained enterprises will be able to provide both a well and a pump for under $1,000 USD – a reasonable cost for many rural communities.

One of the first objectives for the new project was to begin the local production of an improved “rope pump” from Nicaragua which can be made using locally available materials and can lift water from as far as 40 meters deep.  (EWW not only develops appropriate technologies, but also seeks out existing technologies that can be transferred to other areas with great success.)

In late March and early April, EWW brought in a trainer from the Practica Foundation (www.practicafoundation.nl) to train a local enterprise in the manufacture of the rope pump.  The training produced five “test pumps” that were subsequently installed in communities around Ziguinchor. 

“Since the installation of the test pumps, EWW has been monitoring them to determine potential weaknesses, develop solutions to the problems and improve EWW’s understanding of the pump and its installation,” said Christophe Poublanc, EWW Country Director for Senegal.  “We also were eager to measure user satisfaction, which has been good so far.  Users specifically appreciate the easy use of the pump and good output compared to the traditional rope and bucket method.” 

EWW has also discovered that the pumps have become a source of pride for the user communities.  “Several days after the installation, EWW’s team would see a line of people waiting their turn to use the pump,” said Poublanc.  “Because the pumps were installed only for test purposes, EWW did not cover the wells.  However, the test communities quickly understood that the purpose of the pump was to improve the quality of their water and, at their own initiative, they made the use of buckets forbidden on the well equipped with the pump.”

In addition to working with the rope pump, EWW has been training local well drilling teams to manually dig wells for potable water.  Some of the local teams have already been trained in hand auger drilling techniques through EWW’s small-scale irrigation program in the Casamance, and only a small amount of incremental training is required for them to dig wells suitable for potable water. 

Although EWW has been successful at adapting auger drilling techniques -- which perform best in sandy soils and at smaller depths -- to the hard clay soil of the Casamance, EWW is working to expand its expertise in well digging.  EWW has been experimenting in a new drilling technique – the “Rota-Sludge” technique – which works best in hard soil conditions.  In June, the EWW team used the Rota-Sludge technique to drill a well 28 meters deep.

Click below to watch video of EWW
drilling a well for potable water.
Broadband   -   Dial-up

“The Rota-Sludge will allow EWW-trained entrepreneurs to go through harder soil layers up to 30+ meters deep,” said Poublanc.  “Being able to train enterprises in the Rota-Sludge technique will enable EWW to expand the reach of our potable water program to areas where the water level is deeper than 20 meters.”

Now that the local capacity to produce pumps and dig wells for potable water has been established, EWW is gearing up for the next phase of the project, which will concentrate heavily on promoting the potable water service to communities throughout the region.  A logo for the potable water technology is in the works and pump demos are being planned.

EWW is also working to identify other development organizations in the Casamance whose projects might benefit from EWW-assisted potable water service.  “If we’re able to find synergy with other projects, the collaboration would help boost the promotion of the potable water technology,” said Poublanc.

Although the project is still in its early stages, EWW is optimistic that the potable water technology will be especially well received in the Casamance, a region that has been plagued by civil strife for over 20 years.  “In a conflict area, locally based technology provides a good way to empower people to respond to their own needs,” said Poublanc.